Netanyahu to Skip Auschwitz Liberation Event in Poland over 'ICC Arrest Fears'

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Poland's deputy foreign minister, who is organising the ceremony, told Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that Warsaw was committed to respecting the ICC's decisions. 

Last month, the Hague-based court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defence minister. 

The two were accused of "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts" during Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, which began following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7.

All 124 members of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, are now compelled to arrest the two Israeli leaders and hand them over to the court. Poland is among its signatories. 

According to Rzeczpospolita, both Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog are not due to attend the Auschwitz event on January 27. Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch is expected to be there. 

According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, historians estimate that around 1.1 million people perished in the concentration camp during the less than five years of its existence. The majority, around one million people, were Jews.

Both Gallant and Netanyahu have avoided travelling to Europe or making any stopovers there en route to the United States, which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. 

Several signatories, including the Netherlands, France, the UK, Ireland and Belgium have indicated that they would respect the ICC's ruling. 

However, France later said it believed Netanyahu was covered by immunity as a sitting head of government because Israel is not a member of the ICC, though international legal experts have rejected this interpretation.

Some member states have previously flouted their obligation: both South Africa and Jordan failed to arrest Omar Al-Bashir when the Sudanese autocrat, who is wanted by the international court, visited them, drawing the ire of human rights groups and the ICC.

The ICC does not have enforcement powers, instead relying on the cooperation of member states to arrest and surrender suspects.