Israel ambassador hauled in over Aussie death verdict
Australia has summoned Israel’s ambassador for an urgent meeting to explain why the country had cleared its soldiers of wrongdoing over an aid worker death.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia has been summoned by the foreign minister after Israeli soldiers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing over a Gaza air strike that killed aid worker Zomi Frankcom.
Ambassador Hillel Newman arrived at Parliament House on Thursday after being called in by Penny Wong for a diplomatic dressing down.
Senator Wong said the Israeli government’s decision not to pursue criminal proceedings against those responsible for killing the Australian and her World Central Kitchen colleagues fell “far short of the accountability we expect”.
“(I) have directed Australia’s ambassador to Israel to convey our views directly to Israel as the Australian government considers next steps,” she said on Thursday.
The ambassador was driven in through the back entrance to Parliament House as part of a convoy of blacked-out cars.
Israel’s military announced overnight it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct in Gaza and made decisions on five cases, including the April 2024 attack on an aid convoy that included Frankcom.
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There was “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation”, the statement reads.
Wong said the government learned of Israel’s decision moments before it was announced, on World Humanitarian Day, which was “especially insulting to Zomi’s loved ones, humanitarians and all Australians”.
“Democracies seek and accept higher standards,” she said.
“The Australian government will not stop pressing Israel for justice for Zomi and her colleagues.”
The World Central Kitchen convoy was marked as supplying aid when it was struck in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
The Israeli military initially claimed the convoy was being used by Hamas, before later acknowledging it had been misidentified and admitting errors in the decision-making process before the attack.
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Two Israeli officers were dismissed from their positions and three senior officers were formally reprimanded, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Calls have grown for Israel’s ambassador to be expelled following the findings.
Former human rights commissioner and member of a UN commission on Palestine and Israel said Wong needed to tell Newman to leave the country.
“I don’t support breaking diplomatic relations with Israel. I don’t support the closing of embassies, but this bloke is clearly an unacceptable representative so far as Australia is concerned, and he should be sent home,” he told ABC Radio.
“We need the International Criminal Court conducting the investigations that it’s conducting, and we have to look to the International Criminal Court for justice in these cases.”
In a statement, World Central Kitchen said it fundamentally disagreed with the Israeli military prosecutor’s decision about a criminal investigation into the IDF airstrikes that killed its team.
“There has never been any excuse or justification for the attacks and there is nothing in this account that does so,” the organisation said.
“The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive.
“We continue to demand an independent commission to investigate the air strikes because the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own conduct.”
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson said Frankcom should never have been killed.
“It’s a tragedy that she was and it is incredibly concerning to hear this news out of Israel,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“I look forward to receiving a full briefing to understand why this decision was made and the nature of the decision.”
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