The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) has urged the Australian Government to cancel any Australian visas issued to a former Israeli army major-general who is facing serious allegations of involvement in war crimes in Gaza and who evaded arrest in London in 2005.
Doron Almog, who has been accused of war crimes resulting from his time as General Officer Commanding of the Israeli military’s Southern Command from December 2000 to July 2003, is currently on a speaking tour in Australia to raise funds for the United Israel Appeal.
He has been allowed entry into Australia despite his alleged involvement in a litany of criminal actions that include:
- the murder of three Palestinian boys by an Israeli tank fire,
- the razing of 59 homes in Rafah and terrorism of their residents by Israeli bulldozers,
- the mass murder of 14 civilians and injuring of 150 more when a one-tonne bomb was dropped on Gaza City as part of an extrajudicial assassination, and
- the killing of nine-month pregnant Noha Shukri al Makadma in March 2003, during a round of punitive home detentions at Gaza’s al-Bureij refugee camp.
The Chief London Magistrate issued a warrant for Almog’s arrest in September 2005, which he evaded by fleeing back to Israel after he was tipped off.
APAN urges the Australian Government to cancel any Australian visas Almog may hold, or to abide by its international legal obligations and refer him to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation.
Quotes attributed to APAN President Nasser Mashni:
“For five months, the Australian Government has offered Israel impunity to commit genocide in Gaza, and now it offers Doron Almog an Australian visa, knowing that this man is facing serious and credible war crime allegations and that he can’t possible meet the character test for a visa.
“Meanwhile, our government seems to be dragging its feet on issuing visas to Palestinians seeking to flee the ‘death-trap’ that is Gaza today. The double standards are just jaw-dropping.
“It beggars belief that a man who ordered that the Israeli military drop a one-tonne bomb on Gaza City, killing and maiming civilians, is walking around on Australian streets, on a speaking tour which enables him to talk to a range of audiences.
“We demand that the Australian Government revokes any visas it may have issued to Almog, or that it report him to the Australian Federal Police so he is finally held accountable for his alleged involvement in these atrocious crimes.”