Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Thursday that his government would shield Israeli officials, including Benjamin Netanyahu, from possible arrest if they came to Poland this month to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz.
At the same time, Tusk accused Polish President Andrzej Duda, his political rival, of “completely unnecessarily” turning the ceremony into another domestic political spat before a presidential election in May.
Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, but Duda sent a letter to Tusk on Wednesday demanding that Netanyahu be granted immunity if he came to attend the 80th commemoration of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on January 27.