Australian and Palestinian legal groups have jointly made a formal request to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to arrest Israeli Major General Doron Almog on his arrival to Australia next week in a delegation with Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog.
Almog infamously fled London in September 2005 after British police moved to arrest him at Heathrow Airport as his flight landed, following an arrest warrant issued by a British court for alleged war crimes. Tipped off in advance, Almog remained on board the aircraft as it departed back to Tel Aviv.
The allegations against Almog result from his time as Commanding Officer of the Israeli military’s Southern Command between 2000 to 2003. Under his command, the Israeli military was responsible for countless and extensive human rights violations and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions inside the illegally occupied Gaza Strip. The allegations include destruction of 59 homes and property; the wilful murder of three teenage boys; the wilful murder of a pregnant woman during home demolitions and obstruction of medical aid; the wilful killing of 14 people and causing injury to 150 more in an airstrike carried out using a one-tonne bomb in a densely populated civilian area.
In March 2024, the groups provided a detailed dossier to the Australian Government and the AFP coinciding with a visit Almog made at that time. The then Home Affairs Minister declined to cancel his visa and the AFP did not respond to the allegations contained in the dossier.
Under Australian law, grave breaches are serious criminal offences and Australia is obligated to search for, arrest and prosecute those alleged to have perpetrated them.
The groups state the AFP have had access to the material since March 2024 and request Almog's arrest upon his imminent arrival. Almog has no immunity and should not be provided with diplomatic cover by the Australian Government.
The groups also raise new allegations against Almog, stating that in his role as Chair of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Almog participated in the authorisation, organisation or direction of the transfer of Israeli civilian population into the occupied West Bank, being territory illegally occupied by Israel. The transfer of civilian population into occupied territory is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and codified as a criminal offence in the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
Rawan Arraf, Executive Director at the Australian Centre for International Justice, said:
“Almog should never have been allowed in Australia, not in 2015, not in 2024 and not today. But given it is likely he will be allowed to enter the country, he must be arrested. He must answer to the credible allegations made against him. This impunity that Israel and its leaders enjoy, must end. The crimes committed under his command more than 20 years ago, are crimes the Israeli military is committing today in Gaza, with greater ferocious intensity.
“Israel’s President and the leaders of Israel’s ‘National Institutions’, such as the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization, should not be allowed into Australia. These ‘National Institutions’ are the prime enablers of the crime against humanity of apartheid against the Palestinian people. These organisations facilitate and encourage Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the illegally occupied West Bank, that even the Australian Government declares is unlawful. The Australian Government sanctions the Israeli Ministers that are responsible for the violent architecture of the illegal settlement enterprise, yet welcomes the heads of the institutions that implement these illegal policies. The Government should be referring these persons for investigation by the Federal Police.
“It should be noted that Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem constitute a major driver of human rights violations against Palestinians, involving systematic land confiscation, home demolitions and property destruction, forced displacement, and systematic and widespread violence. They severely restrict and impede Palestinian's freedom of movement, access to water, sanitation and natural resources, and economic development.”
Raji Sourani, Director at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said:
“We have acted for the victims of Almog since 2001. For over two decades we have tried all means to bring him to justice for his involvement in these crimes. And we will continue to do so for as long as we can. Israel continues its crimes against the Palestinian people with full support from Western nations. In Gaza right now we are facing the culmination of this impunity, a genocide. Australia must decide if it wants to join the law of the jungle or the rule of law.”
Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq said:
“Despite ratifying the Rome Statute which states clearly that it is the “duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes”, Australia has instead wilfully ignored the Rome Statute and enabled Israeli criminal acts. We call on Australia to comply with its international responsibilities and arrest and prosecute Almog. Its continued failure to do so, has greenlighted Israeli impunity, and emboldened Israeli officials to the point of openly committing genocide. The first step to ending genocide, is to end impunity. It starts now.”
The formal request to the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police can be found below.