The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over his conduct in the war in Gaza, which Poland might not enforce [Getty]
The International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has said it has written to the Polish government challenging their guarantees not to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In a statement released on Friday the ICJP said that it had written to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as well as the foreign minister and justice minister over the visit, which it says, “raises critical issues of compliance with international and domestic law.”
The ICJP said it recognised the significance of commemorating Holocaust victims and the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, but added that the international legal consequences of the guarantee to Netanyahu, made under Resolution No. RM-06111-2-25 of the Polish Council of Ministers, are wide ranging.
“The resolution may facilitate impunity for individuals subject to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), including wanted war crimes suspects Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.”
Both Netanyahu and former Israel Defence Minister Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
The ICJP said that Poland had an obligation under the Rome Statute to fulfill the warrant and that “refusal to do so by Poland would not only be a failure to uphold their obligations, but it would also undermine the very fabric of international justice.”
The ICJP also took issue with Poland’s reasoning for the guarantee, which the Polish government claimed was “part of paying tribute to the Jewish nation, millions of whose daughters and sons became victims of the holocaust carried out by the Third Reich”.
“ICJP firmly believes that true respect for the victims of genocide lies in upholding the principles of justice and ensuring accountability for atrocities, not in providing protection to alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the statement read.
Its director, Tayab Ali, said “Poland, as a state party to the ICC, has a legal and moral duty to cooperate with the Court in bringing perpetrators of serious international crimes to justice.”
“Failure to do so would not only violate international law but also Poland’s own constitutional principles.”
Polish law firm Pietrzak Sidor and Wspolnicy have been retained to act on the UK-based ICJPs behalf regarding submissions and potential legal proceedings.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is set to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation by the Soviet military on 27 January 1945 at the tail-end of the Second World War.
Some 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed in the camp which consisted of multiple sites and acted as both a labour and extermination camp. Tens of thousands of non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war were also killed in the camp.
According to the Times of Israel, Israel’s delegation to the memorial event is set to be headed by education minister Yoav Kisch.
