German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz on Thursday said he could not imagine an arrest warrant being executed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a potential visit to Germany.
The comments came in response to a journalist’s questions following Netanyahu’s arrival in Budapest, his first trip to Europe since the International Criminal Court, ICC, issued the warrant last November over the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
Hungary on Thursday announced plans to withdraw from the ICC, based in the Dutch city of The Hague.
At a press conference in Berlin alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Scholz said the German government has made its position clear on the subject of detaining Netanyahu.
“I can’t imagine that there will be an arrest in Germany,” the outgoing chancellor said.
Meanwhile, Hungary’s move was, however, criticised by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
On the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels, Baerbock said “it was a bad day for international criminal law.”
“In Europe, no one is above the law, and that applies to all areas of law,” she added.
Scholz’s presumptive successor as chancellor, conservative leader Friedrich Merz, has already said he is searching for ways to receive Netanyahu in Berlin without breaking international law.
The ICC’s founding treaty, known as the Rome Statute, requires member states to implement the court’s orders.
As member states of the court, Hungary and Germany are formally required to arrest Netanyahu if he enters their territory.
I cannot imagine Isreali’s Netanyahu being detained in Germany – Olaf Scholz
