Poland grants immunity to Netanyahu despite arrest warrant issued by International Criminal Court

Months after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for "war crimes" in the Gaza Strip, the Polish government decided to grant immunity to the Israeli leader in case he attends the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, where more than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed by the Nazis.

The decision by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was taken after, as reported by the Bloomberg agency, Andrzej Duda, president of Poland, wrote a letter to the head of state asking him to pledge to protect Benjamin Netanyahu in case the Israeli prime minister attends the event.

Speaking to the Polish state news agency PAP, Malgorzata Paprocka, head of Duda's office, said, "In the president's opinion, there is a question: precisely because it is about the Auschwitz concentration camp, every person from Israel, every representative of the authorities of this country should have the possibility to participate in this exceptional event."

Netanyahu's office indicated that the Israeli prime minister has no intention of attending the ceremony. According to reports in the Jewish state, Education Minister Yoav Kish will be Israel's envoy at the event.

"He will be safe and will not be detained"

Speaking to reporters, Tusk said, "I confirm that, whether it is the prime minister, the president or the minister - as it is currently declared - of education of Israel, whoever comes to Oswiecim (the Polish name for Auschwitz) for the commemoration at Auschwitz, will have the assurance that they will be safe and will not be detained," Reuters reported.