Poland confirms it will not arrest Netanyahu on ICC warrant if he attends Auschwitz anniversary

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has confirmed that Poland will not comply with an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant to arrest his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu if he attends the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz later this month

Speaking in parliament, Tusk said that the government had been “working for many days on a decision that would guarantee a safe visit for all guests who are interested in participating in the anniversary ceremonies in Auschwitz”.

“For obvious reasons, this particularly applies to representatives of the state of Israel, who are understandably more interested than anyone else in these ceremonies,” he added, quoted by news website 300Polityka.

Tusk acknowledged that “the matter is delicate” and “on one hand we have the ICC [warrant]”. But, “on the other hand, it has been obvious to me from the start that the prime minister, president or any other representative of Israel should have the full right and sense of security and safety if they visit Auschwitz”.

“Whether it is the prime minister or a minister – whoever comes to the ceremony will have their safety ensured and will not be detained,” he confirmed.

Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon, the government adopted a resolution that does not mention Netanyahu by name but says that Poland will “ensure free and safe access and participation by the highest representatives of the State of Israel in these commemorations”.

“Remembering the six million victims of the Holocaust, including the almost 1.1 million murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau, is a moral and legal obligation, not only for Poland, Israel and the nations of Europe, but for the entire international community,” continues the resolution.

“That is why the government treats ensuring the safe participation of the leaders of Israel in the commemorations as part of paying tribute to the Jewish nation, millions of whose daughters and sons became victims of the Holocaust carried out by the Third Reich,” it concluded.

On 21 November last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the armed conflict with Palestine. All of the ICC’s 124 members, including Poland, are, in theory, obliged to arrest the pair if they enter their territory.

Last month, a leading Polish newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, reported that Netanyahu is not planning to attend the 27 January anniversary at the former German-Nazi camp of Auschwitz – which is located in what is now Poland – due to fear of arrest.

The newspaper said that “the Israeli authorities did not even ask for Prime Minister Netanyahu to participate in the ceremony” because “they knew what Warsaw’s response would be”.

Speaking to Rzeczpospolita, Polish deputy foreign minister Władysław Bartoszewski, who is responsible for coordinating the anniversary event, said that “we are obliged to respect the decisions of the ICC”.

Meanwhile, anonymous Polish diplomatic sources told the newspaper that Poland is determined to ensure that Vladimir Putin, who is also subject to an ICC warrant, eventually appears before the court. “That is why we must abide by its decisions,” they said.

However, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, condemned Poland’s position, saying it had missed “the most important moment to say ‘never again’ in the 80-year commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz” and to stand with Israel “in response to the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust”.

She argued that the ICC warrants represent the “hijacking and weaponisation of international law and its infrastructures for the systematic demonisation and delegitimisation and application of double standards toward the state of Israel, the proverbial Jew among the nations”.

Yesterday, Poland’s own president, Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the conservative opposition, also wrote to Tusk calling on the government to guarantee that Netanyahu would not be arrested if he attended the Auschwitz ceremonies.

Duda argued that the “exceptional circumstances” of the anniversary and Poland’s special “mission to protect the truth and memory of the Holocaust” justified ignoring the ICC warrant in order to ensure that “every Jew can honour the memory of over six million of their murdered brethren”.

Auschwitz was originally set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland as a camp to house Polish “political” prisoners before later becoming primarily a site for the murder of Jews.

At least 1.3 million victims were transported there, with at least 1.1 million of them killed at the camp. Around one million of those victims were Jews, most of whom were murdered in gas chambers immediately after their arrival. The second largest group of victims numerically were ethnic Poles.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: World Economic Forum/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.