- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that his government would protect Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from potential arrest on war crimes charges during their visit to Poland for the 80th commemoration of Auschwitz's liberation.
- The move comes amid an ongoing legal and diplomatic controversy surrounding Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, including a total blockade that led to the starvation of Palestinians.
- Poland is navigating the complexities of honoring Holocaust victims' memory, international law and domestic politics. Tusk's announcement highlights the global scrutiny of Israel's military actions in Gaza.
- Tusk's decision has become entangled in Poland's domestic politics, with Tusk accusing President Duda of unnecessarily politicizing the event ahead of a presidential election.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Jan. 9 that his government would protect Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from potential arrest on war crimes charges during their visit to Poland later this month.
The officials are set to attend the 80th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp where over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered during World War II. The move comes amid an ongoing legal and diplomatic storm surrounding Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The decision underscores Poland's delicate balancing act as it seeks to honor the memory of Holocaust victims while navigating the complexities of international law and domestic politics. It also highlights the growing global scrutiny of Israel's military actions in Gaza, where over 46,000 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, have been killed since October 2023.
The ICC's warrant accuses Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of imposing a total blockade on Gaza, leading to the alleged starvation of Palestinians. However, the court has not included Israel's mass bombing campaign in its charges. (Related: ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for war crime of deliberate starvation and crimes against humanity.)
Diplomatic and domestic tug-of-war
Tusk's announcement followed a letter sent to Polish President Andrzej Duda on Jan. 8, in which the prime minister demanded that Netanyahu be granted immunity if he attends the Auschwitz commemoration on Jan. 27. The event, which will be attended by global leaders including Britain's King Charles III and Holocaust survivors, holds profound historical significance.
However, the issue has become entangled in Poland's domestic politics, with Tusk accusing Duda, his political rival, of unnecessarily politicizing the ceremony ahead of a presidential election in May.
Duda, a nominee of the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, has used his position to block several of Tusk's legislative initiatives since the pro-EU coalition ousted PiS from power in December 2023. The president emphasized his "honorary patronage" of the Auschwitz commemoration, stating that "every person from Israel, every representative of the authorities of this country should have the opportunity to take part in this exceptional event." However, he did not explicitly invite Netanyahu in his letter, which was first obtained by Bloomberg News.
Tusk's government has adopted a specific resolution to ensure the safe participation of Israeli representatives at the event, though it did not mention Netanyahu or the ICC directly. The prime minister stressed that the resolution was "precise" and limited to the Auschwitz ceremony.
"It is also very important for us that Poland is not among those countries that openly and demonstratively want to disregard the decisions of international tribunals," Tusk said.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestine groups have filed dozens of criminal complaints against Israeli soldiers in courts worldwide, prompting the Israeli military to impose new restrictions on media coverage of active-duty personnel. On Jan. 8, Israeli army spokesman Nadav Shoshani announced that soldiers with the rank of colonel or higher would no longer be identified by their full names or faces in media interviews, a measure already in place for air force pilots and special forces members.
"This is our new guideline to protect our soldiers and to make sure they are safe from these types of incidents hosted by anti-Israel activists around the world," Shoshani said. He also noted that soldiers were not supposed to upload videos of themselves in war zones, though he acknowledged that enforcement was imperfect.
According to recent reports in Hebrew media, at least 50 criminal complaints have been filed against Israeli soldiers in connection with the military campaign in Gaza. These legal actions have curtailed but not entirely halted the movements of high-profile Israeli officials.
For instance, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also faces an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, avoided traveling to South Africa last year but visited Mongolia, an ICC member state, in September.
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