• Aboriginal activist Robbie Thorpe filed a private prosecution against Mark Regev, accusing him of advocating genocide against Palestinians.
• The case, heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court, could set a precedent for prosecuting genocide in Australia.
Aboriginal Australian activist Robbie Thorpe, uncle of Senator Lidia Thorpe, has filed a private prosecution against Mark Regev, former senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He accuses him of advocating genocide against Palestinians. The case, brought under section 80.2D of the Australian Criminal Code, was heard earlier this month at Melbourne Magistrates Court.
Before the hearing, Thorpe made a public statement:
“I find it offensive that this country, which committed genocide against us, is now allowing our land to be used as a base to advocate genocide against Palestinian people. How Australia responds to the Genocide Convention is important to me, considering it wasn’t an offence until recently. Colonial Australia has failed to prevent genocide, and they have failed to punish anyone for these crimes here, or anywhere, despite the 1948 Genocide Convention.” “This is a significant case because it engages the act, and no person is immune—not the King, not the Prime Minister, Attorney Generals, nobody. This case opens the door for Aboriginal genocide claims across this continent and for others around the world.”
Thorpe, alongside his lawyer Daniel Taylor, attended the opening statements, seeking to hold Regev accountable for comments made in Australian media promoting genocidal actions against Gaza. Regev, an Australian-Israeli dual citizen and former Israeli Ambassador to the UK, was charged with advocating genocide based on his defence of Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant’s total siege on Gaza during an ABC Radio National interview on 10 October 2023.
It was argued that cutting off essential supplies such as electricity, food, water, and fuel constitutes collective punishment and meets the criteria for genocide under Australian law.
Regev’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, revealed that Israel had requested Australian government intervention to quash the case, appealing to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The DPP is aware of the case, and further hearings are scheduled for 10 December, pending legal challenges regarding jurisdiction or DPP intervention.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war on Gaza has displaced nearly the entire population, amid a blockade leading to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine. Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
