Hungary will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), its government said Wednesday, as the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed Israeli Prime Minister and ICC fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu to Budapest.

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu applauded Hungary for its "bold and principled" decision to leave the International Criminal Court as he visited Budapest on Thursday, a rare trip abroad in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday defended his government’s decision not to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Budapest, despite an International Criminal Court warrant requiring member states to detain him.