The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) advised Minister Penny Wong in June the situation in Gaza was “catastrophic”, the killing of Zomi Frankcom “outrageous, unacceptable”, “mass graves” around hospitals, and rising starvation and disease. Michael West reports Freedom of Information responses.
As Parliament wound up for its recess a week ago, the usual data dump lobbed on Friday night. Among the disclosures was the response to an FOI request by Rex Patrick about the Government’s advice on Israel’s war on Gaza.
It reads like a litany of war crimes. We have published it below for readers’ consideration. “The impact on civilians has been immense,” DFAT advised Foreign Minister Penny Wong. “The UN reports that as of 13 May 2024, nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 78,000 have been injured. Of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, approximately 1.7 million have been displaced.”
After deliberations with DFAT as to the scope of the request, it was agreed by Rex Patrick to accept just one month of DFAT briefings to the Government, such was the volume of information. And it is ironic that during this period the former Labor senator Fatima Payman broke ranks with her party over Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. On May 24, she publicly broke ranks with Labor in a speech to the Senate accusing Israel of genocide.
On June 17, Payman wrote an article for Al Jazeera English supportive of Australia recognising Palestine. On June 25 she crossed the floor to vote against the Opposition and the Government in favour of Palestinian statehood.
On June 30, she she was suspended indefinitely from Labor caucus.
It seems that Payman, although not privy to the DFAT advice, surely took more decisive action than the Government.
Israel had already violated international law on 28 occasions and this week it dramatically stepped up its illegal campaign in the West Bank, which is not Gaza and which Hamas does not control.
DFAT advice on crisis in Gaza
The FOI material shows the Government condemned the humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged continued humanitarian assistance, yet there was no action, and there still has been no action taken, against the brutal regime of Benjamin Netanyahu despite the genocide case at the International Court of Justice earlier this year (in which Australia declined to participate).
The export of weapons parts to Israel continues, as do normal diplomatic relations, and Pine Gap communications assistance, and Israeli Australians continue to fight with the IDF, although the government has refused to respond to FOIs on this.
Bear in mind that this DFAT advice (published in full below) was for the month of June and things have deteriorated sharply since then in both Gaza and the West Bank. Still, Australia continues to pursue trade with Israel’s biggest weapons maker Elbit Systems while our Future Fund continues to be an investor in Elbit Systems.
Zomi Frankcom and World Central Kitchen
Since the June briefings, the Binskin Report into the death of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has been handed down. The report has been criticised by the family of Frankcom and others for failing to include the audio recordings of the IDF personnel involved in the drone strike – and Israel has not apologised not prosecuted the soldiers involved.
According to the DFAT advice: “The deaths of Ms (Zomi) Frankcom and her six World Central Kitchen colleagues was outrageous, unacceptable and should not have occurred – humanitarian workers in a conflict zone delivering aid must be protected.”
The advice also says, “At least 2,527 Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families have now left Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories – of the registered individuals that have departed 2,186 have returned to Australia (assisted and independently).”
This was in June, prior to the recent outcry by the Opposition about allowing Palestinians visas into Australia.
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab
Elbit: how Australia helped finance the IDF killing of Zomi Frankcom and the slaughter in Gaza
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.