Human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights joined Hamas in expressing their outrage over Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court and to refuse the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They also called on the European Union to revoke Hungary’s voting rights.
‘The UN, unlike the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is a collective security system; the latter is an alliance, which deals with a specific and specified threat and has military forces to address these threats. The UN is juridically neutral, and it is coerced to wait for a threat to emerge before it can consider action.’
Hungary will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán confirmed in a radio interview. He criticized the ICC as a political tool and outlined Hungary’s 2025 agenda, touching on economic reforms, drug policy, and foreign relations.
‘Likud joining forces with PfE shook the liberal establishment. This can be measured by the intensity of their rhetoric. Patriots ought to look out for such signals from mainstream media: wherever they try to undermine you, it means you have done something right. This is the signal to close ranks and pursue whichever course of action caused this reaction in the first place.’
On 18 February 2025 Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Hungary at the invitation of President of the Republic of Hungary Tamás Sulyok. According to Sulyok, a strong Israel is essential both for the fight against antisemitism and for a secure future for the Middle East and Europe. The Hungarian head of state emphasized that there is an ongoing dialogue between Hungary and Israel and that there are no problematic issues.
‘Mr Khan also took the unusual step of convening a “panel of experts” in January 2024 “to support the evidence review and legal analysis” related to the Gaza case. After this, he announced his pursuit of arrest warrants as the panellists unanimously recommended that he do so. However, it seems that the outcome was already determined beforehand.’
The sign of life the family received from Hungarian Israeli Omri Miran may have been a ray of hope to hold on to; nevertheless, Hamas’ threat has brought the ceasefire to the brink of collapse.
After Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the imposition of US sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Hungarian government is considering reevaluating its relations with both institutions. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long advocated for the dismantling of the outdated structures of the liberal world order, a process that is now accelerating under Trump’s second presidency.
In an interview with Fox News, Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó cautioned against underestimating US President Donald Trump’s dealmaking skills concerning the recently announced Gaza plan. Szijjártó drew a parallel to the skepticism that initially surrounded the Abraham Accords, which nonetheless succeeded in bringing a new dimension to life in the Middle East.
The Moscow offices of the Hungarian national airline were teeming with clients in the autumn of 1989, and most of the customers were Jewish. They were looking for a way to get away from the societal collapse of the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Hungary offered the way out to 160,000 of them between March 1989 and January 1992.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
