What’s the scam with Penny Wong’s so-called “transparent” Binskin Inquiry into the Zomi Frankcom World Central Kitchen aid worker’s killings in Gaza? Stuart McCarthy reports.
Scams don’t get much more blatant than a government appointing an international arms dealer to “investigate” an apparent war crime involving his own weapon systems, against a humanitarian aid agency, in the name of “full transparency”.
Yet here we are, and the race is on. Israel and Australia’s race to transparency in responding to last week’s deadly attack on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza is on par with the famous “battle in the rain” between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix.
Four days after the Israel Defence Force killed Zomi Frankcom and her six WCK colleagues two weeks ago in a series of precision missile strikes on a convoy deconflicted with the IDF, Israeli authorities took out the trash with their ‘Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism’ report. The report found there was:
“A grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification, errors in decision making and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”
This mistake was so grave, it led to two dismissals and three reprimands. Among those dismissed was Colonel Nochi Mandel, chief of staff of the Nahal Infantry Brigade. Mandel is a West Bank settler who in January signed an open letter to Israel’s War Cabinet calling for a blockade of humanitarian supplies into Gaza. The FFAM report was authored by IDF reserve Major General Yoav Har-Even, former president and CEO of Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd, manufacturer of the ‘Spike’ precision guided missiles most likely used in the killings.
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Har-Even is no stranger to the Australian Government. In 2018 he was a guest of then Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne at Parliament House, where he signed a joint venture agreement with Varley Group Australia. Pyne heralded this as “another success story for Australian industry. In August last year, Defence Minister Richard Marles signed a contract with Varley-Rafael worth more than $50 million, to deliver the first Spike missile to Australia including options for domestic manufacturing.
So “unsatisfied” was the Albanese Government with Har-Even’s FFAM report, last Monday they appointed former Australian defence chief and BAE Systems Australia non-executive director Mark Binskin as Special Advisor to “scrutinise” the report by his arms industry colleague.
BAE is a major weapons supplier to Israel. Binskin has some other interesting credentials. While serving as Australia’s vice defence chief, he was responsible for the Keystone Cops whose incompetence was instrumental in Australia’s bungled response to its own alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. When subsequently promoted to defence chief, he likely directed charges be laid against whistleblower David McBride.
So committed is the Albanese Government in getting to the bottom of these killings, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told Sky News’ Laura Jayes that – even a week after the announcement – no agreement was reached between the two governments on Binskin’s role. And so committed is our government to “full transparency”, Defence has refused to publicly release the defence industry cooperation agreement between Israel and Australia because doing so “could harm Australia’s international standing and reputation.”
McBride, Binskin and the Keystone Cops – culture of cover-ups now Zomi Frankcom investigation
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.