January 23 2025, 3:23 p.m. (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27, 2024, in New York City. Photo: Stephanie Keith\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n ALLOWING ISRAEL\u2019S INDICTED<\/strong> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu safe passage to a Holocaust memorial service in Poland next Tuesday would \u201cmake a mockery\u201d of Europe\u2019s commitment to the International Criminal Court, according to Josep Borrell, the European Union\u2019s foreign affairs chief until last month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes committed<\/a> during Israel\u2019s 16-month war on Gaza, including using starvation as a method of warfare; deliberately attacking civilians; murder; and persecution. His former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant<\/a> faces the same charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week waived his country\u2019s legal obligations as an ICC signatory to arrest Netanyahu, instead offering<\/a> the Israeli leader unhindered travel to the 80th Auschwitz memorial service on January 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt would be a grave mistake for the Polish EU Presidency to welcome Netanyahu to an official Holocaust memorial ceremony,\u201d Borrell, who stood down as head of the European External Action Service last month, told The Intercept. \u201cThis would make a mockery of the EU\u2019s strong commitment to the International Criminal Court, which the EU27 unanimously reaffirmed in June 2023<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without mentioning Poland by name, Sven Koopmans, the EU\u2019s Middle East peace envoy, told The Intercept that the ICC was \u201csupported by the entire EU including the institutions and the 27 member states \u2014 and that includes all that comes with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rubio Orders State Department to Stop Issuing Accurate Passports to Trans People<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shawn Musgrave<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu Has an ICC Arrest Warrant. Poland\u2019s Promise to Ignore It Would Be a \u201cGrave Mistake.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Arthur Neslen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats Are Worried About John Ratcliffe\u2019s Role in the 2020 Election. They Should Also Take a Look At His AI Gigs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt Sledge<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is unclear whether Netanyahu will attend the Auschwitz service, as he has in the past. Tusk\u2019s offer has proved unpopular<\/a> in Poland, and lawyers have warned<\/a> of \u201cimmediate and robust legal action\u201d in the Polish courts, if Netanyahu sets foot on Polish soil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli press reports\u00a0suggest<\/a>\u00a0that Israel\u2019s Education Minister Yoav Kisch may go in Netanyahu\u2019s place, and the Israeli PM\u2019s spokesperson did not return emails, texts, or calls on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ICC is already coming under attack from the new U.S. administration of Donald Trump, who has long sought to shut the court down<\/a>. That political crisis could be compounded if Poland bestows impunity on Netanyahu by allowing an unfettered visit, undermining the court from within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTreating the Rome Statute<\/a> like an \u00e0 la carte menu would not only set a very dangerous precedent for the international criminal justice system it would undermine respect for EU treaty obligations at large,\u201d Borrell said. \u201cIf Poland, or any other EU Member State, welcomes an ICC fugitive indicted for crimes against humanity, do we really expect others to take us seriously when we ask them to enforce the arrest warrant against Putin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet if Netanyahu avoids Poland, it will highlight the extent to which he has become persona non grata in the wake of bloody onslaught on Gaza that has sparked genocide charges<\/a> in The Hague<\/a>. The ICC has 120 member states that are obliged to fulfill its arrest warrants. But Italy, France<\/a>, and Hungary have all said that they would not arrest Netanyahu, with Hungary\u2019s Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n going so far as to say he would invite him to Budapest<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Poland signed on to an EU Council statement in June 2023 backing the ICC system to lead the fight against impunity and \u201cbring justice to victims everywhere.\u201d It also called for the \u201cprompt execution of outstanding arrest warrants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tusk\u2019s office did not respond to requests for comment on how the exemption for Netanyahu was consistent with Poland\u2019s obligations. The Polish prime minister has previously defended<\/a> the red carpet offer to Netanyahu as a way of \u201cpaying tribute to the Jewish nation, millions of whose daughters and sons became victims of the Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu, though, is a polarizing figure, who has previously appropriated the issue to compare October 7 to the Holocaust<\/a>, and Hamas to the Nazis<\/a>. He has falsely blamed Palestinians for<\/a> the Holocaust<\/a>, triggering widespread condemnation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BECOME A MEMBER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two survivors of the Nazi genocide who have spoken out against the killing of over<\/a> 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza told The Intercept that they were disgusted by Tusk\u2019s planned guest list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabor Mat\u00e9, 81, who survived the Holocaust as a baby in the care of strangers while much of his family perished, described Tusk\u2019s offer as \u201ca travesty, a betrayal of all humane principles and international law, and a cynical political move to curry favour with the US. Netanyahu does not represent the \u2018Jewish nation.\u2019 An increasing number of Jews internationally are appalled by the horrors inflicted in their name by the state he leads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen Kapos, 87, is one of them. A Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust in a shelter run by a Protestant church, his father was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and many of his relatives were killed. He depicted the reserved seat for Netanyahu at the memorial as \u201ca desecration of the sacred memory of Holocaust victims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNetanyahu is a straightforward war criminal and Poland\u2019s decision to provide him with assistance, a platform and safe passage is an outrage,\u201d he said. \u201cHe even made a statement in Yad Vashem\u201d \u2014 Israel\u2019s Holocaust memorial \u2014 that \u2018never again is now,\u2019 linking what they were doing to the Palestinians with the Holocaust. It\u2019s criminal to do that. They\u2019re openly enacting a genocide in Gaza. There\u2019s no other interpretation when 2,000-pound bombs are indiscriminately raining down on civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNetanyahu shouldn\u2019t be at an Auschwitz memorial. He deserves to be hauled up for trial in The Hague.\u201dShare<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Arthur Neslen<\/a>artneslen@gmail.com<\/a>@ArthurNeslen<\/a>on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Poland has promised Netanyahu safe passage to an Auschwitz memorial service. Former and current EU officials are speaking out. Arthur Neslen January 23 2025, 3:23 p.m. (TheIntercept.com) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27, 2024, in New York City. Photo: Stephanie Keith\/Getty Images ALLOWING… Continue reading ![\"NEW](\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2173926209-e1737655947436.jpg?fit=4000%2C2000\")
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