There are news going around the Polish government possibly granting immunity for official Israeli visitors from arrest and extradition to the ICC. Although the news is currently quite ambiguous (there has been no concrete announcement from Netanyahu about a visit to Poland), it is important to state that a state party to the Rome Statute cannot validly guarantee such immunities – the Statute contains the obligation to arrest and surrender without any exceptions.
Although the absurdity of the situation is indisputable – namely the idea that the Israeli Prime Minister arriving for the Auschwitz memorial service should face the risk of arrest – the ICC arrest warrant is not a political product, and accordingly, it does not take such aspects into account.
Poland, however, must take into account its existing obligations, and these are clear under the Statute.
Personally, I think that Netanyahu will not travel to Poland, what we are seeing now is nothing more than a “rumble” taking place in the Polish political communication space – the first to speak on the subject was President Duda, who has absolutely no problem putting Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a difficult position. The latter has to respond to this, while having to be very careful not to alienate his country from either the Western allies, the EU or the International Criminal Court itself, which has/will have an important role in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, itself as a kind of “ally”, with the arrest warrant issued against Putin.
Lattmann Tamás honlapja 