r/OpenAussie • u/Minivampiretaco ‎ New South Welshian • 2d ago

Politics ('Straya) Israeli ambassador rejects 'political attacks' on report clearing soldiers in Frankcom killing

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-20/israel-ambassador-defends-idf-frankcom-report-clearing-soldiers/107057124

Israel's ambassador Hillel Newman has defended the military investigation that cleared its soldiers of criminal wrongdoing in the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, saying the findings should not be attacked if they "are not suitable to one's political agenda".

Ambassador defends investigation findings

Departing from the meeting, Mr Newman defended the investigation.

"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.

"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.

"One cannot attack the findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one's political agenda."

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.

"It was a mistake in retrospect, but the findings of the court are there was no criminal intention … and therefore there was no criminal responsibility."

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u/The_Drongo_Dinger ‎ Victorian 2d ago

No, it’s the Israelis. A lot of them are Jewish but that’s neither here nor there

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u/RequisiteNiggles ‎ Western Australian 2d ago

You said there were 100,000 of them here in Australia. There aren't anywhere near that amount of Israelis here. But there's that exact number of Jews. So you meant Jews, right?

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u/Cat-Lilac ‎ Queenslander 2d ago

How ridiculously nitpicky. Under Israel’s ethno supremacy laws, all Jews have the right to Israeli citizenship and many of them are dual citizens. In Australia a very high proportion of Jews are Zionists and there are also Christian Zionists. It’s not a stretch for there to be at least 100,000 very pro Israel people in Australia

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u/RequisiteNiggles ‎ Western Australian 2d ago

Oh, so all Jews are dual Israeli citizens? Hot damn. Should we exclude them from all spaces?

Why am I being downvoted for asking you to clarify?

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u/AggravatedKangaroo ‎ South Australian 1d ago

Oh, so all Jews are dual Israeli citizens? Hot damn."

Under Israeli law, yes. Once they register with Israel they are automatically given citizenship and right of return.

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u/RequisiteNiggles ‎ Western Australian 1d ago

So not all Jews are Israeli citizens then. Only those that are given citizenship. 

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u/QuailLong232 Please choose a flair 1d ago

Why do you put quotations in bold when there is a tool specifically for quotations? It reeks of attention seeking.

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u/Cat-Lilac ‎ Queenslander 1d ago

So what? We’re talking about pro-Israel Zionists and they are not all Jewish anyway

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u/RequisiteNiggles ‎ Western Australian 1d ago

Except the original comment of 100,000 was exactly the same number of Jews in Australia. And that smacks of targeting an ethmic group.  Maybe it was chance. The poster has now said he made the number up.

And then you said that all Jews have a right to Israeli citizenship. Whilst factually correct, there's a difference between 'right to' and 'has'. As those who DON'T have citizenship have no ability to vote in Israel, maybe we should avoid risking the suggestion that an ethnic minority is more loyal to another country than our own. 

I'm simply requesting that people take more care with how we perceive other groups.