Aid worker deaths ‘politicised
Of the countries that lost citizens in the April 1 incident, Australia was the only one to insist on shadowing the IDF investigation.
Jewish community leaders have panned Australia’s continued pursuit of Israel over the accidental deaths of seven Gaza aid workers during an IDF operation in April, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, with the Opposition claiming “domestic politics” is driving the Albanese Labor government on the issue.
Of the countries that lost citizens in the April 1 incident, Australia was the only one to insist on shadowing the IDF investigation; however, its findings largely concurred with Israel’s over how the deadly misidentification unfolded.
But after Australia’s report was released last Friday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that the matter was “not over”.
Meanwhile, new Immigration Minister Tony Burke, whose south-western Sydney electorate of Watson is a stronghold of pro-Palestinian voters, reiterated on Sky News that the government is pressing Israel on “whether or not there should be criminal penalties”.
Wong said her government “will persist until proper protections for aid workers are in place. The best protection for aid workers – and civilians – is a ceasefire. The Military Advocate General of Israel is still to decide on further action. Our expectation remains that there be transparency about the Military Advocate General’s process and decision. I have written to my Israeli counterpart to this end. We will continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate criminal charges.”
Former Australian defence chief, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, concluded in his comprehensive report that an IDF drone strike which killed the aid workers represented “a serious failure in targeting procedures”, but that IDF safeguards against mis-identification are similar to those of other Western militaries and the strike “was not knowingly or deliberately directed” at the aid workers.
The Israeli embassy said the government’s response to Binskin’s report “regrettably includes some misrepresentations and omitted crucial details”.
It also said that while Binskin had no investigative mandate, the IDF “fully engaged with him and provided him access to all areas requested”.
The embassy noted Binskin’s observation that even the Australian Defence Force “could not have imposed equivalent reprimands as quickly” as the IDF did in dismissing two officers and reprimanding three others.
Noting that the IDF “has apologised, admitted mistakes and made changes to procedure”, Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham stated, “This report has largely confirmed Israel’s accountability, transparency and cooperation, which will only add to questions about whether domestic politics led to the Albanese government pursuing this unprecedented review of a foreign government’s military operations.”
Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie told media, “The government has politicised this … it’s been damaging to our relationship with Israel.”
Hastie, who had commanded an Australian taskforce in Afghanistan, recalled “a significant civilian casualty incident under my command” in 2013, saying it had taught him that “when people go to war, mistakes happen”.
Describing Israel’s explanation at the time as “honest and sincere”, Liberal Senator Dave Sharma stated, “Confirmation of this fact is an embarrassment to the government, who refused to accept such explanations at the time.”
Stating that Wong “failed to mention Binskin’s overall positive assessment of the Israeli investigation”, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said sending Binskin to investigate was “both insulting to Israel, a democratic ally, and hard to understand”.
He said Burke’s call to keep pressing Israel over the deaths “is a further example of the government’s seeming determination to spin this tragedy to damage Israel and our relationship with it”.
He said Binskin’s report concluded “that Israel’s investigation has been timely, appropriate and largely sufficient and that the killings were indeed accidental, as Israel has always said”.
Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) CEO Alon Casutto said the government “must apply pressure to Hamas to release the hostages and surrender, rather than to Israel, who as evidenced by this report, have complied and taken accountability for their mistake”.
ZFA president Jeremy Leibler observed, “Since October 7, Israel has been forced into a war – that it did not start – to remove Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organisation … In war, tragic accidents happen.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin told ABC Radio there had been no deliberate attempt to fire at aid workers.
“This was a tragic case of mis-identification,” he said.
“The report confirmed that Israel has been transparent in complying with the Australian investigation … it also confirmed that Israel has tightened some of its operational procedures in how it deals with aid workers.”
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