Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in Hungary overnight, stepping out for the first time into a country that recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for his arrest last year.
The possibility of his arrest seemed distant, however, after Hungary's right-wing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a well-known supporter of Israel, vowed to defy the court's directive shortly after it was issued in November. Video showed Orbán welcoming Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, to the capital, Budapest, on Thursday.
Hungarian officials signaled Thursday that the country may withdraw from the ICC, which accused Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.
As the conflict nears its 18th month, Israel has ramped up its operations in the enclave, and Netanyahu announced Wednesday night that the Israeli military had begun “seizing territory” across the strip.
He added that his country plans to establish the “Morag” corridor, which he said would be similar to the Philadelphi security corridor, which cuts across Gaza's southern border with Egypt.
“We are now cutting off the Strip and we are increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “And the more they do not give, the more the pressure will increase.”
A few hours earlier, his defense minister, Israel Katz, warned that “Operation Might and Sword” would be expanding, with the Israeli military seizing large swaths of the enclave to add to its security zones.
Israel launched its assault after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies, marking a major escalation in the decadeslong conflict.
More than 50,000 people have died in Israel’s military campaign since then, according to health officials in the enclave, which the militant group has run since 2007.
Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza last month, shattering a ceasefire with Hamas that brought relative calm for two months, during which dozens of hostages held by the militant group were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Efforts to resume the truce have failed to yield results, with Israel blocking the flow of aid and goods into Gaza for more than a month in the longest aid blockade since the war began.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have called on Hungary to uphold international law and detain Netanyahu upon his arrival in the country and transfer him to The Hague in the Netherlands, where the ICC is based.
Hungary is a member country of the court, but it has never incorporated its terms into the country’s domestic legal code.
Shortly after Netanyahu arrived, Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, told the state news agency MTI that Hungary would look to withdraw from the ICC, according to Reuters.
Neither Israel nor the United States recognize the jurisdiction of the world court, which has no staff to enforce its warrants and relies on law enforcement officials in member states to enforce them.
Despite close ties between Orbán and Netanyahu, Orbán has been accused of using antisemitic tropes to firm up his support at home.
In 2019, a government funded campaign vilified the Hungarian American businessman and philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish, prompting criticism from the European Union and anti-racism groups.
Four years later, a billboard campaign featured the slogan “Let’s not dance to their tune” alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Soros' son Alex Soros.
