The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) has welcomed the Australian government’s decision to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – two of the most extreme figures in Israel’s far-right government.
But while this marks a small step in the right direction, it is profoundly inadequate.
These sanctions come 613 days after Israel began its genocide in Gaza, and respond only to incitement and violence related to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the West Bank. Not to the broader apparatus of Israeli apartheid, nor to its ongoing destruction of Gaza, or its systematic targeting of Palestinian life and sovereignty across all of colonised Palestine.
Israel’s war crimes are not born of two men. Genocide, manufactured starvation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal settlements, mass displacement, arbitrary arrests and torture are official policies of the Israeli state.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant which Australia still refuses to explicitly support. A genocide case against Israel is underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Israel has obliterated Gaza – entire neighbourhoods, communities, civil infrastructure, hospitals, schools, gone. Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, left thousands more trapped, suffocating under the rubble of their own homes, and created the largest cohort of child amputees in history.
It is currently blocking aid into the territory, and has, since May 27, gunned down more than 150 Palestinians attempting to access what food is available via highly militarised, US and Israeli controlled aid distribution sites.
Australia’s response must match the scale and gravity of the crimes. And it must finally bring Australia into full compliance with its legal obligations to prevent and punish genocide.
APAN demands that the Australian government impose comprehensive sanctions on the entire Israeli government, its military and security institutions, financial entities, weapons industry – as it has done in response to Russia’ illegal invasion of Ukraine.
It is contradictory for the Australian government to sanction two ministers while continuing to trade arms with Israel, including by using the cover of the AUKUS agreement to launder weapons and components to the state via the US.
It is contradictory for Australia to trade with, invest in, and maintain contracts with companies identified by the UN as sustaining Israel’s violent settler-colonial regime.
It is contradictory for Australia to condemn incitement to violence in the West Bank while shielding Israel as it deliberately starves, carpet bombs and forcibly displaces Palestinians in Gaza.
It is contradictory for Australia to stand for international law in Ukraine while continuing to offer impunity to Israel.
Australia must:
- Impose an immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel.
- Impose sanctions on every element of Israel’s war machine – including diplomatic sanctions and trade sanctions.
- Commit to joining a global humanitarian convoy by dispatching official diplomatic missions to accompany aid trucks into Gaza via the Rafah Crossing.
- Explicitly support international accountability for Israel, via the ICJ and ICC.
- Support for domestic legal safeguards, such as the Red Lines Package of legislation, to prevent Australia from aiding or abetting war crimes, illegal settlements and crimes against humanity.
Comments attributed to APAN President Nasser Mashni:
“These sanctions are crumbs, tossed by the Australian government 613 days too late. While Australia has hesitated for more than 20 months, Israel has annihilated – families, communities, journalists, aid workers, civil infrastructure, every last shred of life in Gaza.
“This is a small step, but Australia must stop pretending that a slap on the wrist for two fascist minister is justice. This is a genocide, not a diplomatic disagreement.
“The Australian government’s contradictions are breathtaking. While it sanctions these two men, it refuses to acknowledge, let alone act upon, its legal obligations to prevent and punish Israel’s genocide.
“It continues to invest public money in companies identified by the UN as propping up Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid policies. It uses the cover of AUKUS to send Australian weapons and parts to the US, for onward export to Israel. It continues to purchase from and offer contracts to Israeli companies battle testing their weapons on Palestinians.
“Australians of good conscience demand real action. That means a full array of sanctions – like those we’ve imposed on Russia. That means a two-way arms embargo. It means plugging the gaps in domestic legislation to make it complicity in genocide a legal impossibility for the government and Australian companies.
“It means having the courage to stop appeasing the genocidal apartheid state of Israel.”