Hungary has announced its formal withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), just hours after welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who currently faces an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes.

The decision was confirmed by Gergely Gulyás, chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has publicly supported Netanyahu and previously dismissed the ICC warrant as having “no effect” in Hungary.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, citing “reasonable grounds” to believe they were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Netanyahu has strongly denied the charges, calling them “antisemitic” and politically motivated.

Hungary, once a founding member of the ICC, now joins a small group of countries that reject the court’s authority. While 125 nations remain party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, notable non-members include the United States, Russia, China, and Israel.

The ICC, based in The Hague, was established to prosecute individuals—not states—for serious international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Though Israel is not a party to the court, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territories, following the UN’s recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state in 2012.

Hungary’s exit from the court has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations, who warn it could weaken the global pursuit of accountability for atrocities and embolden other states to flout international norms.