Polish Newspaper: Fearing Arrest Netanyahu to Skip 80th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation

Photo Credit: Avi Ohayon/Government Press Office/FLASH90

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara attended the memorial ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, January 27, 2010.

The right-of-center Polish daily Rzeczpospolita (circulation of 274,000), on Friday reported (80. rocznica wyzwolenia Auschwitz: Netanjahu obawia się aresztowania) that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend events in Poland marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp, for fear of being arrested in accordance with the order issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The newspaper quoted Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Władysław Bartoszewski, who is responsible for coordinating the ceremony on January 27 with the participation of several dozen world leaders, who stated, “We are obliged to respect the decisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.”

According to Rzeczpospolita, the Israeli authorities did not even ask for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s participation in the ceremony. “They knew what Warsaw’s response would be. Unlike the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, which was attended by President Reuven Rivlin, this time his successor Yitzhak Herzog is unlikely to come to Poland either.”

The report noted that “Jews constituted the vast majority of victims of the largest concentration camp of the Third Reich. However, there are many indications that at the upcoming, round anniversary of its liberation with the participation of former prisoners, Israel will be represented only by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.”

Sadly, in the January event, the relatively low profile of the Israeli delegation will contrast with the high-ranking representatives that many countries intend to send: French President Emmanuel Macron will come to Auschwitz; King Philip VI of Spain and his wife, Queen Letizia, have also confirmed their participation in the celebrations in Auschwitz.

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Polish diplomatic sources, who asked to remain anonymous, explained this atypical expression of hostility toward Israel on the part of the Polish government, saying: “We hope that Vladimir Putin will eventually appear before the ICC. That is why we must abide by the Tribunal’s decisions.”

Among the leaders of the 27 European Union countries, only Hungary’s Viktor Orbán immediately said that he would not comply with the Tribunal’s recommendations, and also invited the Israeli prime minister to Budapest. Later, as part of its negotiations for a ceasefire in Lebanon, the government of France, where the largest Jewish minority in Europe lives, has also decided that since Israel is not a party to the ICC, Netanyahu would be protected by political immunity should he visit.

In turn, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani has announced that “the arrest of Netanyahu is unfeasible.”

The German authorities are torn between their obligations to the ICC and their historical responsibility to Israel (they started that whole Auschwitz thing, you’ll recall).

On the other hand, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania, and Slovenia have clearly signaled that they would detain Netanyahu should he appear on their doorstep. “We cannot apply double standards,” said departing Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo.

“However, Poland’s position is particularly significant due to the thousand-year presence of Jews on the Vistula and the tragedy of the Holocaust,” Rzeczpospolita argued.