Former Israeli PM blasts ‘obnoxious, unbelievable’ lack of charges over Zomi Frankcom killing

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has blasted his nation’s decision not to prosecute the officers responsible for killing Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, joining calls for an international criminal probe into the fatal drone strike.

Olmert, who served as Israel’s prime minister from 2006 to 2009, said he believed the Israeli military bore a “terrible criminal responsibility” for the April 2024 strike that killed Frankcom and six colleagues while they were delivering food for the World Central Kitchen charity.

Israel’s Military Advocate General announced last month that it would not pursue a criminal investigation into the strike, a move the Albanese government branded “an outrage”.

Olmert said court-martialing the officers who had ordered the strike would be “one tiny step to correct the brutality of what was perpetrated” against Frankcom and her fellow humanitarian workers.

“I think that charges should have been pressed long ago against those responsible,” Olmert told this masthead in an interview.

“The fact that the advocate general decided not to press charges is absolutely obnoxious and unacceptable and unbelievable.”

Legal experts and independent MPs have called for Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada to examine launching a joint international criminal investigation into the drone strike, similar to the one established following the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

The Australian Federal Police could also conduct its own war-crimes investigation.

Olmert backed the idea of a new probe, saying: “If there will be an international inquiry, and if this inquiry will reach out for those responsible, then this will be an inevitable, understandable and appropriate way to deal with it.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong seized upon Olmert’s remarks, saying they supported the government’s view that Israel had failed to respond with sufficient vigour to the killing of Frankcom and her colleagues.

“Australia has been clear that it is outraged by the decision not to pursue criminal charges against those responsible for killing Zomi Frankcom and her World Central Kitchen colleagues,” Wong said.

“We welcome scrutiny of the Israeli government’s handling of the case, including from Israel itself.

“The Australian government will not stop pressing Israel for justice for Zomi and her colleagues.”

Wong met the Frankcom family last week in Canberra to discuss the next steps Australia could take to try to achieve a form of accountability for the attack.

Australia will convene a meeting of countries supporting greater protections for humanitarian workers at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, a push Wong has spearheaded following Frankcom’s killing.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman said he “totally rejects” Olmert’s views.

“This went through a thorough investigation and the facts were clear that the aid workers were not intentionally killed,” he said.

“We have expressed sorrow, but not every case where someone is killed means there is criminal liability.”

Newman said Israel’s military advocate general’s decision echoed a 2024 investigation by Australia’s former defence force chief, Mark Binskin, commissioned by the Australian government. It found the IDF had not intentionally targeted the aid workers and that the decision makers mistakenly concluded that Hamas militants had hijacked the convoy.

Australian National University international law expert Don Rothwell said Olmert’s remarks were a significant intervention and added weight to calls for an international probe.

“To have someone so senior and with such an intimate understanding of Israel’s military justice system make those comments is very powerful,” he said.

“Israel has a long track record of not prosecuting IDF members for alleged war crimes, as opposed to breaches of discipline.”

The latest intervention in the Frankcom case came as Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Saturday pardoned a combat medic who fatally shot a badly wounded Palestinian attacker as he lay on the ground, having stabbed a soldier a decade ago.

Elor Azaria’s conviction in 2017 for manslaughter and his release after serving two-thirds of his 18-month sentence drew enormous attention in Israel. A statement from Herzog’s office cited the time that had passed since the death, and the spirit of the approaching Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, as factors in the decision.

Olmert spent most of his political career as a senior member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, but is now a fierce critic of the Israeli prime minister and passionate advocate of a two-state solution.

He has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank and backed the UK, Canada and France’s recent ban on commercial activity with Israeli settlements.

The Frankcom family has called on the federal government to “pursue all available legal avenues for an independent and credible investigation to be conducted” into the drone strike.

Independent Senator David Pocock said that an “MH17-style investigation would create a mechanism to pursue criminal prosecutions” while independent MP Zali Steggall said such a probe “offers a chance to truly establish the facts, ensure the evidence is independently tested, and determine whether those responsible should be held to account”.

Israel’s chief military prosecutor found last month that while there had been “serious failures” in the process that led to the assessment Hamas operatives were travelling with the World Central Kitchen workers, the commanders’ decision to strike the aid convoy “did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct”.

Two officers were quickly removed from their positions following the strike, while three others were formally reprimanded.

The ABC reported last month that the commander who ordered the attack, Colonel Nochi Mendel, said he stood by his decision to launch the strike and did not intend to harm aid workers.

With AP

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