(JNS) At press time, Hungary was expected to announce during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official state visit on Thursday, April 3 that it was withdrawing from the International Criminal Court in The Hague and that it was moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The diplomatic moves would serve to strengthen the alliance between Hungary, Israel and the United States at a time of fractious divisions over foreign policy within the European Union.

The Israeli leader was set to travel to Budapest late Wednesday night to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday as part of an official four-day visit.

Netanyahu’s rare wartime trip to Hungary would be his first visit to Europe since the ICC issued an arrest warrant for him and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, last year for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Orban had invited Netanyahu to visit Budapest the day after the ICC decision last year, and said he would not enforce the arrest warrant.