Hungarian Lawmakers Approve Bill to Quit ICC After Netanyahu’s Visit 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the vote to start the withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Budapest, Hungary, May 20, 2025. (Reuters)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the vote to start the withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Budapest, Hungary, May 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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Hungarian Lawmakers Approve Bill to Quit ICC After Netanyahu’s Visit 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the vote to start the withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Budapest, Hungary, May 20, 2025. (Reuters)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the vote to start the withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Budapest, Hungary, May 20, 2025. (Reuters)

Hungary's parliament approved a bill on Tuesday that will start the country's year-long withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court, which Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government said has become "political".

Orban's government announced the move on April 3, shortly after Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary for a state visit in a rare trip abroad in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant. The ICC's Presidency of the Assembly of State Parties expressed concern at the move.

The International Criminal Court was set up more than two decades ago to prosecute those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Orban last month said the ICC was "no longer an impartial court, a rule-of-law court, but rather a political court."

Hungary has rejected the idea of arresting the Israeli prime minister and has called the warrant "brazen".

Hungary is a founding member of the ICC and ratified its founding document in 2001. However, the law has not been promulgated.

The bill to withdraw from the ICC passed on Tuesday with 134 members voting in favor and 37 against.

"Hungary firmly rejects the use of international organizations - in particular criminal courts - as instruments of political influence," the bill, submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen, said on parliament's website.

Netanyahu called Hungary's decision to leave the ICC a "bold and principled decision".

The Israeli prime minister faces an ICC arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel expands its military operation in the Palestinian enclave. Netanyahu has denied the allegations.

A country's withdrawal from the ICC comes into effect one year after the United Nations Secretary-General receives a written notification of the decision.



Israel Tells Worried Members of Iran’s Security Services to Contact Mossad

 Huge smoke rises up from an oil facility facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike Saturday, in southern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP)
Huge smoke rises up from an oil facility facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike Saturday, in southern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Tells Worried Members of Iran’s Security Services to Contact Mossad

 Huge smoke rises up from an oil facility facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike Saturday, in southern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP)
Huge smoke rises up from an oil facility facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike Saturday, in southern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP)

The Israeli military is urging members of the Iranian security services to contact Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, claiming they had been receiving messages from officials worried about Iran’s “uncertain future.”

There was no immediate way to independently verify the claim.

In a post on the social platform X in Farsi, the Israeli military provided a website and urged users to employ a virtual private network before attempting contact.

“Even those who identify themselves as members of the regime’s security institutions express their fear, despair, and anger at what is happening in Iran and ask us to contact Israeli authorities - so that Iran does not suffer the same fate as Lebanon and Gaza,” the message added.

The message did not elaborate. However, it comes as Iran is in a frenzy over spies, prompting warnings to officials to abandon certain devices, apps and web services.

The internet was down in Iran late Wednesday afternoon. Authorities offered no immediate explanation.