No apology from Israeli ambassador over killed Australian aid worker
Foreign Minister Penny Wong summoned Israel’s ambassador to answer questions over aid workers death in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia says “mistakes were made” with the airstrike that killed an Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza, but he has declined to apologise.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong summoned Ambassador Hillel Newman for a diplomatic dressing-down on Thursday after Israel’s “insulting” announcement not to open a criminal probe into the death.
Wong said the Israeli government’s decision not to pursue criminal proceedings against those responsible for killing the Australian and six of 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.
After their meeting, Wong told media there were many “unanswered questions”, including why the IDF conducted a further two air strikes on the aid convoy when the first strike was a “catastrophic error”.
Wong asked why the IDF was operating outside its own procedures and rules of engagement.
“We still have not had a satisfactory explanation of why the strike occurred in humanitarian biocontrol zone,” she continued, “after High Command had directed the brigade commander not to engage the convoy.
“We have not had a satisfactory explanation regarding the senior officer involved in the strikes being the signatory to a letter to the IDF Chief of the general staff calling for aid to be restricted to Gaza.
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Wong added: “We have not received the drone audio as requested multiple times by the government on the behalf of Zomi Frankcom’s family.”
Wong said the removal of two IDF officers from their positions and three officers being reprimanded was not sufficient accountability for the deaths of seven people including an Australian citizen.
“We do not have confidence in the IDF military Advocate General’s process given many unanswered questions.”
Ambassador Newman said “mistakes” were made by both the aid convoy and the Israeli military.
He declined to apologise for Frankcom’s death on behalf of Israel, saying it could imply criminal responsibility.
“We express deep sorrow and grief with the family of Zomi Frankcom, and I’d like to tell them straightforward: we we grieve with you,” he told reporters.
“We are sorry for the circumstances that brought about this death.”
Newman said the aid convoy decided to put armed personnel on it without telling Israel, and deviated from the pre-approved route.
“One cannot attack findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one’s political agenda,” he said.
“The findings of the court came to the conclusion after two years of independent research that there’s no criminal liability. We must respect that, as we do in every case of an investigation.”
He didn’t rule out a potential appeal of Israel’s decision.
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.
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 Senator 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.”
-with AAP
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