Netanyahu Facing IMMINENT ARREST?

Right, so is Benjamin Netanyahu about to be arrested as he prepares to set off for Hungary then? Well, not by Hungary, of that there can be no doubt, but that isn’t actually the point of this video because there is all manner of things that can go wrong for Netanyahu here and the Hind Rajab Foundation are determined to try and maximise the chances of that shall we say.
As we should all know by now, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in relation to war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and as an ICC signatory state, Hungary is obliged to enforce this, yet are openly defying it instead, Orban having specifically invited Netanyahu on a four day visit, enabling Netanyahu to deliberately go on weakening the ICC’s image in the eyes of his critics in Israel. But with legal traps being put in place, is Netanyahu completely safe, or will his arrogance in taking an unnecessary risk bring about a dose of well deserved and overdue karma instead?
Right, so as we all know the International Criminal Court, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant last year, charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity over Israel’s military assault on Gaza and yet Netanyahu has made much of brazenly challenging this arrest warrant with foreign travel to the United States, where he feared no arrest anyway, but did need to take an unorthodox and convoluted flight path to reach, but now to Hungary as well, who are an ICC signatory state and should be arresting him the moment he lands. He won’t be, Hungary’s despotic far right leader Viktor Orban has literally invited him, he loves Netanyahu and therefore Netanyahu’s agreement to visit can be seen as a deliberate attempt to undermine the court’s authority. I can go where I like he says, I’ve gone abroad again and still you can’t arrest me. What is the point of the ICC, their arrest warrants are useless, it is damaging to the court, but the ICC’s biggest weakness is its reliance on other states to fulfil the warrants it issues. That’s not to say others can’t step up somewhat in this regard though.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, the HRF, a legal advocacy group named after the six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in an Israeli tank attack in Gaza, is leading a campaign to ensure Hungary fulfills its obligations under the Rome Statute and arrests Netanyahu. Their efforts have included petitioning Hungary’s Chief Prosecutor, alerts to European airspace authorities should netanyahu’s plane deviate in any way into another ICC signatory states airspace, and demands for ICC action against Hungary if – when - it fails to comply with the arrest warrant.
The ICC’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant stem from their alleged role in starvation tactics, indiscriminate bombing, and the killing of civilians in Gaza. That any state would not want to arrest someone accused of such atrocity speaks little of the individuals involved quite honestly, but then Viktor Orban is utterly vile in and of himself, a decades long friendship with Netanyahu proof enough of that in my view. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Hungary is legally bound to arrest Netanyahu if he enters its territory, but Orban is a law unto himself, much like Netanyahu and therefore there’s no chance he’ll order that arrest.
Going in Orban’s favour here is the fact that Hungary has not fully domesticated the Rome Statute into its national law, creating a loophole that could allow Orbán to evade enforcement under international law.
Hungary’s failure to act would constitute a breach of international law nonetheless, which it would, potentially triggering ICC sanctions, such as they are, or a referral to the UN Security Council, which would likely amount to nothing. The enforcement mechanisms are therefore weak, the symbolic and diplomatic consequences could be more significant, but again this would vary state to state. So this is where the HRF come into the story, this is where they step in.
The HRF has launched a multi-pronged effort to block Netanyahu’s European travel, try and trap him somewhere, somehow if the opportunity arises.
On one hand they have petitioned the Hungarian Chief Prosecutor, they have filed a formal arrest upon arrival request citing Hungary’s treaty obligations. Will this amount to much? Probably not, Orban has the national legislature under control ,however, depending on where over the course of the four day visit Netanyahu is taken, there is a chance things could still go wrong for him, a certain judge in a certain city could decide to act and that could potentially be that.
The HRF have also alerted other European airspace authorities in case Netanyahu’s plane tries to cross their airspace to deny him flight clearance and thereby effectively grounding him. This is particularly pertinent, because Hungary is a landlocked country and every single one of the nations it borders, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine, Serbia and Romania are ICC signatory states too, so he would have to pass through the airspace of one of these to visit. Could that be denied and if it isn’t, who let Netanyahu cross their airspace?
And then there is the ICC itself. Should Netanyahu make it to Hungary, should Hungary welcome him as expected, Hungary could be pursued for non compliance, but given how isolated Hungary has already become under Orban, how much more could be done is questionable.
Essentially what the HRF seeks to do is to close a load of legal loopholes and force Hungary to choose between upholding international law or protecting a wanted war criminal.
Orban’s hosting of Netanyahu is exactly the sort of act Netanyahu wants though. By being able to travel to Hungary in defiance of the ICC arrest warrant Netanyahu is managing to undermine the ICC’s legitimacy, because if Netanyahu travels freely, it exposes what would be seen as the powerlessness of the court to not act itself, weakening the court in the eyes of the world.
By being able to travel to Hungary without sanction, it is also a signal to Netanyahu that he can carry on committing further Israeli atrocities, he can act like international law does not apply to Israel or to him, and therefore Orban’s actions here, by welcoming Netanyahu can be seen to be emboldening continued violence in Gaza.
This is of no real benefit to Hungary diplomatically at all either, it’s just Orban doing what he feels he can get away with as well – The EU has repeatedly condemned Orbán’s authoritarianism, so shielding Netanyahu from facing justice will just cement Hungary’s status as a pariah state even further.
Amnesty International has also weighed in, condemning the planned visit and urging Hungary to "arrest and surrender Netanyahu to the ICC.” Human Rights Watch has similarly warned that failure to detain him would make Hungary complicit in his crimes and of course it obviously would for the reasons above and probably several more I’ve missed.
Netanyahu’s planned visit is not just diplomatic, it is a deliberate challenge to the ICC. By traveling to Hungary, he would be normalising his impunity because if he can enter an ICC state without arrest, it sets a precedent for future travel.
All in all it serves to further weaken global accountability, his defiance and that of Orban’s will encourage other leaders to ignore ICC warrants.
The message to Palestinians would also be made clear, that no court can hold Israel accountable and Netanyahu will strut around unbearably as if he’s utterly invincible.
Even if Hungary refuses to act though, universal jurisdiction laws in other European countries could still be used to prosecute Netanyahu and the HRF are striving for these too. Legal teams in Germany, Spain, and Belgium have already prepared cases should he cross their borders, even as the new German administration has already made noises to welcome Netanyahu themselves.
This means for example that Netanyahu risks arrest if he leaves Hungary and also private prosecutions could be filed – NGOs like the HRF or others may initiate legal proceedings independently of government action and again this comes back to the risk of a certain judge in a certain city in Hungary potentially doing this depending on where Netanyahu goes.
The HRF’s campaign is a crucial test of whether the ICC can enforce its warrants, or with help from the likes of the HRF, whether they can be made more enforcible, or if powerful leaders like Netanyahu can act with impunity.
Justice for Gaza begins with accountability. If Netanyahu walks free in Hungary, the victims of Gaza’s genocide will be denied justice once again and global justice, or rather the pursuit of it, will be weakened even further and much like other global bodies, such as the UN, who consistently fail to act against Israel, more people around the world will wonder what is the point of these structures if they are not enforced?
More and more it looks like it won’t be outside interests that will bring Netanyahu down, but forces from within, especially when those forces happen to hold his reins of power. You see there has been a major fallout amongst Netanyahu’s far right allies within his governing coalition, the real power in Israel right now, those that are keeping the Gaza genocide going. If Netanyahu can’t placate what may be a growing divide, it could bring him down anyway, oh the irony of those keeping him in power, dumping him out of it through their own petty squabbles. Get the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t done so already so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new content published daily as well as helping to support the channel which is very much appreciated, holding power to account for ordinary working class people and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.