Above photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images.
The Israeli Prime Minister is wanted by the ICC for using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on 9 January that his government would shield Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from possible arrest on war crimes charges ahead of a visit to Poland this month to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz.
Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza, including seeking to starve Palestinians to death by imposing a total blockade on the strip. The ICC also issued a warrant for former defense minister Yoav Gallant on the same charges.
The ICC did not include Israel’s mass bombing campaign of Gaza among the accusations against the two Israeli leaders. Israel’s bombing and ground campaign have killed over 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children.
Prime Minister Tusk sent a letter to Polish President Andrzej Duda on 8 January demanding that Netanyahu be granted immunity if he came to attend the Auschwitz commemoration on 27 January.
Tusk’s office said the government was adopting a specific resolution to ensure free and safe participation for representatives of Israel in the Auschwitz event, without naming Netanyahu or referring to the ICC.
The head of President Duda’s office, Małgorzata Paprocka, stated on Thursday that the president had written to Tusk to say that “every person from Israel, every representative of the authorities of this country should have the opportunity to take part in this exceptional event” at Auschwitz.
Poland’s effort to protect Netanyahu from arrest on war crimes charges comes after a swarm of criminal complaints filed by pro-Palestine groups in courts against Israeli soldiers worldwide.
In response, the Israeli army issued fresh restrictions against media coverage of active-duty soldiers due to the legal risks they are facing over war crimes in Gaza while traveling abroad.
The new rules stipulate that any media outlets interviewing soldiers with the rank of colonel will not be permitted to display their faces or full names, similar to the already existing rules for air force pilots and members of special forces units, Israeli army spokesman Nadav Shoshani told reporters on 8 January.
“This is our new guideline to protect our soldiers and to make sure they are safe from these types of incidents hosted by anti-Israel activists around the world,” he said.
He also said soldiers were not supposed to upload videos of themselves in warzones in the first place, “even though that’s never perfect and we have a large army.”
According to recent reports in Hebrew media, at least 50 criminal complaints in courts around the world have targeted Israeli soldiers for their role in Tel Aviv’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, protesting the government’s decision not to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/nzevSADluP
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) January 11, 2025