The Israeli PM reportedly has no plans to travel to Poland despite Warsaw’s guarantees that he won’t be arrested
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no plans to attend an event in Poland commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by the Red Army, Israeli media reported on Monday.
Netanyahu’s possible presence at the formal ceremony, scheduled for January 27, has triggered a controversy due to a standing warrant for his arrest, which was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last year. Poland, as a signatory of the Rome Statute, is obliged to enforce orders issued by the Hague-based judicial body. However, last week Warsaw extended safety guarantees to all invited guests, including the Israeli prime minister.
In response to the controversy, organizers have decided to exclude political speeches during the commemoration and draw attention to the few living survivors, who are in their eighties or older.
“I will not allow this commemoration at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum to become a platform for political, diplomatic or legal debates,” director Piotr Cywinski told the Polish news outlet Onet on Monday. Speaking to The Guardian, he said: “there will be no political speeches at all.”
This marks the first time in the Holocaust museum’s history when world leaders would not be given a platform at an anniversary. Cywinski has dismissed speculation of Netanyahu’s possible arrest as a “media provocation,” pointing out that the prime minister’s attendance was never confirmed by his office. Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch is expected to represent the nation, according to media reports.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas last November. The two Jewish officials were accused of war crimes, including intentionally causing starvation in Gaza.
The current escalation of violence in the Middle East was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. It has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, mostly in Gaza, which Israel besieged as part of its response.
Nazi Germany murdered an estimated 1.1 million people in the Auschwitz camp complex in occupied Poland during the Second World War; most were Jews. Soviet forces liberated the grim facility and freed the survivors in early 1945.
Russia, the successor-nation to the USSR, will not be present at Auschwitz for the third year in a row. Poland has been snubbing Moscow, citing its role in the Ukraine conflict, in which Warsaw supports Kiev.
