By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2024-12-20 16:21:52 | Updated at 2024-12-28 16:51:47
1 week ago
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reportedly not attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on International Holocaust Remembrance Day next month because of fear that Poland will honor a warrant to arrest him.
The warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for supposed war crimes in Gaza. The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel, and its embattled prosecutor, Karim Khan, who faces claims of sexual misconduct, refused to notify Israel before taking action.
The Times of Israel, citing a Polish media source, reported Friday:
The major event is planned for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 and is expected to be attended by dozens of leaders and heads of state, including Britain’s King Charles.
According to Polish outlet Rzeczpospolita, Israeli authorities haven’t contacted their Polish counterparts about attending the event, and officials in Warsaw believe the reason is related to Poland’s stance that it will adhere to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over possible war crimes in the Gaza war.
Relations between Israel and Poland have been tense in recent years, as Poland has pushed back against claims that it was complicit in the Holocaust. Nazi Germany operated many death camps there, and some Poles murdered Jews even after the war had ended. However, Poland mounted some of the toughest resistance to Nazi occupation, and more Poles have been honored for saving Jews by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial than any other people.
Then-President Donald Trump placed sanctions on the ICC to prevent it from investigating the U.S. and its allies at the behest of anti-Western nations. President Joe Biden reversed that policy, enabling the ICC to target Israel — and potentially to investigate American leaders and soldiers.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
