(2 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Budapest, Hungary – 2 April 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Justin Spike, The Associated Press:
++PART COVERED BY SHOTS 2-8++
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Hungary’s capital on a four-day visit on Wednesday, in defiance of an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court. During his four-day visit, Netanyahu is set to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a sign both of the close relationship between the two leaders and of Orbán’s increasing hostility towards international organizations, of which Hungary is a member, including the International Criminal Court. The warrant issued against Netanyahu last year alleges that he and his former defense minister are guilty of crimes against humanity for depriving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of food aid, and for intentionally targeting civilians in the Gaza Strip. Orbán, who is a longtime ally of Netanyahu, has vowed that his country would not execute the arrest warrant on the Israeli leader while he’s in the country. That’s drawn criticism from the ICC and other international organizations, which have argued that it flouts international law. Other organizations have said that it’s just a further crackdown on the rule of law within Hungary under Orbán. Both leaders are close allies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who in February passed sanctions against the International Criminal Court for its investigations into Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza."
2. Tilt down from Israeli and Hungarian flags flying on the Chain Bridge of the River Danube
3. Pan of the Hungarian parliament building on the River Danube
4. Chain Bridge
5. Lion with Israeli flag in background
6. Israeli and Hungarian flags flying on the bridge
7. Pan of bridge
8. Tilt up to Israeli and Hungarian flags flying on the bridge
STORYLINE:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Hungary on Wednesday to meet with its nationalist prime minister despite an international arrest warrant for the Israeli leader over the war in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu’s four-day visit to Budapest is a sign of both his close relationship with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the latter’s growing hostility toward international institutions like the International Criminal Court, of which Hungary is a member.
Orbán, a conservative populist and close Netanyahu ally, has vowed to disregard the ICC warrant, accusing the world’s top war crimes court based in The Hague, Netherlands, of “interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes.”
Members of Orbán’s government have suggested that Hungary, which became a signatory to the court in 2001, could withdraw.
Currently, all countries in the 27-member European Union are signatories, and all members are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil.
But the court relies on member countries to enforce that.
The ICC, the world’s only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide, issued the arrest warrant in November for Netanyahu as well as for his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them children, have been killed during the Israeli military’s response, which it resumed last month while shattering a ceasefire.
AP video by Bela Szandelszky
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