Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is one of several Western leaders who have provided political and material support of the Israeli government and military over the past five months as their bombardment ofGazahas killed more than 30,000 people, but on Monday he became the first to be referred to the International Criminal Court for being an “accessory to genocide.”

More than 100 lawyers supported thereferralunderArticle 15of the Rome Statute,arguingthat Albanese, a member of the Labor Party, as well as members of his Cabinet and of Parliament, have provided Israel with “rhetorical support in their public statements, their press conferences, their speeches” as well as material assistance, as attorney Sheryn Omeri told_ABC_’s “News Breakfast.”

Omeri said thee aid Australia has “most particularly” provided since Israel began attacking Gaza has been the export of F-35 fighter jet parts as well as military intelligence through the government’ssurveillance workat Joint Defense Facility Pine Gap in Australia’s Northern Territory.

While Albanese has recently called on Israel to respect international law, said Omeri, “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 Justicefoundon the 26th of January was a plausible case of genocide.”

The92-page documentcompiled by the legal team lays out a number of specific ways Albanese and other Australian officials have acted as an accessory to genocide, including:

• Freezing $6 million in funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency forPalestineRefugees in the Near East amid a humanitarian crisis based on unsubstantiated claims by Israel;
• Providing military aid and approving defenee exports to Israel, which could be used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the course of the_prima facie_commission of genocide and crimes against humanity;
• Ambiguously deploying an Australian military contingent to the region, where its location and exact role have not been disclosed; and
• Permitting Australians, either explicitly or implicitly, to travel to Israel to join the IDF and take part in its attacks on Gaza.

“The Rome Statute provides four modes of individual criminal responsibility, two of which are accessorial,” Omeriexplainedin a statement.

Along with Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are among the Western leaders who have repeatedly defended Israel’s actions in Gazadespite the genocidal intent expressed in numerous public statements by Israeli leaders.

Biden wassuedin federal court in January for alleged “complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide.“That case is still making its way through the U.S. appeals process.

Republished from Common Dreams, 4 March, 2024