Orban Invites Netanyahu to Hungary, Flouting I.C.C. Arrest Warrant

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, Europe’s perennial rule-breaker and a champion of national sovereignty, said on Friday that he had invited Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, to visit his country and would ignore an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister.

Hungary, unlike the United States, is a signatory to the court and thus formally obliged to act on its warrants. But Mr. Orban, in a letter to Mr. Netanyahu, a copy of which was released by the Israeli prime minister’s office, said he was “shocked” by the international court’s “shameful decision” and promised that the ruling would have “no impact whatsoever on the Hungarian-Israeli alliance and friendship.”

Inviting Mr. Netanyahu to visit, he said that Hungary “will ensure your safety and freedom.”

Mr. Orban’s vow to protect Mr. Netanyahu from arrest made Hungary the first European Union country to openly flout the I.C.C. ruling.

The arrest warrants issued Thursday against Mr. Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip have put many countries in an uncomfortable position. Many are supporters of the court in general, but also allies of Israel.

This is particularly true for Germany, where a desire to separate itself from the horrors of the Holocaust during Nazi rule has made it wary of criticizing Israel and its leaders.

Steffen Hebestreit, the German government’s main spokesman, said in a statement Friday that the country was “one of the biggest” supporters of the international court, noting that Germany had helped create the I.C.C. statutes under which the arrest warrants were issued. But as “a consequence of German history” it has “a unique relationship with and a great responsibility for Israel,” he said.