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MADRID Jan. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, has formally requested the Government to allow the visit to the country of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the international arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), to participate in the events for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
This was confirmed by the head of the Chancellery of the President of Poland, Malgozata Paprocka, in statements to the PAP news agency, where she reported that Duda has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, in which he urges to allow the visit of Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the war in the Gaza Strip.
“I confirm that this letter was sent by the president to the prime minister. We are facing the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German concentration camp of Auschwitz. It will be an occasion to meet, reflect, remember the victims and commemorate this very special anniversary,” said Paprocka, in charge of guaranteeing legal compliance with the president’s actions.
Paprocka stressed that “every person in Israel” must have “the possibility” to participate in the events in honor of the liberation of the concentration camp, which will be held at the end of January. Auschwitz is considered the largest extermination camp in Nazi Germany and where almost 1.3 million people were sent, of which 1.1 million were murdered.
“We are waiting for a reaction. All instruments related to guaranteeing the possibility of the stay of the Prime Minister (Netanyahu) or any other representative of the State (of Israel), are in the hands of the Prime Minister and the (Polish) Council of Ministers” added Paprocka, who recognizes that the situation with Netanyahu is “absolutely exceptional.”
“Let us remember that the Prime Minister of Israel is being persecuted in connection with suspicion of having committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip (…) However, the president emphasizes an exceptional circumstance and believes that in this situation ( …) any representative of the Israeli authorities, if they wish, should be able to attend these celebrations,” he said.
Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated within the framework of the military offensive launched against the Gaza Strip after the previous Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, in which almost 1,200 people were killed and another 240 were kidnapped.
It seems difficult for the arrest warrants to be executed given that the ICC does not have its own elements and depends on the police collaboration of the signatory States of the Rome Statute, within which neither Israel nor its main international supporter appears. USA. Poland, however, is a signatory to the agreement.
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