Anthony Albanese refuses to comment on ICC Israeli warrants

Australia breaks with the US to defend the International Criminal Court move to seek arrest warrants for Israel’s PM and Defence Minister, a move condemned by Joe Biden.

US President Joe Biden, left, and Anthony Albanese on Tuesday.

Australia has broken with the US to defend the International Criminal Court after its chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and Defence Minister in a move condemned by Joe Biden as “outrageous”.

Anthony Albanese initially ­refused to respond to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan’s bid to have the Israeli leaders arrested alongside three Hamas terror chiefs, declaring: “I don’t comment on court proceedings.”

Hours later, Penny Wong used her department to issue a statement expressing support for the ICC and its independence.

“Australia respects the ICC and the important role it has in upholding international law,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

“The decision on whether to issue arrest warrants is a matter for the court in the independent exercise of its functions.”

Mr Khan’s claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had, like Hamas, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, was vehemently rejected by the US President.

“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” Mr Biden said.

“And let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – ­between Israel and Hamas.”

Mr Netanyahu reacted with fury at the warrant application, while British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said it was “not ­helpful”. European nations including Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic also blasted the move, as France voiced support for the ICC’s independence and Belgium cast the warrants as “an important step”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: AFP

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Picture: AFP

Peter Dutton said the government had “squibbed” its response to the warrants push when he should have stood “shoulder to shoulder with President Biden”.

“It’s an abomination,” the Opposition Leader said.

“This action is anti-Semitic and it is against the interest of peace in the Middle East. To draw an equivalence between Israel and Hamas, I think, is repugnant.”

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer, who signed Australia up to the ICC, accused Mr Khan of “destroying” the court. Mr Downer said the prosecutor’s application “makes me sick”, and, if it was up to him, he would withdraw Australia from the court if it proceeded with the prosecution.

Former prime minister John Howard said the prosecutor’s ­decision was “very inept and ill-based”, but did not back away from his government’s decision to ratify the Rome Statute that established the ICC.

Australia’s support for the ICC amid the push for warrants against Israeli and Palestinian leaders comes less than a fortnight after Australia backed a UN motion seen as a defacto resolution on Palestinian statehood.

The DFAT statement said there was “no equivalence between Israel and Hamas”, and that Australia had been “unequivocal” in its condemnation of Hamas’ terrorism. It said any country under attack would defend itself, but “every country is bound by the same fundamental rules”.

“Israel must comply with international humanitarian law,” the statement said. “Australia’s focus is on a humanitarian ceasefire, the release of hostages and increased humanitarian access.”

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen weighed in, saying international laws “must always be observed, and nobody gets a free pass for that”.

“I respect the International Criminal Court and I respect the work they do,” Mr Bowen told Sky News. “International law must be respected and, of course, (it) was not respected by Hamas. Israel must respect international law.”

Mr Sunak’s office said: “This action does nothing to help reach a pause in the fighting, get hostages out or get humanitarian aid in and make progress towards a ­sustainable ceasefire that we want to see.”

US President Joe Biden. Picture: AFP

Germany’s foreign ministry said the simultaneous application for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders had given “the false impression of equivalence”.

But France’s response was similar to Australia’s, backing the ICC’s independence “and the fight against impunity in all ­situations”.

Support for Palestine has surged in Labor ranks and was on display at the weekend’s Victorian ALP conference, which passed six anti-Israel motions as protesters chanted “intifada” and “from the river to the sea”.

Jewish groups reacted angrily on Tuesday to the government’s failure to condemn the prosecutor’s “scandalous” application.

“When an ally comes under a mendacious political attack such as this, it needs its friends in the international community to stand with it,” said Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin.

“It is also in our national interest that a clear distinction is maintained between a terrorist force and a liberal democracy that is forced to confront it.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said Mr Albanese’s refusal to take a stand against the ICC prosecutor was disappointing and could ultimately harm Australia’s interests as a country that might one day need to combat terrorists embedded among civilians.

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network urged Australia to throw its support behind the ICC prosecutor, saying arrest warrants for key Israeli officials “have been a long time coming”.

“The ICC’s application must put an end to Israel hiding behind history or its supposed democracy to justify its genocide and decades of apartheid, terrorism and oppression of Palestinians,” said APAN president Nasser Mashni.

Mr Netanyahu denounced the ICC move as a “complete distortion of reality”. “I reject with disgust the comparison of the prosecutor in The Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Hamas also condemned Mr Khan’s application to the court, saying it “equates the victim with the executioner”.

Additional reporting: Ellie Dudley