BUDAPEST, Nov 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban,
whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, on Friday said he would
invite Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to visit and defy an ICC arrest
warrant.

The Hague-based court on Thursday issued warrants for Netanyahu and former
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military chief
Mohammed Deif "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at
least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024".

Orban called the ICC's decision "outrageously brazen and "cynical", saying it
"intervenes in an ongoing conflict... dressed up as a legal decision, but in
fact for political purposes".

"There is no choice here, we have to defy this decision," the nationalist
leader said in his weekly interview with state radio.

"Later today, I will invite the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, to
visit Hungary, where I will guarantee him, if he comes, that the judgment of
the International Criminal Court will have no effect in Hungary, and that we
will not follow its terms," he added.

Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the
ICC, in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Orban's first term in
office.

However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons
of constitutionality and therefore asserts that it is not obliged to comply
with ICC decisions.

Hungary previously said it would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin
either, who is also wanted by the ICC for the war crime accusation of
unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

Orban is the only EU leader to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin
following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and he is also one of the
closest partner of Israel in the bloc.

The nationalist leader has already faced a backlash for his country's norm-
defying EU presidency, which saw him jetting to Moscow right after taking
over the six-month stint in July.