Penny Wong says relationship with Israel ‘in a difficult time’ after Frankcom findings
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Australia’s relationship with Israel is in “a difficult time” after it decided not to pursue a criminal investigation against soldiers who launched a strike on an aid convoy that killed Australian Zomi Frankcom in Gaza.
An official investigation from the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) found there were “serious failures” in the process that led to soldiers carrying out strikes on a World Central Kitchen convoy delivering aid to a warehouse on April 1, 2024, killing seven people in total.
Melbourne-born Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom, along with three other international aid workers, were killed in Central Gaza with the World Central Kitchen charity. Supplied
The IDF concluded there was “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation” against the commanders who ordered the strike as they believed Hamas operatives were in the convoy.
Wong said the government strongly condemned the decision, handed down late on Wednesday night, with Australia and Frankcom’s family only finding out about the verdict moments before it was released to the public.
“Australia is outraged by the Israeli government’s decision to not pursue any criminal proceedings against those responsible for killing Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues,” she said on Thursday.
“There are still many unanswered questions. These include why, even if the first strike was a catastrophic error, two further strikes followed each two minutes apart.”
Investigations in Australia and Israel found there were “serious failures” in the decision making leading up to the strike. Today
Wong said the timing of the decision, which fell on World Humanitarian Day and the same night she launched the Zomi Frankcom Humanitarian Award at Parliament House, was “insulting and hurtful”.
She held an urgent meeting with Israeli ambassador Hillel Newman in Canberra on Thursday and asked him to convey Australia’s position to the Israeli government.
“I made clear to him Australia’s views that Israel’s decision falls far short of the accountability we expect,” she said.
Wong admitted this was a “difficult time” in Australia’s relationship with Israel.
“We made our views clear about this issue. We made our views clear about other issues,” she said.
“You’ve seen the Netanyahu government’s response to some of those. I think we are realistic about that.”
The federal government will assess next steps in consultation with Frankcom’s family.
Wong, however, ruled out expelling the Israeli ambassador from Australia, saying it would remove the government’s ability to engage and advocate for its interests.
Newman spoke to the media after his meeting with Wong, saying he had deep sorrow for Frankcom’s family.
“We are sorry with the family, we grieve with the family and see it as a tragedy. But again, that does not mean criminal liability,” he said.
World Central Kitchen has also condemned the decision not to proceed with criminal investigations for the strike that killed seven of its workers, saying there is no excuse or justification for the attacks.
“The decision is inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive,” it said in a statement.
Zomi Frankcom was killed in an Israeli drone strike in 2024. Supplied
An official review from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, written by former Australian defence force chief Marshal Binskin and released in August 2024, found the incident should not have occurred.
It found that there was a “significant break down in situational awareness” within the IDF had taken place due to the convoy having local security with it.
This was backed up by the IDF report, which admitted “several individuals were mistakenly – as later became apparent – identified as armed persons” believed to be affiliated with Hamas.
“The examination further found that WCK employees had hired an armed security force to accompany the convoy until the completion of the operation in order to protect it from seizure by armed actors in Gaza,” the IDF’s report said.
However, the report also said the presence of security in the convoy was not flagged with the IDF before it set off, and the convoy also allegedly took a different route than what was previously planned.
After the incident, two officers were removed from their positions, and three others were formally reprimanded due to the “grave consequences” from the strike.
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