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

Berlin — Polish President Andrzej Duda has requested a special dispensation so that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can attend events in the country marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz without facing the risk of arrest under an International Criminal Court order. Poland will host a commemoration eight decades after Allied forces captured the infamous camp from German troops and freed the surviving prisoners on January 27, 1945.

Duda sent a letter to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urging an exemption for Netanyahu, who has not said whether he wants to attend the annual event, as he has done several times before, according to a statement confirmed by the Polish president’s chief of staff, Malgorzat Paprocka.

Duda emphasized the importance of 80 Memorial service in Auschwitzsaying that all representatives from Israel, especially those in leadership positions, should be able to participate without legal obstacles.

ICC in November he issued warrants for Netanyahu’s arrestformer Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war.

The Israeli government has loudly rejected the indictment of its leader as a miscarriage of justice, insisting that it remained within its rights of self-defense in waging war against Hamas.

As a signatory to the United Nations treaty that established the ICC, Poland is obliged to detain any person with an outstanding warrant who enters its territory.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski dismissed speculation of a possible arrest, saying Netanyahu was not expected to visit Europe.

Neither the Tusk nor the Israeli government has made any public comments on the matter.

The issue comes amid strained relations between Duda, Poland’s conservative, nationalist leader, and Tusk’s centrist, pro-European administration, which took office in December 2023. In Poland, the president is the country’s highest official, and the person in that role has the power to veto legislation. passed by the government, led by the prime minister, but the presidential veto can be overridden by a three-fifths majority in parliament.

Auschwitz, built by the Nazi regime in occupied Poland, became a powerful symbol of the crime holocaust.

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

The annual events on the occasion of the liberation of the death camps aim to remind the world of the horrors that took place in Europe eight decades ago.

Duda was awaiting an official response from Tusk regarding the assurances sought for Netanyahu if he wants to attend the memorial, which is a major international event that usually brings together world leaders and Holocaust survivors to honor the memory of those who suffered Nazi atrocities.