did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct<\/a>.<\/p>\nSenator Wong said the review had been inadequate, leaving many questions unanswered and would consult Ms Frankcom’s family before announcing further steps.”<\/p>\n
A World Central Kitchen spokesperson agreed an independent review was needed, saying that the IDF “cannot credibly investigate its own conduct”.<\/p>\n
The foreign minister also called for Israel to at least apologise to Ms Frankcom’s family.<\/p>\n
Israel’s ambassador to Australia today expressed his sorrow at the death, but stopped short of giving a full apology, saying doing so could have “legal ramifications”.<\/p>\n
“Israel came out with findings after a thorough investigation, after a two-year investigation into the circumstances of the death of Zomi Frankcom. Since I took up my mission here about five months ago I was implored all the time to bring about closure, which I did,” Mr Newman said after departing the meeting with Senator Wong.<\/p>\n
“But in the end, one must also understand that not every case where someone dies, where there is a casualty, that that means there is a criminal liability.<\/p>\n
“One cannot attack the findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one’s political agenda.”<\/p>\n
Mr Newman said the aid group recruited armed personnel to its convoy and deviated from the route agreed with the IDF without informing the military, leading the soldiers to believe the convoy had been taken over.<\/p>\n
“It was a mistake in retrospect, but the findings of the court are there was no criminal intention \u2026 and therefore there was no criminal responsibility.”<\/p>\n
Criminal findings were made in an investigation into a separate incident that was released alongside the Frankcom findings.<\/p>\n
The ambassador noted a 2024 Australian investigation by Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin came to a similar conclusion, though that did not have access to drone audio of the strike.<\/p>\n
The ambassador did not commit to releasing or handing over the full footage of the attack, despite repeated requests by the Australian government.<\/p>\n
Mr Newman also expressed “deep sorrow” for Ms Frankcom’s family.<\/p>\n
“I would just like to tell them, straightforward, we grieve with you, we are very sorry for the circumstances that brought about this death. Any innocent life is a tragedy,” Mr Newman said.<\/p>\n
Human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti, who sits on the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, said the ambassador should be expelled.<\/p>\n
“He has interfered in Australia’s internal politics, he has been offensive in dealing with Australian members of the flotilla that tried to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid and, again, his government now has failed Australian citizens,” Mr Sidoti told ABC Radio National.<\/p>\n
“So he should be told that he’s going home.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/403b2dbc87f83fa9d099e05bcc189dca.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said she was devastated by the investigation. (AAP: Lukas Coch)<\/p>\n
The Greens say the foreign minister should have expelled Mr Newman.<\/p>\n
Greens deputy Mehreen Faruqi said she was devastated by the investigation findings.<\/p>\n
“I am appalled by the comments made by the Israeli ambassador. How dare the Israeli ambassador stand outside our parliament and say every loss of innocent life is a tragedy,” Senator Faruqi said.<\/p>\n
“Israel was never going to take responsibility and accountability for killing Zomi Frankcom.<\/p>\n
“When Minister Wong had her meeting this morning with the Israeli ambassador, the only thing she should have said to him was goodbye.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign Minister Penny Wong has declared a “difficult time” in Australia’s relationship with Israel, expressing a lack of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,29833,88052,113353,470,113354,113352],"class_list":["post-76482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-hillel-newman","tag-idf","tag-israeli-ambassador","tag-penny-wong","tag-world-central-kitchen","tag-zomi-frankcom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n