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Legally, Israel would be the party liable to compensate Abu Izneid if found responsible.
But her lawyers at the Australian Centre of International Justice say Israel is unlikely to pay their client, a dual Palestinian-Australian citizen, and the Australian government should step up in its place. The centre’s acting executive director, Lara Khider, said she also doubted the investigation was being taken seriously due to a lack of detail about its progress.
“There must now be … severe doubts as to whether this investigation is taking place at all and whether it is genuine,” said Khider.
An Israeli embassy spokesperson said the matter was being taken seriously in Israel.
A DFAT spokesperson said the government continued to seek updates from Israel into the incident and had made clear that it expected a “comprehensive, thorough and transparent investigation to be conducted”. The foreign minister has repeatedly raised this expectation directly with Israeli officials, most recently on March 26.
Abu Izneid’s lawyers contend that she could be compensated through an ad hoc scheme similar to the one the government provides for Australians injured in terrorist attacks overseas.
DFAT told Abu Izneid that as compensating her was not within its consular role she should apply to Services Australia for financial support. But her application was denied as not meeting the requirements for a disability pension.
“So I’m disabled to the point of not [being capable of] driving, but not enough to get a payment,” said Abu Izneid.
Compensation would help her family cover the cost of her emergency travel back from the West Bank and overcoming the difficulties of being blind in one eye.
Ranem Abu Izneid is held by her mother, Rana, after arriving in Australia on November 24.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“There’s no amount of money or compensation that can compensate someone’s life being utterly ruined,” she said.
“I was in my third year of dentistry. I was going to become a dentist. I had two eyes eyeballs in my head, now I’m missing an eyeball. I have a permanently ruined face.”
In the days following her injury on November 15 last year until she arrived in Australia, Abu Izneid’s lawyers allege that DFAT staff working on her case failed to provide adequate care.
On the day of her injuries, Abu Izneid was accompanied to St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem with a DFAT official, but there was no surgeon available to treat her until the following day.
Ranem Abu Izneid wants answers from Israel and compensation for her disability from the Australian government.Credit: Simon Schulter
Her lawyers say that her family requested she be moved to another hospital to receive urgent care to treat her other shrapnel wounds, but the DFAT official did not assist and insisted the eye hospital was adequate. She received treatment on her eye the following day.
Abu Izneid’s lawyers called the delay “wholly unacceptable in circumstances where hospitals in Israel and elsewhere were available” and that “the Australian government could have taken steps to facilitate an immediate transfer for emergency surgery”.
DFAT’s consular assistance may include liaison with or visits to local hospitals, liaison with local authorities, provision of lists of medical providers and assistance communicating with family members or nominated contacts.
Abu Izneid also says Foreign Minister Penny Wong broke her promise to meet with her, after learning her family wanted lawyers present.
Shortly after she arrived in Australia, Abu Izneid’s father, Tareq, reached out to request a meeting with Wong. Emails seen by this masthead shows Wong’s office was initially willing to organise a meeting with the minister. But Khider, Abu Izneid’s lawyer, alleges the offer was withdrawn when it became clear that her father wanted lawyers to attend.
Wong then sent a handwritten letter expressing her sympathy to Abu Izneid and promised she was urging Israel to complete a thorough investigation.
“I am following your situation closely. Both the Attorney-General and I have communicated the need for a transparent, comprehensive and thorough investigation from the Israeli government,” Wong wrote in the letter.
Wong’s office said the minister had not withdrawn the offer to meet with Abu Izneid and her family.
The minister’s office said because of requests made of DFAT in this case, it was prudent for the department to meet with Abu Izneid’s representatives in the first instance, including to discuss consular services provided to her, and her family’s requests.
But for Abu Izneid, who is still looking for answers about what happened to her, Wong’s letter is disappointing.
She was recently accepted to continue studying at Melbourne University, although it isn’t in dentistry. She can’t study for long periods of time before her eye becomes strained.
And she says being on campus also brings up painful memories of her university in the West Bank and the day her life was upended.
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