The Australian government has said there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas while continuing to stay on the sideline on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) proposed arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On May 20, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan made a surprise move by announcing his office’s request to charge the leaders of Israel and Hamas with war crimes and human rights violations.
Mr. Khan’s statement prompted condemnation from U.S. President Joe Biden and his government, who said the ICC did not have jurisdiction over Israel and Hamas.
Both the United States and the UK governments said there was no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas amid the ongoing conflict between the two sides.
While its two allies and strategic partners took aim at the ICC prosecutor’s move, the Australian government expressed that it would not take a stance on the issue.
Instead, the prime minister said the focus of his government was on opposing the terrorist atrocity committed by Hamas while calling for a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Not An Issue For Australia to Comment: DFAT
Following Mr. Albanese’s remarks on the issue, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said the Australian government respected the ICC and its role in upholding international law.“The decision on whether to issue arrest warrants is a matter for the Court in the independent exercise of its functions,” a DFAT spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
“It is not appropriate to comment on matters before the court.”
However, the DFAT clarified the government’s view on the equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
“There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organisation. It is proscribed as such in Australia,” the spokesperson said.
“Australia has been clear and unequivocal in our condemnation of its terrorist actions. We continue to call for the release of hostages immediately and unconditionally.”
The spokesperson also stated that any country under attack by Hamas had the right to defend itself.
“And in defending itself, every country is bound by the same fundamental rules. Israel must comply with international humanitarian law,” the spokesperson said.
DFAT’s statement was echoed by Treasure Jim Chalmers, who said the issuing of arrest warrants was fundamentally an issue for the ICC.
“Our focus as Australians is we desperately need to see the end of the killing of innocent people in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, stood with the government on rejecting any notion of equivalence between Hamas and Israel.
However, he added that it was unacceptable for the ICC’s chief prosecutor to seek the arrest of the representatives of a democratically elected government right alongside the leaders of a terrorist organisation.
“The ICC’s clear responsibility is to complement a nation’s own legal system, not to supplant it.”
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the ICC had “surrendered it’s legitimacy” by creating a moral equivalence between a terrorist organisation and a nation that took military actions in self-defence.
