August 25th 2026

The innocent pay

The innocent pay

The Israeli Defence Force cleared soldiers of criminal responsibility for the 2024 drone strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom.

Hillel Newman, the Israeli ambassador to Australia, said about this finding: “One cannot attack the findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one’s political agenda.”

He said this not only with a straight face, but he also said it with such ardour, like a man possessed.

Meanwhile, the ‘court’ that decided the ruling was the same ‘court’ that committed the offence.

And another court, the International Criminal Court, the court established as the place to try Germans and Japanese for war crimes, including the genocide of Jews, after WW11, has been dismissed by the very same state, Israel, for issuing active arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister) and Yoav Gallant (Former Defence Minister) for war crimes.

Israel, of course, has refused to join the ICJ under the Rome Statute. Just as it has refused to be a part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement. Just as it refuses to allow journalists into Gaza.

The layers of hypocrisy are staggering.

Politics and power are corrupt far more than not. The International Criminal Court is designed to hold power accountable. It is designed to try those who commit egregious acts. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement is designed to stop a nuclear holocaust. Neither of them is perfect.

All people, all enterprises, all nation states, are accountable. Rarely in real time, rarely when justice should be served. Historically, far after the time of the crime.

When we refuse the boundaries of accountability, as a person, as a political party, as a state, we affirm our intention.

To do whatever the hell we like, whenever the hell we like it.

Hell is the result. The innocent pay.

Published August 25th 2026. Photo taken August 25th 2026