EU member states are obliged to implement ICC decision: Borrell

European Union member states are obliged to implement an arrest warrant against Israeli and Hamas leaders issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said here on Saturday, reported Xinhua.

"The states that signed the Rome convention are obliged to implement the decision of the court. It's not optional," said Borrell after a workshop in Nicosia organized by the "Two-State Coalition for Israel and Palestine," an Israeli-Palestinian activist organization.

Borrell, who was the keynote speaker at the event, made the remarks when asked by journalists to comment on the arrest warrant issued by the ICC against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged crimes against humanity.

Asked to comment on a report that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit the country, Borrel said that "the arrest warrants issued by the court have to be implemented also by Hungary...by all members of the European Union. And if they don't, then there is a legal case of not fulfilment of the legal obligation."

He also rebuffed accusations from Israel that the warrants were antisemitic, saying that a phrase alluding to the "darkest periods of history" should not be used lightly.

"Every time someone disagrees with the policy of one Israeli government he is being accused of antisemitism.... This is not acceptable," Borrell said.

There has been a mixed response by EU member states to the ICC warrants, with France and Germany saying that they are considering the issue and some countries saying that they would arrest those named in it.

Borrell will travel to Lebanon on Sunday for a series of bilateral talks with Lebanese leaders and United Nations representatives.