The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network has welcomed moves towards further sanctions against Israel, but warned that limited measures will not meet Australia’s legal and moral obligations while Israel’s genocide in Gaza, unlawful occupation and illegal settlement enterprise continue
Sanctions on Israel are a necessary first step, but Australia must go further
Penny Wong’s new measures are welcome. But without a trade ban and an end to material complicity, Australia remains on the wrong side of the law, and of history.
The Albanese government’s decision to prepare a new round of sanctions against Israel is long-awaited, and another necessary step, but it falls far short of our obligations under the genocide convention and what our collective humanity demands.
After years in which Australia confined itself to expressions of concern, moving to impose real costs is essential.
But if this is where it ends, with targeted sanctions and a trade ban explicitly off the table, then for all the welcome language it will amount to another hollow gesture. The genocide in Gaza continues.
The legal ground here is uncontested. In July 2024 the International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, found the occupation itself to be unlawful and said it must end.
Crucially, the Court did not address Israel alone. It set out the obligations of third states, not to recognise the illegal situation as lawful, not to render aid or assistance in maintaining it, and to ensure that they do not, through trade or investment, entrench or profit from an illegal enterprise. Those obligations fall on Australia as much as on any other signatory.
The UN Special Rapporteur has been equally direct, documenting the economy of the settlements and naming the corporate and financial interests that sustain them.
The report’s conclusion is clear: the occupation is not merely a political dispute to be managed; it is an illegal enterprise that persists because others continue to trade with it, invest in it and profit from it. States that carry on regardless are not neutral bystanders. They are participants; they are complicit.
That is the standard against which the government’s package should be measured. Sanctions on individuals, ministers, settlers, and extremist figures are justified and overdue. But they leave the underlying machinations untouched. Goods and finance continue to flow. Entities operating in or with the illegal settlements continue to find a market in Australia.
Australian law and procurement must be brought into line with the ICJ’s direction on non-assistance and put a genuine trade ban on the table rather than ruling it out in advance.
This is precisely why the Red Lines legislative package being brought to Parliament next week is so important. It would turn these obligations into practical safeguards: stopping goods from illegal settlements entering Australia, preventing Australian public money from supporting the illegal settlement enterprise, strengthening controls on defence trade, and requiring companies to confront the risk of complicity in genocide and other grave international crimes. The Government should support these laws and draw a clear legal line against Australian complicity.
Genocide is not stopped by statements. Australia simply must do more!
Targeted sanctions are not enough. As Israel continues its genocide in Gaza and entrenches its unlawful occupation, the Albanese government’s refusal to impose a trade ban leaves Australia materially complicit. Allowing Australian trade, investment and public money to sustain Israel’s crimes is not neutrality, it is complicity, and it must end.
ENDS