Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday thanked his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban for his show of "moral clarity" after inviting him to visit despite an ICC arrest warrant.
"Faced with the shameful weakness of those who stood by the outrageous decision against the right of the State of Israel to defend itself, Hungary" is "standing by the side of justice and truth", Netanyahu said in a statement the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him and his former defence minister.
Netanyahu's office also published what they said was a letter from Orban sent on Friday, in which he said he was shocked to learn of the International Criminal Court's "shameful" move.
"Hungary strongly condemns this disgraceful decision, which has no impact whatsoever on the Hungarian-Israeli alliance and friendship," Orban said in the letter, adding that "Israel has every right to defend itself against any threat".
The ICC issued the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant in response to accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza, triggered by the militant Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack.
Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC, in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Orban's first term in office.
However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore asserts it is not obliged to comply with ICC decisions.
Hungary currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency and had already sparked outrage in other EU capitals at the start of the six-month stint with his visit to Moscow where he met with President Vladimir Putin in July.
Orban is the only EU leader to have maintained close ties with Putin after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He is also one of Israel's closest partners in the 27-country bloc.
Budapest previously said it would not arrest Putin either, who is wanted by the ICC for the alleged war crime of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.