WARSAW – The Polish government adopted a resolution on Thursday to ensure the free and safe participation of Israeli leaders, including ICC, indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz ceremony on 27 January.
On 21 November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and others, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 15-month war in Gaza – meaning that ICC member states such as Poland are obliged to arrest them as soon as they enter their territory.
In a political decision in direct contradiction to their ICC obligations, the government, headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said it would allow the safe participation of Israeli leaders in the event as it is part of paying tribute to the millions of Jewish victims of the holocaust.
The decision also seems to be a concession to President Andrzej Duda, who publicly called for a safe passage for Israeli leaders and sent an official letter to Tusk requesting the same. The two are currently embroiled in a very public spat which has threatened to overshadow the start of Poland’s EU Council presidency stint.
Poland’s traditional pro-Israel stance is one of the few things on which politicians from the main parties can agree, and it was likely seen as a symbolic gesture and an easy point to concede.
But it may be a moot point as Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had not received an invitation, and the Polish Foreign Ministry told Euractiv Poland that it had not received any information that he would attend the event.
The ministry added that any indication that Netanyahu could be arrested upon entering Poland is fake news spread in the US media.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland, was liberated on 27 January 1945. It now stands as a memorial to the more than one million people – mostly Jews – who were killed there during World War II.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl, Daniel Eck | Euractiv.com)
