Polish president wants ICC indictee Netanyahu to be able to go to Auschwitz anniversary

Warsaw: Poland's president asked the government to ensure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can choose to attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp without fear of arrest under an ICC warrant, a senior aide said on Thursday.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his ex-defence minister, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group.

Israel has condemned the warrants for Netanyahu and former defence chief Yoav Gallant, saying that it has acted in self-defence in its air and ground war in Gaza triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that President Andrzej Duda had written Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poland should ensure Netanyahu can be "unhindered" in attending the Jan. 27 Auschwitz commemoration given the event's exceptional nature.

Malgorzata Paprocka, the head of Duda's office, confirmed to state news agency PAP on Thursday that such a letter had been sent.

"In the opinion of the president, there is one issue - precisely because it is the Auschwitz camp, every person from Israel, every representative of the authorities of this country should have the opportunity to take part in this exceptional event."

She said Duda was waiting for a response. Tusk's office did not reply to an emailed request for comment.

Duda is a right-wing nationalist who has had tense relations with Tusk's centrist, pro-European government since it took office in December 2023.

Asked by state-run news channel TVP Info whether Netanyahu could count on a guarantee from Poland that he would not be arrested, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said: "There is no such topic, because Mr Netanyahu is not coming to Europe".

A spokesperson for Netanyahu, like Duda on the hard right of the political spectrum, declined to comment. Netanyahu has not said whether he would attend the Auschwitz commemoration. He has attended previous anniversary events at Auschwitz.

Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War Two.

More than three million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.