{"id":882262,"date":"2026-09-06T16:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/882262\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:26:21","slug":"shoebridge-criticises-labor-response-after-idf-officers-reprehensible-comments-on-deadly-zomi-frankcom-strike-australian-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/882262\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoebridge criticises Labor response after IDF officer\u2019s \u2018reprehensible\u2019 comments on deadly Zomi Frankcom strike | Australian foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Greens have criticised inflammatory statements from the former Israel<\/a> Defense Forces officer who ordered the attack which killed Zomi Frankcom, accusing the Albanese government of weakness over its failure to halt military exports and impose new sanctions.<\/p>\n

Australian aid worker Frankcom and six of her colleagues were killed in 2024<\/a> while bringing food to the people of Gaza<\/a>. Former IDF reserve colonel Nochi Mendel has said<\/a> he would do \u201cexactly the same thing\u201d again and that those killed in the World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian convoy in Gaza were \u201cnot innocent\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statements have been condemned as \u201cutterly disgraceful\u201d by Australia\u2019s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and as an \u201coutrageous smear\u201d by WCK\u2019s humanitarian chief.<\/p>\n

But the Greens\u2019 defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said the government\u2019s response was insufficient in the face of Mendel\u2019s \u201creprehensible\u201d statements. He said the comments \u201creflect the rhetoric and policy of the Israeli government, where collective punishment of aid workers, doctors and innocent civilians is occurring daily\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not care what minister Wong\u2019s personal feelings are, I don\u2019t care about her outrage, I care about the actions taken as foreign minister,\u201d Shoebridge told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone can condemn the actions of the Israeli military, but only the government can impose the sanctions and material responses needed. Until they do their words are distractions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called for material reprimand for members of Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government and for the sale of parts for the F-35 fighter jet to be immediately halted.<\/p>\n

The Greens\u2019 defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said on Sunday he could not fathom the pain and distress facing Zomi Frankcom\u2019s family. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAP<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s, the WCK founder, said Mendel had smeared Frankcom and her colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, one of the officers involved says he isn\u2019t sorry for what happened. He said we are not a neutral organisation,\u201d he said in a statement published online<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally? Let me be very clear, to him and to the whole world. We are humanitarians. We are friends of humanity. We believe that food is a universal human right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendel, then the chief of staff of the Nahal brigade, said he gave the order to attack a humanitarian convoy delivering hundreds of tonnes of food to Gaza on the night of 1 April 2024.<\/p>\n

Three vehicles in the convoy were attacked along Gaza\u2019s coast road, in successive drone strikes, each about two minutes apart.<\/p>\n

One after another, the three vehicles were bombed, as survivors from the initial strikes ran to the untouched cars, seeking sanctuary.<\/p>\n

An IDF investigation found the attack was a grave mistake, identifying specific errors made by a handful of officers, in particular Mendel, who was removed from his position. The victims of the strike were also blamed for hiring armed guards to protect the food aid convoy and for allegedly \u201cdeviating\u201d from their agreed route.<\/p>\n

Last month, Israel\u2019s advocate general declined to press charges against anyone for the deaths, saying there was \u201cno reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mendel has given interviews to the ABC<\/a> and the Guardian saying he did not regret the attacks. He told the Guardian he was following IDF protocol, and the humanitarians were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mendel was referring to a general policy of haflala, \u201cincrimination\u201d, which gives commanders in the field wide discretion in designating a person a \u201cterrorist\u201d, including those \u201cincriminated\u201d by association.<\/p>\n

Mendel told the Guardian while he didn\u2019t plan to kill aid workers, those killed \u201cwere not innocent because they were connected to Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n

He did not support this assertion with any evidence. Investigations by the IDF itself and the former head of the Australian military have found no suggestion of any connection between Hamas and World Central Kitchen.<\/p>\n

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A destroyed car from the World Central Kitchen convoy in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Mohammed Saber\/EPA<\/p>\n

Mendel said he fought in the war in Gaza \u201cto defeat Hamas\u201d, and dismissed the seriousness of the killing of seven humanitarians.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf such an event came before me again, I would do exactly the same thing,\u201d he told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an idiotic side event. It really isn\u2019t a serious event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong, asked about earlier comments from Mendel that he was unapologetic over the strikes, said his statements were extremely distressing for Frankcom\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought those comments were disgraceful, utterly disgraceful,\u201d she told the ABC. \u201cI don\u2019t even want to go into some of the detail of them because I don\u2019t want to give them any credence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong said the Australian government was dissatisfied with Israel\u2019s decision<\/a> not to lay criminal charges against those responsible, and would continue to \u201cpress for justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do want to see full accountability for the deaths of Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues. They were humanitarian workers working to deliver aid and they are protected under the Geneva conventions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WongWong ‘outraged’ at Israeli decision to not criminally investigate Zomi Frankcom killing \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Restaurateur Andr\u00e9s, whose charity has provided more than 600m meals to people affected by natural disasters, climate emergencies and conflict around the world, said the deaths of humanitarian workers who were just trying to feed hungry people was inexcusable.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough with the outrageous smears. Enough with excuses. Enough with the shifting of blame.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the start, we have demanded truth, truth and justice for our friends and their families. We want an independent investigation with all the video and audio released in public so the world can know the truth, because we continue to grieve for our friends. We will never forget them or stop fighting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frankcom\u2019s family issued a statement following Israel\u2019s decision not to lay criminal charges<\/a>, saying they were \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d by the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe families of the victims deserve transparency and an independent judicial assessment of the criminal responsibility for the international humanitarian law violations that took place on that day,\u201d the said.<\/p>\n

Shoebridge said on Sunday he could not fathom the pain and distress facing the Frankcom family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most people are in shock at the inaction of the Labor government when an Australian has been murdered and the killers walk free. At some point the Albanese government is going to have to get their head out of sand and start taking action.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Greens have criticised inflammatory statements from the former Israel Defense Forces officer who ordered the attack which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-882262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}