section_path: Criticism and opposition/Israel
section_name: Israel
paragraph_text: Israel
  
  In 2020, the +972 magazine, based in Israel, reported political interference coming from Israel and the U.S. when Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced that "there is legal basis to probe Israel and Palestinian groups over war crimes in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, and that her office was ready to investigate the matter". In 2018, when the Israeli government wanted to demolish the West Bank village of Khan al Ahmar, Bensouda explicitly warned Israel that doing so could be considered a ‘war crime’. The Israeli government's response was to publicly defy the court, describing the prosecutor's statement as ‘pure anti-Semitism’ in Netanyahu’s words.
  
  The Guardian reported in 2024, on the basis of anonymous sources, that Israel had conducted a nine-year "war" against the ICC. These sources alleged that Israeli intelligence agencies were used to "surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff in an effort to derail the court's inquiries." In particular, Yossi Cohen, director of Mossad at the time, allegedly threatened Bensouda and her family in an attempt to dissuade her from opening war crime inquiries against Israel. The anonymous sources are said to be familiar with disclosures Bensouda made to the ICC regarding the operation.
  
  In November 2024, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war, Netanyahu accused the ICC of antisemitism, while Gallant argued the Court set "a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defence and ethical warfare and encourages murderous terrorism." In that same November, Israel appealed the ICC warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
  
  In November 2024, France argued that the arrest warrants for Israeli leaders are not valid because Israel is not a member of the ICC. In that same month, then-Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced that Canada would abide by the arrest warrants and arrest and deport Netanyahu if he entered that country. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on various occasions that Italy would not arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu. In January 2025, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk guaranteed safe passage for senior Israeli officials, including Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to an event in Poland marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The majority of the Polish public disagreed with the government's decision not to arrest Netanyahu.
  
  Germany's CDU leader Friedrich Merz criticized the ICC's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. In February 2025, one day after the 2025 German federal election, he announced his will to invite Netanyahu to Germany, "as an open challenge" to the decision of the ICC.
  
  In April 2025, Netanyahu visited Hungary, a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC. During the visit, the Hungarian government's prime minister, Viktor Orbán announced that it would withdraw from the ICC, describing it as "politically biased". The withdrawal will become effective after one year's written notice. Hungary will join Israel, the US, Russia, China and North Korea among nations which do not recognise the ICC's jurisdiction. On May 20, 2025, the Hungarian National Assembly approved a bill to initiate the country's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), marking Hungary as the first European Union member state to take such action. The bill, introduced by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, passed with 134 votes in favor, 37 against, and 7 abstentions. This move has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and may strain Hungary's relations within the European Union, where all member states are ICC members.