Hungary’s illiberal prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has said he will invite his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, to visit in defiance of an international criminal court arrest warrant, as world leaders split over the ICC’s momentous decision.
The world’s highest criminal court issued warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas commander Ibrahim al-Masri, commonly known as Mohammed Deif, who is believed to be dead, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Orbán, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency and who has previously said he would not arrest the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is also wanted by the ICC, called the court’s decision “outrageously brazen” and “cynical”.
“There is no choice here, we have to defy this decision … I will guarantee Mr Netanyahu, if he comes, that the judgment will have no effect in Hungary and that we will not follow its terms,” he said on Friday.
Nations are divided over how to respond to the arrest warrants, the first ever issued by the ICC against leaders of a democratic country.
Analysts at Eurointelligence said: “For us Europeans, this warrant exposes a real dilemma between international law, which is our law, and our foreign policy, especially for those member states that are unconditionally backing Israel.”
In principle, Netanyahu and Gallant would risk arrest if they go to any of the 124 states that are members of the ICC, including the EU nations, the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan and dozens of African, Latin American and Asia-Pacific countries.
The reality, however, is different – and Netanyahu and Gallant also remain free to travel to any of the countries that, like Israel, are not signatories to the Rome statute that established the court in 1998, including the US, China, India and Russia.
Netanyahu has denounced the warrants as antisemitic and the ICC’s accusations as “absurd and false”, while Israel’s staunchest ally, the US, said it “fundamentally rejects” the decision and was “deeply concerned” by “process errors” that it said had led to it.
Beijing did not criticise the arrest warrants directly but its foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said on Friday that it “hopes the court will … uphold an objective and just position and exercise its powers in accordance with the law”.
Hungary signed and ratified the Rome statute during Orbán’s first term in office but it has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore asserts that it is not obliged to comply with ICC decisions.
Netanyahu thanked Orbàn for his “moral clarity”, adding: “Faced with the shameful weakness of those who stood by the outrageous decision against the right of the state of Israel to defend itself, Hungary [is] standing by the side of justice and truth.”
The outgoing EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said the court’s decisions must be binding. “It is not a political decision,” he said on Thursday. “It is a decision of a court, of an international court of justice. And the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented.”
Some EU member states were quick to say they would comply. Spain, long one of the bloc’s most persistent and outspoken critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, confirmed on Friday that Netanyahu would be arrested if he travelled there.
Alongside Ireland and Norway, Spain has officially recognised a Palestinian state. The Spanish labour minister, Yolanda Díaz, said on Thursday that Madrid was “always on the side of justice and international law … The genocide of the Palestinian people cannot go unpunished.”
A source in Spain’s foreign ministry said on Friday: “Spain respects the decision of the international criminal court and will fulfil its commitments and obligations with regard to the Rome statute and international law.”
Ireland’s prime minister, Simon Harris, said in a statement on Thursday that “Ireland respects the role of the international criminal court. Anyone in a position to assist it in carrying out its vital work must now do so with urgency.”
Asked on Friday whether Ireland would arrest Netanyahu – who became the first Israeli prime minister to visit the country in 1996 – if he returned, Harris said: “Yes, absolutely. We support international courts and we apply their warrants.”
The Netherlands’ foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, confirmed to the Dutch parliament on Thursday that the country would “in principle” act on the warrants should the situation arise. He cancelled a scheduled visit to Israel on Friday.
Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Friday that while Rome considered the ICC decision to be “wrong” in putting “on the same level” the leaders of “a criminal terrorist organisation” and those of country “trying to eradicate” it, Italy would be obliged to arrest the Israeli politicians if they visited.
“By joining the court, we must apply its judgments, it is part of the treaty,” Crosetto said. “Every state that joins would be obliged – the only way to not apply it would be to withdraw from the treaty.”
Switzerland, Finland and Portugal have all said they would execute the warrants. However, Norway and several EU member states including France and Germany have been non-committal, saying they respect international law but not confirming they would act.
A French foreign ministry spokesperson, Christophe Lemoine, said on Thursday that Paris would react “in line with ICC statutes”. But Lemoine declined to say whether France would arrest the Israeli leaders if they came to the country, saying it was “a point that is legally complex”.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said Berlin was examining the warrants. Baerbock said Berlin was “bound by” the court as a country that recognises the body and respects international law, but the question of whether or not Netanyahu and Gallant would be arrested was “theoretical” for the time being.
A spokesperson for the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the UK “respects the independence of the ICC” but there was “no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organisations”. The spokesperson did not say whether Britain would execute the warrants.
Outside Europe, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said Canada, a founding ICC member, “has always said it’s really important that everyone abide by international law … We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts.”
Turkey said the ICC’s decision was “a belated but positive decision to stop the bloodshed and put an end to the genocide in Palestine”, while South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza at the international court of justice, said it was “a significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine”.
Argentina’s prime minister, Javier Milei, an outspoken Netanyahu ally, described the warrants as “an act that distorts the spirit of international justice”, adding: “This resolution ignores Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against constant attacks by terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Additional reporting by Lorenzo Tondo and Sam Jones
• This article was amended on 23 November 2024. An earlier version said South Africa, had accused Israel of genocide in Gaza “at the ICC”; we meant the ICJ (international court of justice).
