Albanese presses Herzog on 2024 Gaza airstrike that killed Australian aid worker |
President Isaac Herzog, on the third day of his trip to Australia, traveled on Wednesday to the capital Canberra, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pressed him for criminal charges to be filed over the killing of an Australian aid worker in a 2024 IDF airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
The issue underscored the sharp divide between official Australian displays of solidarity over the Bondi Beach Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney, and widespread, sometimes violent scenes of protests by demonstrators opposed to the visit by Israel’s president.
During the discussions, Albanese demanded that Israel press criminal charges over a strike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven people, including an Australian aid worker, Zomi Frankcom.
“We continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate criminal charges,” Albanese said during a press conference following the meeting. He noted that he conveyed Australia’s expectation for “transparency” regarding the ongoing investigations into the incident.
Frankcom was one of four World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by an Israeli drone on April 1, 2024. The other aid workers were an American-Canadian dual citizen, a Palestinian and a Polish national. Three British security staff were also killed in the same airstrike.
The IDF has called the incident a grave mistake and fired two senior commanders involved in the strikes. Three other commanders were formally reprimanded.
Herzog gave no response to the request.
The president instead chose to utilize his four-day visit as an opportunity to reset ties strained by Australia’s condemnations of Israeli actions in the war against Hamas in Gaza, as well as by charges that Australia has done little to combat the mounting antisemitism that culminated in the Bondi attack that killed 15 people.
Herzog told reporters that his visit has been “very emotional” in light of the suffering the Bondi massacre has caused Sydney’s Jewish community.
“This is an opportunity to bring the relations between our nations to a new beginning and a better future,” Herzog said.
Speaking alongside........