Polish president wants to allow Netanyahu to visit Auschwitz memorial despite ICC war crimes indictment

Berlin – Polish President Andrzej Duda called for a special exception to allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend events in the country marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, without facing the risk of arrest under an ICC warrant. Poland will host a memorial service eight decades after Allied forces captured the notorious camp from German forces and liberated the surviving prisoners on January 27, 1945.

Duda sent a letter to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urging the removal of Netanyahu, who did not clarify whether he wanted to attend the annual event, as he has done several times in the past, according to a statement confirmed by the head of the Polish president’s office. Malgorzata paprika.

Duda highlighted the importance of octogenarians Memorial service at AuschwitzHe said that any representative of Israel, especially those in leadership positions, should be able to participate without legal impediments.

International Criminal Court Arrest warrants were issued in November for NetanyahuFormer Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Mohammad Deif are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that followed.

The Israeli government strongly rejected the accusation against its leader as a miscarriage of justice, and insisted that it remained within its rights to self-defense in waging war against Hamas.

As a signatory to the UN treaty under which the ICC was established, Poland is obligated to detain any individual with an outstanding judicial order issued by the court if they enter its territory.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gaukowski denied speculation about any possible arrest, saying Netanyahu is not expected to visit Europe.

Neither the Tusk government nor Israel have issued any public comments on this matter.

The case comes amid tension in relations between Duda, the conservative and nationalist Polish leader, and the centrist pro-European Tusk administration, which took power in December 2023. In Poland, the president is the highest official in the country, and the person who holds this position has power. The power to veto legislation introduced by the government is led by the Prime Minister, but a presidential veto can be overridden by a three-fifths majority vote in Parliament.

Auschwitz, built by the Nazi regime in occupied Poland, became a powerful symbol of the atrocities committed Holocaust.

More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed through forced labour, starvation, disease and mass executions in the gas chambers of Auschwitz before its liberation. Poland’s Jewish population was decimated, with more than three million killed during World War II, accounting for nearly half of the Holocaust’s victims.

Annual events marking the liberation of the death camp aim to remind the world of the atrocities committed in Europe eight decades ago.

Duda was waiting for an official response from Tusk regarding the guarantees required for Netanyahu, if he wishes to attend the memorial, a major international event that usually attracts world leaders and Holocaust survivors to honor the memory of those who suffered Nazi atrocities.