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Orban Invites Netanyahu to Hungary as ICC Warrant Divides Europeans
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban looks on as he gives a statement next to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (not pictured) in Budapest, Hungary, Nov. 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to visit Hungary but several other European nations said the Israeli premier would be detained if he set foot on their soil, following the issuing of an arrest warrant for him.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and for a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu and Gallant, adamantly rejected the allegations as false, saying the ICC’s actions were politically motivated.
All European Union (EU) countries are members of the court, which means they are supposed to enforce its warrants.
But the diverging reactions — and the fact that EU heavyweights Germany and France have not said if they would arrest Netanyahu — highlight the major diplomatic and political challenge posed by the ICC decision, which drew swift condemnation from Israeli leaders and the White House.
“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,” Eurointelligence analysts wrote in a note.
Assuring Netanyahu that he would face no risks if he visited Hungary, Orban branded the arrest warrants a “brazen, cynical, and completely unacceptable decision.” Orban, who is often at odds with his EU peers, has forged warm ties with Netanyahu.
“Today I will invite Israel’s prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary and in that invite I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents,” Orban said.
The ICC, which does not have its own police force to carry out arrests, has only limited diplomatic means to force countries to act if they do not want to.
The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia ,and Ireland are among EU states that have said they would meet their ICC commitments.
Netanyahu will be arrested if he set foot in Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris told RTE radio. “Yes absolutely. We support international courts and we apply their warrants,” Harris said.
Cyprus, which has close ties to Israel, regards the warrants as binding in principle, a government source told Reuters.
GERMANY TORN
But Berlin declined to spell out what it would do until and unless Netanyahu planned to travel to Germany, adding that legal questions had to be clarified regarding the warrant.
Germany “is one of the biggest supporters of the ICC — this attitude is also the result of German history,” a government spokesperson said.
“At the same time, it is a consequence of German history that we share unique relations and a great responsibility with Israel,” the spokesperson added, alluding to the Nazi era.
German officials said they will carefully examine the warrants and how to deal with them.
“I find it hard to imagine that we would make arrests on this basis,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on Friday, pointing out that legal questions had to be clarified regarding the warrant.
France was also non-committal, toning down its initial reaction, which had been to say that its response would align with ICC statutes.
“France takes note of this decision. True to its long-standing commitment to supporting international justice, it reiterates its attachment to the independent work of the Court, in accordance with the Rome Statute,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said in a statement.
Paris said on Friday the ICC decision was not a ruling but a “formalization of an accusation.”
France has been working on Lebanon ceasefire efforts and officials said cornering Netanyahu now could scupper those efforts.
Non-EU Britain — also an ICC member — was similarly circumspect in its response.
In the Netherlands, far-right leader Geert Wilders said he would meet his “friend” Netanyahu in Israel soon, even though the Dutch government has said it will act on the ICC‘s arrest warrant if the Israeli leader were to visit the country.
Wilders is the leader of the largest Dutch government party, but is not himself a cabinet member.
The Czech Republic, which like neighboring Hungary has traditionally sided with Israel, appeared similarly conflicted.
The Czech foreign ministry said Prague would respect its international legal obligations, while Prime Minister Petr Fiala described the ICC decision as “unfortunate” and said it would undermine the court’s authority.
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, launched the ongoing war in the Middle East with its invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7. During the onslaught, the terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating mass sexual violence against the Israeli people.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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