
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has assured that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have safe passage and will not face arrest if he attends the 80th-anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz later this month, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
The assurance follows a call by Polish President Andrzej Duda for the government to guarantee Netanyahu's security. In a letter obtained by Bloomberg News, Duda cited the "absolutely exceptional circumstances" surrounding the event.
Netanyahu is currently under an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
“Anyone who wishes to attend the Auschwitz commemoration, any representative of the state of Israel, will be guaranteed security,” Tusk stated during a press briefing in Warsaw on Thursday, as quoted by Bloomberg.
The commemoration is set for January 27 at the site of the Nazi death camp in southern Poland. Polish media reported in late December that Netanyahu will not travel to Poland for the events due to the arrest warrant against him.
While all European Union (EU) member states are signatories to the ICC's founding treaty, there have been differing interpretations of how to handle the warrants.
France has stated that Netanyahu has immunity from ICC actions because Israel has not ratified the court’s statutes. Similarly, Italy has argued that arresting Netanyahu would not be feasible while he remains in office as Israel's Prime Minister.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof suggested last month that there could be ways for Netanyahu to visit the Netherlands without being arrested, despite the ICC arrest warrant against him.
Schoof explained that there are potential scenarios under the Netherlands' international obligations in which Netanyahu could visit without facing arrest, depending on the purpose of his visit.
"In light of that, we would have to see how we act when the prime minister of Israel were to come to the Netherlands. There are possible scenarios, also within international law, in which he would be able to come to the Netherlands without being arrested."
Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had urged all EU member states to respect the decisions of the ICC, including the arrest warrants issued against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
"We cannot undermine the International Criminal Court. It is the only way of having global justice," Borrell said to reporters in Brussels at the end of last week.