Berlin — The President of Poland Andrzej Duda called for a special exception to be made so that the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu could attend the events in the country, timed to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, without the risk of arrest according to the warrant of the International Criminal Court. A memorial service will be held in Poland eight decades after Allied forces captured the infamous camp from German forces on January 27, 1945 and freed the surviving prisoners.
Duda sent a letter to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk demanding the release of 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 Poland's chief of staff, Malgozata Paprocka.
Duda emphasized the importance of the 80s Memorial service in Auschwitzstating that any representatives of Israel, especially those in leadership positions, should be able to participate without legal hindrance.
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Ministry of Internal Affairs in November issued arrest warrants for Netanyahuformer Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leader Mohamed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. and the war in Gaza that followed.
The Israeli government has strongly dismissed the accusation against its leader as a miscarriage of justice, insisting that he remained within his right of self-defense in waging war against Hamas.
As a signatory to the United Nations treaty that established the ICC, Poland is required to detain anyone with an outstanding warrant issued by a court when they enter its territory.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski dismissed speculation of a possible arrest, saying Netanyahu should not have visited Europe.
Neither the Tusk government nor the Israeli government has made any public comments on the matter.
The issue comes amid strained relations between Poland's conservative, nationalist leader Duda and the centrist, pro-European Tusk administration, which takes office in December 2023. In Poland, the president is the country's highest official, and the person in that role has the right to veto laws passed by the government led by the prime minister, but a presidential veto can be overridden by a three-fifths majority in parliament .
Built by the Nazi regime in occupied Poland, Auschwitz has become a powerful symbol of atrocities Holocaust.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed by forced labor, starvation, disease, and mass executions in the gas chambers of Auschwitz before it was liberated. The Jewish population of Poland was destroyed, more than three million were killed during World War II, which is almost half of all Holocaust victims.
The annual events dedicated to the liberation of the death camp are designed to remind the world of the horrors that took place in Europe eight decades ago.
Duda awaited a formal response from Tusk on the requested guarantees for Netanyahu if he wants to attend the memorial, which is a major international event that usually draws world leaders and Holocaust survivors to honor those who suffered Nazi atrocities.