The Hague, March 5 (RHC)-- The Australian prime minister becomes the first Western leader to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for being an “accessory to genocide in Gaza,” over his extended support to the Israeli regime during the war on Gaza.
A 92-page document compiled by a legal team of more than a hundred Australian lawyers, which was submitted to the office of ICC prosecutor Karim Khan King’s Counsel on Monday, supported the referral under the article 15 of the Rome Statute. The document has revealed how Anthony Albanese acted as an “accessory to genocide” in Gaza.
Led by King’s Counsel Sheryn Omeri, the team spent months documenting the complicity and outlining the individual criminal responsibility of Albanese with respect to the situation in Palestine. Among the several allegations, the document says that the sexagenarian froze the $6 million funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), amidst a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
It accuses Albanese of providing military defense exports and offering military assistance to Israel, for the use of the occupation forces during commission of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Furthermore, Australians were granted permission, whether explicitly or implicitly, to journey to the occupied territories and enlist in the IOF, thereby participating in its military operations against Gaza.
The political statements made by the prime minister, as well as other members of parliament, including the leader of the opposition, clearly demonstrated unwavering political support for Israel's actions, the document stated. Albanese had also ordered for the deployment of the Australian military contingent to the region without disclosing its location and specific role.
"The Rome Statute provides four modes of individual criminal responsibility, two of which are accessorial," Omeri explained in a statement.
According to Omeri, the aid Australia has "most particularly" provided since October has been the export of F-35 fighter jet parts as well as military intelligence through the government's surveillance work at Pine Gap -- a facility in Australia's northern territory, which is jointly operated by the US and Australia.
"It’s been months since the 7th of October, 2023, and between then and now there has been very little in the way of urging restraint on Israel and discouraging what the International Court of Justice found on the 26th of January was a plausible case of genocide,” Omeri said.
Adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy, on July 17, 1998, the Rome Statute was established over four core international crimes, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crime of aggression.
Apart from Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are among the top Western leaders who have repeatedly defended Israel's actions in Gaza, even after the regime’s genocidal intent was expressed in numerous public statements.
Earlier in January, Biden was sued in a federal court for "complicity” in Israel’s “unfolding genocide," which is still making its way through the U.S. appeals process.
