Orbán aide says Netanyahu to visit Hungary despite international arrest warrant

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Hungary in the coming weeks, a Hungarian minister said Thursday, despite an international arrest warrant for the Israeli leader over the war in the Gaza Strip.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, told a news conference in Budapest that Netanyahu would likely visit Hungary before Easter, which falls this year on April 20.

Orbán, a right-wing populist and close Netanyahu ally, had earlier vowed to disregard the International Criminal Court warrant against the Israeli leader, accusing the world's top war crimes court based in The Hague of "interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes."

Member countries of the ICC, such as Hungary, are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that. Several European countries that are members of the court have declared they would enforce the warrant if Netanyahu were to enter their territory.

The ICC 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.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant used "starvation as a method of warfare" by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza - charges Israeli officials deny.

On Thursday, Gulyás said he would "very much support" Hungary withdrawing from the ICC, claiming it had "lost its meaning by conducting political instead of legal activities." Hungary's government, however, has not made any decision on the matter, he added.

Neither Israel nor its close ally the United States is a a member of or recognizes the ICC, the world's only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide.

Last month President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the court over investigations of Israel. The order accused the ICC of engaging in "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel" and of abusing its power by issuing "baseless arrest warrants" against Netanyahu and Gallant.