Netanyahu, Orbán and Trump defy ICC, and a morally bankrupt global order

Alex Traiman

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán review an honor guard in Budapest on April 3, 2025. Photo by Avi Ohayon/GPO.

BUDAPEST, Hungary—In a stunning announcement, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Thursday that Hungary would withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The announcement was made during a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant back in November, citing alleged “crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” The warrants were issued despite the fact that Hamas launched the war on Israel with an unprovoked massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200, including hundreds of civilians in their homes, and kidnapping over 250 Israelis. Fifty-nine Israelis remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Throughout the war, the IDF has gone to lengths greater than any other military in history to reduce civilian casualties. It is an achievement that will be studied for years to come by militaries around the world, made even more impressive by the lengths Hamas has gone to increase its own civilian casualties by hiding and embedding its terrorists among the civilian population and infrastructure. In addition, Israel has facilitated unprecedented levels of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

These efforts did not prevent the ICC from issuing the warrants. Nor did ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who is currently being investigated for sexual misconduct, take Israel up on its offer to show him firsthand how it works day in and day out to reduce and eliminate civilian casualties.

It is widely understood that Hamas never expected to defeat Israel on the military battleground, even when that battleground is the highly booby-trapped, densely populated urban fighting environment that is Gaza.

Hamas’s strategy from the beginning was to kill, rape and maim Israelis, and take such a large number of hostages that Israel would be compelled to declare war and enter Gaza. Once that happened, Hamas posited that Israel would not be able to conduct its military operations without killing large numbers of Gazan civilians.

As death tolls would rise, Palestinians would use media and social media to turn global public opinion against Israel. And international agencies, dominated by the globalist left, would take actions—including trying Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice, and issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders or soldiers at the ICC—that would pressure Israel into stopping the war before its war aims were achieved. Then a battered but not eliminated Hamas terror organization could claim a victory over one of the world’s most technologically-advanced and battle-ready militaries.

And while the strategy has worked to a large extent, Netanyahu has withstood immense pressure from all corners, outside Israel and within, to stop the war before achieving the return of all remaining hostages, and removing Hamas as a military and governing force in the Gaza Strip.

The Biden team

This pressure was backed in large part by the Biden administration, which continuously hedged its polices against Israel, despite certain statements and actions of support. The Biden team paved the path toward weapons embargoes against Israel by withholding key munitions, and paved the path toward widescale economic sanctions by placing its own sanctions on Israelis who it believed opposed American policies. It made no difference that these Israelis, including a battalion of Orthodox soldiers, were never convicted of any crime.

The Biden administration similarly allowed the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to ratchet up pressure on Israel, by launching ludicrous charges of genocide and war crimes.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak to reporters in Budapest, April 3, 2025. Photo by Alex Traiman.

Yet with the re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and the recent actions of Viktor Orbán, Netanyahu is not only proving that his travel can extend well beyond Israel’s borders, but that Israel can win its just war on the physical battlefield and on the diplomatic one as well.

Among numerous other reversals of Biden administration policies, including the restoring of weapons flow to Israel, and the removal of the aforementioned sanctions against innocent Israelis, Trump imposed his own sanctions on Karim Khan, lead prosecutor of the ICC, in February.

In doing, the White House declared that “the ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. … This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel.”

The February declaration made clear that the action was not expected to be unilateral. “The United States unequivocally opposes and expects our allies to oppose any ICC actions against the United States, Israel or any other ally of the United States that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.”

Orbán’s stand

In declaring that Hungary would withdraw from the ICC, Orbán made clear that he stands with America and Israel against the globalist left-wing international order. The ICC “has been diminished to a political tool and Hungary wishes to play no role in it,” he stated Thursday.

Standing up against the progressive order is a position that he has grown accustomed to taking.

Orbán has systematically stood up against European Union policies that have sought to reduce the national cultures and policies of disparate European nations in favor of policies selected for them by a continental elite sitting in Brussels and other Western European capitals. In particular, Orbán has thoroughly rejected the policies of forced Muslim immigration that are devastating European countries that opened their borders.

It is no coincidence therefore that Hungary, home to Europe’s third-largest Jewish community, is the safest country in Europe for Jewish residents and tourists.

Orbán’s stand against detrimental E.U. policies has been a core pillar of his domestic support. His principled actions to reject widespread Muslim immigration, and to protect Hungary’s thriving Jewish community, have also made Budapest one of the most pleasant and safest European capitals to visit.

Unlike visits even to the United States, Netanyahu and his entourage have yet to encounter a single protester during his visit to Hungary. Israeli flags are flying on national buildings and on the bridges crossing the Danube River. Had Netanyahu touched down in London, Paris, Rome or Berlin the encounter would have been less welcoming, and may have ended in an arrest.

Netanyahu is grateful for the friendship displayed by Orbán, for his hospitality and principled stand.

“You stand with us at the E.U. You stand with us at the U.N. And you’ve just taken a bold and principled position on the ICC, and I thank you, Viktor. This is not only important for us, it’s important for all democracies,” the Israeli leader said.

Netanyahu, who has provided global leadership in a period where the Western world has all but given in to Islamic radicalism, noted correctly that Orbán’s move was not only one for Hungary, for Israel, or for currying favor with the Trump administration. 

Orbán’s bold move is likely to followed by others, Netanyahu said. “You are the first, I dare to say, I don’t think the last, but the first state that walks out of this corruption and this darkness. And I think it’ll be deeply appreciated, not only in Israel, but in many, many countries around the world.”

In thanking Orbán, Netanyahu noted that Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC is a stand “for all of civilization as we fight this battle against barbarism.”

All those who stand against Islamic radicalism and a progressive globalist order have Netanyahu, Trump and Orbán to thank.

Alex Traiman is the CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief of the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) and host of “Jerusalem Minute.” A seasoned Israeli journalist, documentary filmmaker and startup consultant, he is an expert on Israeli politics and U.S.-Israel relations. He has interviewed top political figures, including Israeli leaders, U.S. senators and national security officials with insights featured on major networks like BBC, Bloomberg, CBS, NBC, Fox and Newsmax. A former NCAA champion fencer and Yeshiva University Sports Hall of Fame member, he made aliyah in 2004, and lives in Jerusalem with his wife and five children.