WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland's president has asked the government to ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp without fear of being arrested under an ICC warrant, a senior aide said on Thursday.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, as well as Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict between Israel and the group. – Palestinian Islamist.
Israel has criticized the assurances of Netanyahu and former defense chief Yoav Gallant, saying he acted in self-defense in its air and ground war in Gaza that began on Oct. 7.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that President Andrzej Duda wrote to Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying that Poland must ensure that Netanyahu is “not prevented” from attending the Jan.
Malgorzata Paprocka, the head of Duda's office, confirmed to the PAP news agency on Thursday that the letter had been sent.
“According to the opinion of the president, there is one issue – precisely because it is the Auschwitz camp, everyone from Israel, every representative of the authorities in this country should have the opportunity to participate in this special event.”
Duda said waiting for an answer. Tusk's office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Duda is a nationalist with the right to deal with Tusk's boss, the European government since he took office in December 2023.
Asked by the government TVP Info news agency if Netanyahu can count on a guarantee from Poland that he will not be arrested, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said: “There is no such title, because Mr. Netanyahu is not coming to Europe”.
Netanyahu's spokesman, like Duda on the far right of politics, declined to comment. Netanyahu has not said whether he will attend the Auschwitz memorial. He has attended previous memorial services at Auschwitz.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, died in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, which was established by Nazi Germany in Poland during World War II.
More than three million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, which is about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.