Poland promises not to arrest Netanyahu under ICC warrant if he comes to Auschwitz
10 January 08:53
On January 9, the Polish government adopted a special decision regarding the participation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The document guarantees the safe stay of Israeli officials at this event, which is part of the commemoration of the millions of Jews who perished during the Holocaust. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi with reference to Yevropeiska Pravda.
The situation is delicate, as in November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant on charges of war crimes in Gaza. As a member of the ICC, Poland is obliged to execute such arrest warrants. However, in this case, the government decided to guarantee the safety of the Israeli delegation’s participation in the commemorative events.
The authorization was initiated by Polish President Andrzej Duda. He wrote a letter to the government asking for an appropriate exception to the rules. They apparently agreed.
In response to this step, the ICC said that only the court itself can make any decisions regarding its own warrants.
“This is not only a legal obligation to the Court under the Rome Statute, but also to other States Parties. If states have concerns about cooperation with the Court, they can consult the Court in a timely and effective manner. As stated in Article 119 of the Statute, “any dispute concerning the judicial functions of the Court shall be settled by a decision of the Court.”
– fadi el-Abdallah, spokesperson for the International Criminal Court, told Ukrinform.
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In the footsteps of Mongolia
Poland is not the first state party to the Rome Statute to violate the ICC warrant. Last September, it was Mongolia that did so, hosting Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and failing to arrest him. Mongolia is a signatory to the Rome Statute and is obliged to comply with its orders.
In response, the ICC merely stated that Mongolia refused to execute the warrant and said that the issue would be considered at the Assembly of States Parties, which takes place once a year.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on March 17, 2023, and since then, Putin has not visited countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute. Because of this, the Russian leader did not even go to the BRICS summit in South Africa.
