Did Poland say they would arrest Netanyahu if he visited the Auschwitz Memorial?

By December 26, 2024 International Politics

We came across the following post on X:

The post on X suggested that Poland had confirmed that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, would be arrested if he were to visit the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland.

The news comes in anticipation of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, which is set to fall on 27 January 2025, for which it was suggested that Netanyahu might have intended to visit the memorial. In response to the announcement, Netanyahu is suggested to have decided not to make the trip.

When we did a web search on the issue, we found multiple news sources that reported on the prospective arrest of Netanyahu by Poland. The news was reported in both Jewish and Palestinian and Middle East-focused media, along with some rightwing news outlets and the Russian state-linked news outlet RT News.

However, the news sources presented this information in various ways. The rightwing news outlet the Daily Caller and RT News both reported that Poland had ‘threaten(ed) to arrest Netanyahu’ at Auschwitz, suggesting hostility in the decision of Poland.

Some Jewish media outlets suggested there was certainty in the decision by Poland, reporting a ‘confirmation’ by Poland that Netanyahu would be arrested, as in the X post.

In contrast, other sources did not indicate certainty or hostility from Poland, but rather reported that the decision had been made by Netanyahu due to fears and concerns that he would be arrested.

The suggestions of Netanyahu’s arrest are related to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in November, an international court that prosecutes war crimes.

Netanyahu has been charged by the ICC for alleged war crimes committed in the course of the War in Gaza. Specifically, he is charged with the war crimes of ‘starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population’. He is also charged with the ‘crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts’.

Member states of the court—such as Poland—are legally obliged to arrest those wanted by the court if they enter their countries. However, arrest warrants have been ignored in the past when wanted figures enter the territory of member states, and the court lacks an enforcement mechanism for ensuring the arrests.

Upon a closer reading of the various news sources, we found that regardless of the tone of the various headlines, all the news sources’ reporting on Poland’s stance could be traced back to an article in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

We located the article and found that it carried quotes from Polish government figures alluding to the possibility of Netanyahu’s arrest.

Poland’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, who is said to be responsible for coordinating the Auschwitz liberation anniversary ceremony with the participation of several world leaders, was quoted as saying, ‘We are obliged to respect the decisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague (translated)’.

Other unnamed Polish diplomatic sources said that they would comply with the ICC arrest request as they ‘hope that Vladimir Putin will finally appear before the ICC’. An ICC arrest warrant was issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The Polish sources, however, did not reference Netanyahu directly. Rzeczpospolita related further information, without providing a source, that Israeli authorities did not ask for Netanyahu to participate in the ceremony, knowing how Poland would respond.

The implication of Bartoszewski’s statement is that Netanyahu would be arrested if he were to visit Poland, though this is never directly stated by the Polish authorities.

The Auschwitz ceremony would have provided a possible reason for Netanyahu to visit Poland, but there is no suggestion that the arrest is linked to Auschwitz itself. Rather, it is related to Poland’s legal obligations as a member state of the ICC to arrest wanted figures who enter their country.

As such, we find the statement that Poland had said they would arrest Netanyahu if he were to visit Auschwitz to be partially true when inferred from the Polish minister’s statement.

Some news sources have falsely linked this to the Auschwitz liberation ceremony and have falsely implied hostility or threats on the behalf of the Polish authorities.

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