‘In These Exceptional Circumstances’: Poland Backtracks on Netanyahu Arrest Threats

Latest Developments

Netanyahu Welcome to Attend Auschwitz Commemoration: Poland’s parliament adopted a resolution on January 9 that would ensure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli officials can attend the 80th-anniversary commemoration of the liberation of the Nazi-run Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on January 27 — where an estimated one million Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust. The move was a reversal for the government of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which said in December that, as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it would comply with the ICC’s warrant to arrest Netanyahu should he enter the country.
‘Poland Should Guarantee Him Absolutely Unrestricted Entry’: The resolution was prompted by a letter sent to Tusk on January 8 by Polish President Andrzej Duda calling on parliament to ensure the Israeli officials’ safety if they decide to attend the ceremony. “If the current Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, expresses his personal wish to participate in the ceremonies … the government of the Republic of Poland should guarantee him absolutely unrestricted entry into our country in these exceptional circumstances,” Duda wrote. So far, neither Netanyahu nor Israeli President Isaac Herzog has announced plans to attend the ceremony.
Nations Choosing to Not Comply With Warrants: On November 21, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of crimes against humanity committed during the war in Gaza. More than 120 countries have signed the ICC’s Rome Statute, which calls on member states to enforce ICC-issued arrest warrants. Nevertheless, some signatories have signaled that they would not comply with the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, including France, Germany, Italy, and Hungary. Netanyahu and Israeli lawmakers have criticized the ICC’s warrants as a “modern Dreyfus trial” and a “reward for terrorism,” while U.S. lawmakers have advanced legislation to impose sanctions on ICC officials.

FDD Expert Response

“Polish President Andrzej Duda did the right thing — and the wise thing — by prodding Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to guarantee that Benjamin Netanyahu could safely set foot on Polish soil. Consider what it would have meant if Poland had, as earlier announced, effectively barred the prime minister of the small, genocidally threatened nation-state of the Jewish people from a commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, where genocidal antisemitism reached its zenith in the 20th century. The charges against the prime minister of the world’s only Jewish state by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan should be seen for what they are: one of several forms that antisemitism takes in the 21st century.” — Clifford D. May, Founder and President

“The ICC warrant against leaders in Israel is absurd. Poland should welcome Benjamin Netanyahu with open arms. The United States and all our allies should do the same. Poland has taken the right step.” — Peter Doran, Adjunct Senior Fellow