WARSAW (Reuters) -The Polish government said on Thursday it would ensure free and safe participation in the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp for the highest representatives of Israel.
Polish President Andrzej Duda asked the government to ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can choose to attend the anniversary without fear of arrest under an ICC warrant, a senior aide said earlier.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his ex-defence minister, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group.
Israel has condemned the warrants for Netanyahu and former defence chief Yoav Gallant, saying that it has acted in self-defence in its air and ground war in Gaza triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Duda had written Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poland should ensure Netanyahu can be "unhindered" in attending the Jan. 27 Auschwitz commemoration given the event's exceptional nature.
Malgorzata Paprocka, the head of Duda's office, confirmed to state news agency PAP on Thursday that such a letter had been sent.
"In the opinion of the president, there is one issue - precisely because it is the Auschwitz camp, every person from Israel, every representative of the authorities of this country should have the opportunity to take part in this exceptional event," she said.
The government adopted a resolution on the issue on Thursday, but it does not refer directly to Netanyahu or the ICC arrest warrant.
Tusk told reporters that according to information from the Israeli embassy, Israel will be represented at the ceremony by its education minister, so Duda's request could be considered a "political demonstration."
"I confirm, whether it is the prime minister, the president or the minister - as it is currently declared - of education of Israel, whoever will come to Oswiecim for the celebrations in Auschwitz will be assured of safety and will not be detained," he said.
Duda is a right-wing nationalist who has had tense relations with Tusk's centrist, pro-European government since it took office in December 2023.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu, like Duda on the hard right of the political spectrum, declined to comment. Netanyahu has not said whether he would attend the Auschwitz commemoration. He has attended previous anniversary events at Auschwitz.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War Two.
More than 3 million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.