Permission to indict Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s safe passage to a Holocaust memorial service in Poland next Tuesday would make a “mockery” of Europe’s commitment to the International Criminal Court, according to Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief until last month.
Netanyahu wanted by ICC. Committed alleged war crimes. During Israel’s 16-month war on Gaza, including using starvation as a method of warfare. Intentionally attacking civilians; Murder and persecution. His former defense minister Wow Gallant facing the same charges.
Yet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week waived his country’s legal obligations as an ICC signatory to arrest Netanyahu. The offer Israeli leaders traveled unimpeded to the 80th Auschwitz memorial service on January 27.
Borrell, who stepped down as head of the European External Action Service last month, told The Intercept, “It was a grave mistake for Poland to hold the EU presidency to welcome Netanyahu to an official Holocaust memorial ceremony. It will happen.” “It would make a mockery of the EU’s strong commitment to the International Criminal Court, which the EU27 Unanimously ratified in June 2023.“
Without naming Poland, the EU’s Middle East peace envoy, Sven Koopmans, told The Intercept that the ICC “has the support of the entire EU, including the institutions and the 27 member states — and all that comes with it.” is.”
It is unclear whether Netanyahu will attend the Auschwitz service as he has in the past. Tusk’s offer was proven unpopular In Poland, and lawyers have. warned of “immediate and robust legal action” in Polish courts, should Netanyahu set foot on Polish soil.
Israeli press reports Recommend that Israeli Education Minister Yov Kesh could replace Netanyahu, and a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister did not return emails, texts or calls on the subject.
The ICC is already under attack from the new US administration of Donald Trump, which has long sought to Close the court. The political crisis could worsen if Poland weakens the court from within by allowing Netanyahu unfettered visits.
“Treatment Constitution of Rome Borrell said that an à la carte menu would not only set a very dangerous precedent for the international criminal justice system, it would also undermine respect for EU treaty obligations at large. “If Poland, or any other EU member state, welcomes an ICC fugitive accused of crimes against humanity, do we really expect others to take us seriously when we are Putin? “Would you like to execute the arrest warrant against?”
Yet if Netanyahu avoids Poland, it will show just how much of a degenerate figure he has become in the wake of the bloody attack on Gaza. Allegations of genocide In The Hague
A provocative invitation
The ICC has 120 member states that are obliged to execute their arrest warrants. But Italy, Franceand Hungary have all said they will not arrest Netanyahu, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán even saying that he Invite him to Budapest..
Poland signed an EU Council statement in June 2023 supporting the ICC system to lead the fight against impunity and “bring justice to victims everywhere.” He also demanded “immediate execution of outstanding arrest warrants”.
Tusk’s office did not respond to requests for comment on how the exemption for Netanyahu was consistent with Poland’s obligations. Former Prime Minister of Poland defended Red carpet presentation to Netanyahu “as a way of paying tribute to the Jewish people, whose millions of sons and daughters were victims of the Holocaust.”
Netanyahu, though, is a polarizing figure, having previously appropriated the issue. Compare October 7th to the Holocaust.and Hamas to the Nazis. He has lied. Blamed the Palestinians The Holocaustmass mobilization Condemnation.
Two survivors of the Nazi genocide who have spoken out against the killing of finished The 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza told The Intercept they were disgusted by Tusk’s planned guest list.
Gaber Matti, 81, who survived the Holocaust as a child in the care of strangers while most of his family perished, called Tusk’s offer “a fraud, against all humanitarian principles and between treason against international law, and a nefarious political move. Netanyahu does not represent the ‘Jewish nation’ on behalf of the growing number of Jews in this state But Afraid of the horrors to come.
87-year-old Stephen Kapus is one of them. A Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust in a shelter run by the Protestant Church, his father was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and many of his relatives were killed. They described the reserved seat for Netanyahu at the memorial as “a desecration of the sacred memory of the victims of the Holocaust.”
“Netanyahu is a straight-up war criminal and Poland’s decision to provide him with support, a platform and safe passage is an outrage,” he said. “He also made a statement at Yad Vashem” – Israel’s Holocaust memorial – that ‘is no longer there’, linking what he was doing to the Palestinians to the Holocaust. Doing so is criminal. They are openly committing genocide in Gaza. When 2,000-pound bombs are raining indiscriminately on civilians, there is no other interpretation.
Netanyahu should not be at the Auschwitz memorial. He deserves a trial at The Hague.
