Source : Perth Now news
Australia is being cautious in its decision not to place blanket bans on products from occupied Palestinians areas, an expert says, despite calls for sanctions.
The UK government confirmed it would ban Israeli goods from illegal settlements in occupied territories, along with a ban on arms licenses and exports. Canada and France will also take further action.
Before the UK ban was unveiled, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was pursuing “targeted measures” to deter settlements and settler violence, but no broad-based sanctions would be placed on Israel.
“We have concerns about the implementation of a blanket ban and unintended consequences for Australian businesses, for Palestinians and for Israelis,” she told the Senate on Tuesday.
Australia likely had advanced warning of the UK’s plans and sought to make a proactive statement, Australian National University law professor Donald Rothwell said.
Following the Bondi massacre and a pending anti-Semitism royal commission report, he said Australia’s relationship with Israel was very different to that of the UK.
“Australia would be cautious, then, given the particular context, to seek to impose what are effectively sanctions against the state of Israel,” Prof Rothwell said.
The government’s approach has instead been to sanction individual, named Israelis accused of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
In a joint action by the Australian, British, Canadian, New Zealand and Norwegian governments, two of Israel’s most controversial ministers – Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – were slapped with travel bans and had their assets frozen in June.
Prof Rothwell said it was a “safer course of action for Australia at the moment”, but pro-Palestine activist groups warned individual sanctions did not go far enough.
“Once again, Australia is at the back of the pack when it comes to upholding our international law obligations,” Jewish Council of Australia executive officer Bart Shteinman said, urging the government to ban imports from West Bank settlements deemed illegal under the Geneva Convention.
Calls have also grown for Senator Wong to expel Israeli ambassador Hillel Newman following a report from Israel declaring there was no suspicion of criminal misconduct surrounding the death of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom.
The 43-year-old and her colleagues were killed by an Israeli airstrike in April 2024 while driving to deliver basic aid in Gaza.
Protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Canberra on Tuesday to demand an independent investigation and the expulsion of Dr Newman.
A Zionist group, conversely, called for sanctions on Palestinian authorities who they said displayed “rejectionist behaviour” toward Israel.
“We and other countries have rewarded and encouraged it, and weakened our ability to influence Israel, by prematurely recognising a Palestinian state,” Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council director Colin Rubenstein said in a statement.
