Reverend Tim Costello has slammed an Israeli court sentencing of a Palestinian World Vision Australia worker to 12 years in jail for allegedly funnelling taxpayer money to a militant group.
Mohamed el-Halabi, director of international Christian charity World Vision Australia in Gaza, was arrested in 2016 by Israeli authorities and accused of diverting tens of millions of Australian taxpayer dollars to Islamist militant group Hamas.
Mr Costello, World Vision Australia’s former CEO, described the verdict on Tuesday as “a shocking injustice”.
“This is a complete travesty of justice constructed by Israel for ideological reasons to frame an innocent man,” he told AAP.
“No money at all went missing”.
Independent audits by the Australian government and charity group World Vision Australia conducted by Deloitte in 2017 found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Australia was the biggest single donor to World Vision’s humanitarian work in the blockaded enclave of Gaza ruled by Hamas.
Mr Costello urged the Australian government to speak up on the verdict since it implied taxpayer money had been misused without solid evidence provided.
“There is a slur on the Australian government given the false claims of the Israeli government that he stole Australian taxpayers’ money and the false conviction,” he said.
“They are a slur on Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia’s reputation”.
“It’s a profound injustice … and it should be called out”
Read the article in The Canberra Times and The Courier.