WARSAW, January 10, 2025 (WAFA) – Thousands of Polish marched in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw in protest over Poland’s resolution granting immunity to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immunity despite facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The protestors rallied against the Polish government’s resolution granting free access to Israeli officials wanting to attend the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation, including Netanyahu, despite an ICC arrest warrant for him.
They called on their government to respect the resolutions of the ICC and refrain from applying the policy of double standards.
They pledged to continue to rally against their government’s resolution in several other cities across Poland.
“The Polish government treats the safe participation of the leaders of Israel in the commemorations on January 27, 2025, as part of paying tribute to the Jewish nation, millions of whose daughters and sons became victims of the Holocaust carried out by the Third Reich,” read the resolution.
As a member state of the ICC, Poland is required to detain suspects facing arrest warrants if they set foot on their soil. However, the ICC has no power to enforce this.
The move comes amid a controversial decision in the US to pass legislation sanctioning ICC officials and staff members who pursue investigations into Israeli leaders.
In its statement, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of three judges, said that it has “in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel (‘Israel’) brought under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute (the ‘Statute’). It also issued warrants of arrest for Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant.”
The chamber said the arrest warrants are classified as "secret" but that it has decided to release them because "conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing", referring to Israel's ongoing onslaught on Gaza.
All 125 states that signed the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court, are under an obligation to arrest the wanted individuals and hand them over to the ICC in the Hague. A trial cannot commence in absentia.
However, the court does not have enforcement powers. It relies on the cooperation of member states to arrest and surrender suspects.
Israel is not a member of the ICC, but the State of Palestine was granted membership in 2015. Accordingly, the court can investigate Israeli individuals for crimes committed in occupied Palestine, which includes the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, killing at least 46,006 Palestinians and injuring 109,378 others.
Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
K.F.
