Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has backed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s refusal to comment on The Hague’s prosecutor requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.
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On Monday, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he believed Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh bore criminal responsibility for war crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to comment on Tuesday saying his government does not speak on court matters, a notable divergence from US President Joe Biden, who blasted the requested warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Speaking on a panel for Seven’s Sunrise this morning, O’Neil said it was not the practice of the government to comment on court matters.
“Our big focus here is trying to influence the things that we can influence here. You’ve seen Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the prime minister play an active role in calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the region,” O’Neil said.
“I’m the home affairs minister and my big focus is actually what’s going on here in our country, making sure that those communities who are particularly affected by this conflict are supported and perhaps most importantly … making sure that we don’t bring that conflict here to Australia.”
Sharing the panel with O’Neil, Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said if Biden had no issue commenting on the case, Australia should follow the US position condemning the ICC for making an equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
“Our AUKUS partners seem to have no problems commenting on this false equivalence of the ICC. Certainly, Joe Biden’s come out and we should stand shoulder to shoulder with Joe Biden,” Hume said.
“This has been a terrible decision by the ICC’s chief prosecutor; if Joe Biden can come out, if [UK Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak can come out, well why can’t Anthony Albanese come out? The false equivalence is absurd and appalling.”
Source Agencies
