21 May 2025
The Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ) has called on the Australian Government to impose targeted sanctions on two Israeli ministers through a detailed submission under Australia’s autonomous sanctions framework. The need for such action has been reinforced by the Ministers’ recent alarming statements in relation to Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza and further supported by the Joint Statement issued yesterday by the Governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada.
The Joint Statement expressed condemnation and opposition to Israel’s renewed military offensive in Gaza and its ongoing illegal settlement activity in the unlawfully occupied West Bank. The Joint Statement affirms the urgent need for an immediate cessation of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, the delivery of humanitarian assistance and respect for international humanitarian law.
It is deeply regrettable that the Australian Government did not join the statement or endorse its principled position. At a time when international partners are taking steps to address grave violations of international law, Australia’s glaring absence signals a concerning lack of resolve. Australia has failed to uphold its international legal obligations to respond to Israel’s international crimes, including its obligations to prevent genocide.
The more recent and extremely troubling rhetoric employed by senior Israeli officials regarding plans to permanently relocate civilians from Gaza to third countries is stated with complete impunity. As recently as Monday, such rhetoric was reiterated by Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who stated in a press conference, that the Israeli military were relocating civilians to the southern Gaza Strip, with the intention of facilitating their forcible transfer. He further described this initiative as a “mission,” an “objective,” and a “historic transformation”—remarks that evidence an intent to violate international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition on forcible transfer and deportation of protected persons and more alarmingly, the Israeli authorities’ genocidal intent.
The UK, France and Canada further condemn any efforts to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank, reiterating the potential use of targeted sanctions by the signatories should Israel not halt its illegal settlement activity in the unlawfully Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
While the Joint Statement rightly condemned the Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance as unacceptable, it characterised this conduct as merely risking a breach of international humanitarian law. It must be emphasised that the denial of humanitarian aid to the civilian population does not merely pose a risk—it constitutes a clear and unequivocal violation of international humanitarian law. The deliberate obstruction of humanitarian relief is a grave breach under the Geneva Conventions and is recognised as a war crime. Significantly, the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant include the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.
Settlement expansion and settler violence play a critical role in fuelling instability in the OPT. The ACIJ recalls the significance of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 in which the Court found that Israel’s settlement policy has given rise to violence by settlers and security forces against Palestinians.
The Court ordered the dismantling of the settlement enterprise noting that restitution requires the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements. There can be no doubt that Israel’s settlement policy is a serious violation of international law.
In light of this, in August 2024 and January 2025, the ACIJ made detailed submissions to the Australian Government calling for the targeted designation of violent Israeli settlers and settler organisations, and two senior Israeli government officials, Itamar Ben-Gvir (Minister of National Security) and Bezalel Smotrich (Minister of Finance and Minister in the Defense Ministry), under Australia’s autonomous human rights sanctions framework.
Our submissions documented a pattern of conduct and statements by both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich that constitutes incitement to violence, complicity in serious human rights violations, and responsibility for policies that have exacerbated settler violence and resulted in the displacement, dispossession, and death of Palestinian civilians. In the same submission, the ACIJ also raised serious concerns regarding Ben-Gvir’s alleged role in the torture of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli custody and administrative detention, including healthcare workers detained since 7 October 2023—incidents which have been widely investigated and documented by local and international human rights organisations.
The ACIJ calls on the Australian Government to take meaningful action in the pursuit of accountability for atrocity crimes without delay. Sanctions are one such tool that can achieve some form of accountability, where prosecutorial endeavors are constrained by certain barriers. Israeli officials responsible for the maintenance of the illegal settlement enterprise or grave violations of international law in Gaza must not be immune from sanctions.
While the ACIJ has welcomed Australia’s sanctions against lower-level Israeli perpetrators of settler violence, such measures are insufficient if they exclude the senior figures responsible for orchestrating Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. As recognised by the ICJ, the settlements themselves fuel settler violence. Responsibility lies with those facilitating settlement expansion and arming violent settlers—implicating, at a minimum, Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. Australia must move beyond statements of condemnation and limited designations to meaningfully hold senior decision-makers accountable for serious human rights violations. The alarming remarks related to Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza to displace the population and resettle the territory are further basis to impose such sanctions.
Read our submissions dated August 2024 and January 2025.
Rawan Arraf, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, said:
“Australia cannot remain silent in the face of such serious human rights violations and international crimes being committed in the OPT. If Australia is committed to the protection of international law and the prevention of atrocity crimes, it bears both a legal and moral responsibility to respond. Endorsing this joint statement would have demonstrated Australia’s opposition to impunity for perpetrators of grave human rights violations. It’s not too late to take concrete actions.”
“The persistent failure of the Israeli authorities to act against settler violence has fostered an environment of impunity in which settler violence continues to escalate without accountability. This rampant impunity is worn boastfully by Smotrich, Netanyahu and others perpetrating Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. If Australia were to take its obligations seriously it would open criminal investigations into Smotrich’s alarming remarks on annihilating the Gaza Strip. Sanctions are a bare minimum opportunity to deter and punish such severe violations.”
“The Australian Government must take urgent and concrete measures to uphold international law and prevent complicity in serious human rights violations in the OPT including by imposing targeted sanctions against the architects of Israel’s settlement enterprise and by implementing a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel. This must include the prohibition of the export, import, and transfer of weapons, components, and dual-use items. Ongoing military trade and cooperation only serve to reinforce Israel’s unlawful occupation and empower its military apparatus.”
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