Penny Wong says Netanyahu trying to ‘brush aside’ death of Zomi Frankcom ‘deeply insensitive’
Foreign minister’s condemnation of Israeli PM comes as IDF says it has completed its investigation into drone strike that killed seven aid workers
The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, has rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu for trying to “brush aside” the deaths of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her colleagues in an Israeli missile attack in Gaza, labelling his remark that these things happen in war as “deeply insensitive”.
Wong’s direct personal condemnation of Netanyahu comes as the Israeli military reveals it has completed its investigation into the incident and briefed ambassadors from the countries whose citizens died in the attack.
“I find that statement … frankly, for the family in particular, a pretty insensitive – deeply insensitive – thing to say,” Wong said of the Israeli prime minister’s initial response.
“And what I’d say as the Australian foreign minister is we do not accept that explanation. We do not accept any suggestion that this is just something that can be brushed aside as just something that happens in war.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, also stepped up his criticism on Thursday, calling Netanyahu’s initial explanation “not good enough”.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the incident, with Joe Biden telling Netanyahu in a phone call that future US support for the war in Gaza will depend on it taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers.
Three vehicles, marked as belonging to the charity World Central Kitchen, were struck by Israeli drones on Monday when they travelled along a route south of Deir al-Balah pre-approved and coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces.
In an interview with Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics podcast to be released on Saturday, Wong suggested the remarks amounted to an attempt to justify an action that was outside the rules of war. The podcast was recorded on Thursday.
“Even in war, there are rules and they include the principles of distinction between a military target and a civilian target,” Wong said.
She also condemned the suggestion from an Israeli government spokesperson that darkness and confusion were also reasons for what Israel has called “a grave mistake”.
“We do not accept that these events – this attack on an aid convoy – can be dismissed or lessened or diminished in any way at all,” Wong said.
The foreign minister said both Israeli commanders and individual military personnel in the field had obligations under international and humanitarian law.
Wong emphasised that this was not the first Israeli attack on aid convoys, citing UN figures that 196 aid workers had been killed prior to the WCK incident.
Wong did not specifically endorse the Frankcom family’s calls for a war crimes investigation, but also did not rule it out. She would not be drawn on possible future sanctions against Israel, but said consequences would be considered once the full facts were known.
“I think ‘accountability’ means we find out what happened and that whatever steps are necessary as a consequence are taken,” Wong said.
The IDF said the findings of its investigation had been presented to the ambassadors of countries whose citizens were killed, and would be released to the public within 24 hours.
Guardian Australia understands Australia has been briefed on Israel’s investigation into the killing of WCK workers, but is still awaiting “a full and transparent report”.
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The Australian government plans to engage with other affected countries to ensure they could all have confidence in the process and its outcomes.
Col Peter Lerner, an IDF spokesperson, told ABC Radio National on Friday that the IDF liaison officer who had worked closely with WCK was “devastated from this because he was part of that coordination process”.
Pressed to justify the claim that the investigation was independent, Lerner said this was because it was carried out by “former military professionals” who were “independent of the chain of command”.
“They are not under the control of the IDF … they are not dependent on promotion or anything like that, they are completely independent of the system,” Lerner said.
Asked whether individual members of the IDF would be named and have action taken against them if they were found to be responsible for the attack, Lerner said: “I don’t know the outcome but if that is the situation I would expect nothing less.”
Lerner echoed Netanyahu’s initial remarks. “The nature of warfare is that it is always full of tragedies,” Lerner said. “Since the dawn of war, civilians have been caught up in warfare. We have to be better than that, we have to do better.”
Lerner pushed back at a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz earlier this week that there was poor discipline among IDF field commanders.
The newspaper quoted an Israeli intelligence source as saying that in Gaza “everyone does as he pleases” and interprets the rules of engagement individually.
Lerner said “generally” that “we would expect that the rules are upheld to the highest standards”.
“If there is a breach of them, then they need to be dealt with by disciplinary and command level capabilities and perhaps even criminal [charges] if there’s been a very dire mistake,” Lerner said.
“As a very broad observation I don’t accept Haaretz’s report, but it doesn’t mean that there can’t be mistakes or individual initiatives.”
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