(3 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Budapest, Hungary – 3 April 2025
1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán shaking hands
2. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Viktor Orbán, Hungarian Prime Minister:
"First and foremost, I must speak about the International Criminal Court. I count as an expert in this, dear Mr. Prime Minister. Just a little history, I was the prime minister who signed the documents of accession to the International Criminal Court back in 2000. And in recent days I was the one who signed the document on withdrawal from it, because the Hungarian government has decided we will withdraw.”
++WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Viktor Orbán, Hungarian Prime Minister:
"It is no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court. And this was most clearly shown by the decisions regarding Israel. And we think that a democratic rule-of-law state with any self-respect, such as Hungary, will not participate, and cannot participate in an international court operating on the basis of political motives. I am convinced that this otherwise important international judicial forum has been degraded into a political tool, with which we cannot and do not want to engage.”
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:
"And you’ve just taken a bold and principled position on the ICC, and I thank you, Victor. This is not only important for us, it’s important for all democracies. It’s important to stand up to this corrupt organization that has equated a democracy that is challenged for its very existence by the most horrific terroristic powers on Earth. But the ICC directs its actions against us, fighting a just war with just means."
++ENDS++
STORYLINE:
Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced Thursday that his country will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived to red carpet treatment in the country’s capital despite an ICC warrant for his arrest.
Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary, which is scheduled to last until Sunday, was only his second foreign trip since the ICC issued the warrant against him in November.
During a joint news conference after their meeting, at which journalists were not permitted to ask questions, Netanyahu praised Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the ICC, thanking Orbán for taking a “bold and principled decision.”
“The ICC directs its actions against us fighting a just war with just means,” Netanyahu said.
“You are the first … state that walks out of this corruption and this rottenness, and I think it’ll be deeply appreciated, not only in Israel but in many, many countries around the world.”
The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said when issuing its warrant there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had committed crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza, which Israel launched after Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.
Currently, all countries in the 27-member European Union, including Hungary, are signatories of the ICC, but the court relies on member countries to enforce its rulings.
Hungary joined the court in 2001 during Orbán’s first term as prime minister.
Defending his decision to pull Hungary out, Orbán said he believes the ICC "is no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court. And this was most clearly shown by the decisions regarding Israel”.
It was also a chance to project an image of statesmanship while he faces mounting discontent at home.
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