Israel’s new ambassador to Australia has claimed two of three journalists killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon were members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
Dr Hillel Newman, who took over the ambassadorship earlier this month, was grilled over the killings during an address before the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday.
Ali Shoeib, a reporter for Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar TV, as well as reporter Fatima Ftouni and brother and cameraman Mohamed Ftouni, both from Al Mayadeen channel, were killed in the town of Jezzine, east of Sidon, according to the stations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has accused Israel of killing a record 129 journalists in 2025, a claim Israel denied.
Asked about the killings, Dr Newman said Israel “has never targeted a journalist just for being a journalist”, and who was “100 per cent journalist”.
He claimed two of three killed in the Lebanon strike were “dressed up as journalists”.
“They were members of what is called the Radwan forces of the Hezbollah,” he said, referring to what amounts to the Iran-backed group’s special forces unit.
He continued: “The third one, we’re not sure about.
“We’re not sure whether we assume that because he was with the two, he was also a terrorist with them.
“Two of them we’ve identified as terrorists, and they’re also identified by Hezbollah as terrorists.”
Responding to a doctored photo posted by the Israel Defence Forces of one of three killed in military uniform, Dr Newman said the IDF said it was an “illustration post”.
“But, we have authentic photos and pictures which I can send to anybody who wants of this individual in military uniform of the Hezbollah,” he said.
“So, the truth behind it is that he was a true terrorist, 100 per cent terrorist, and they (Hezbollah) made a post in order to illustrate the fact that he was disguising as a journalist. “And, then IDF was attacked … as if making up that he was a terrorist. We didn’t make up that he’s a terrorist. We have authentic pictures of him as a terrorist.”
Dr Newman earlier claimed both Hamas and Hezbollah “disguise themselves as press and remain terrorist operatives”.
Asked later what percentage of those killed were not terrorists, Dr Newman “the honest truth is that we have no way of knowing the exact amount of journalists who weren’t 100 per cent journalists who were killed”.
More than 1200 people have been killed in Lebanon since the IDF began targeting supposed Hezbollah targets in the country.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has earlier claimed operations in Lebanon “must end with a radical change, beyond the vanquishing of the terror group Hezbollah”.
“The Litani (river) must be our new border with the state of Lebanon, just like the ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza and like the buffer zone and peak of the Hermon in Syria,” he said.
Asked if Israel intended to “create a new border”, Dr Newman said Israel’s actions were “100 per cent defensive”.
He sought to distance himself from Mr Smotrich’s comments, stating “he represents jurisdiction of specific constituents of a specific kind.”
However, binding policy was what was “accepted and adopted in Cabinet”, Dr Newman said.
Ambassador grilled on aid workers’ killing
Dr Newman denied an investigation by Israel’s Advocate General into the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza had been “shelved”.
Ms Frankcom was killed in an Israeli drone strike during a World Central Kitchen aid delivery in Gaza on April 1, 2024.
Almost two years on, no one has been prosecuted in Israel over Ms Frankcom’s death.
Addressing the Press Club, Dr Newman denied the probe had been cancelled, instead stating that “it could be that there are not updates”.
“I’ll check,” he said.
Dr Newman said access to Australian investigator Mark Binskin was full and “unprecedented”, but could not confirm if Australia was given access to the drone audio.
“He was given full access at the time to what they had available,” he said.
“After his investigation, he drew up a conclusion that was categorical … that the attack was not intentional.
“The issue of penalising the soldiers who were involved or the the aspects of involved is a long judicial process. As far as I know, it is not to conclusion,” he said.
“As far as I know, they have not come to final conclusions not because they delay, there are legal cases in Israel that go on for years … as far as I know it (has) not come to that conclusion yet but I will check again.”
Dr Newman would not commit to releasing audio to the family of the victims, saying it was in the hands of the IDF as it “may have intelligence”.
Asked by independent MP Zali Steggall what “tangible progress” had been made on securing justice for Ms Frankcom, whose brother was in Canberra on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese said he had raised the issue with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog during his visit to Australia.
“We’ll continue to work each and every day to do our best to ensure that there is transparency and appropriate action,” he said.
Mr Albanese will meet with Ms Steggall and Ms Frankcom’s brother, Mal, on Tuesday afternoon.
Regime change ‘not the objective’
Dr Newman denied regime change was an “objective of the war”.
It comes after Donald Trump spectacularly claimed on Sunday that “regime change” in Iran had been achieved because so many of its top leaders have been killed.
“We do not define regime change as the objective of the war,” Dr Newman said.
“We define the removal of the existential threats – many would say you cannot really remove the existential threats without the removal of the regime because the regime will always pursue nuclear capability and ballistic missile production, even if one man is left standing in Iran.
“So we understand this complication but we feel the regime change must come from the people of Iran.”
Dr Newman said he Israel understood Iranians “cannot go out on the streets right now because there’s military confrontation”.
“They’re in harm’s way and we don’t expect people to go onto the streets while there is operational activity but there is a strong chance that when we cease the military activity, there is a strong high probability that the people of Iran will then hit the streets and topple the regime (which) is their decision,” he said.
“Therefore, for that reason, we have not defined regime change as our objective because in the end we leave it up for the people.
“The people of Iran must take their destiny in their own hands and make that decision.”
