With the revelation that he invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, prime minister-elect Péter Magyar of Hungary has caused a bit of a stir in the progressive circles that celebrated his massive election victory earlier this month.
As we reported, Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Maya Kadosh has shared in a social media post that Magyar and Netanyahu had held ‘a warm, introductory call’, and that the incoming Hungarian Head of Government had invited his Israeli counterpart to the 70th anniversary commemoration of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
However, PM Netanyahu has an active warrant for his arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The official ICC website cites the charges against him as ‘Allegedly responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.’
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary has previously withdrawn the country from the ICC. Thus, PM Netanyahu was free to safely visit him in Budapest, Hungary in April 2025.
PM-elect Magyar, at a press conference on Monday, 20 April, clarified his position on the ICC warrant against the Israeli Prime Minister.
He told the press that Hungary will remain a member of the ICC under his tenure. ‘If a country is a member of the ICC, and a person with an ICC warrant enters the country, we will have to take them into custody,’ he stressed.
Magyar did confirm his initiation of Netanyahu; however, he characterized it as a blanket invite to all foreign heads of state and government for the 70th anniversary of the Revolution.
When asked if he had clarified his position on his ICC arrest warrant to his Israeli invitee, Magyar answered: ‘I don’t need to explain everything over the phone, assuming that every head of state and government is familiar with these laws.’
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