Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made news last week — and generated significant criticism from the mainstream media, as well as the foreign policy establishment.
How?
He announced his nation would withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a visit to Hungary by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ICC indicted Netanyahu last November because of the Israeli invasion of Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of Israelis.
Orban’s actions followed two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump sanctioning the ICC for its politicized prosecutions of Israeli officials.
Several hours after Netanyahu landed in Hungary, the ICC sent the Hungarian government a request to arrest the Israeli leader and send him to an ICC detention center in The Hague.
Instead of complying with the ICC arrest order, Prime Minister Orban withdrew from the court, explaining, “This very important court has been diminished to a political tool and Hungary wishes to play no role in it.”
The Polish government made a similar decision in January when it defied an ICC order to arrest Netanyahu when he traveled to Poland to attend events marking 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
Additionally, Belgium recently announced it will refuse to enforce the ICC’s arrest order against Netanyahu if he visits that country in the future.
The treaty that created the ICC — the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court — was signed by the United States during the Bill Clinton administration in 2000.
However, President Clinton never submitted this treaty for U.S. Senate ratification due to bipartisan opposition from many senators who believed the court posed a threat to U.S. national security and the constitutional rights of American citizens.
The ICC has been heavily criticized for its selective and political indictments.
Most ICC indictments have been against African leaders.
Although the ICC indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it never indicted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for gross human rights violations and atrocities committed by his regime, after the Syrian rebellion began in 2011.
The court also has never indicted Iranian, Chinese, or Venezuelan leaders for well-documented serious human rights violations.
The Bush administration unsigned the Rome Statute in 2002 and announced the United States would not become a party to the ICC.
The Bush administration also negotiated bilateral agreements with many ICC members not to turn over U.S. citizens to the court.
Congress was so concerned that the ICC could be used to arrest and prosecute current and former U.S. officials and servicemembers that it passed the “American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2002,” which codified protections for U.S. persons and allies from ICC jurisdiction and restricted U.S. involvement with the court.
This law was nicknamed “The Hague Invasion Act” because it authorized the use of U.S. military force to liberate any American or citizen of a U.S.-allied country held by the court.
Although the Obama and Biden administrations supported and attempted to legitimize the court, they did not seek to have the U.S. join it.
In June 2020, the Trump administration sanctioned ICC officials for their investigations into potential war crimes in Afghanistan by U.S. military and intelligence officials and human rights abuses by Israeli authorities against Palestinians.
The Biden administration lifted these sanctions in April 2021.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has reinstated sanctions against the ICC. On Feb. 6, 2025, the president signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC over its investigations of Israel and Israeli leaders.
The order stated that the ICC had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and abused its authority by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
On Feb. 13, President Trump indicted the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, by adding him to the U.S list of “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.”
This designation bars Khan from conducting business with Americans and from traveling to the United States.
The International Criminal Court is an out-of-control international tribunal that represents a serious threat to American sovereignty and the freedom of U.S. citizens and the citizens of our allies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban made the right decision to stand with the United States against this dangerous world court.
President Trump should take additional actions to encourage other states to withdraw from the ICC and shut it down.
Fred Fleitz is Vice Chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security. He previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member — Read Fred Fleitz’s reports — Click Here Now.
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