Wong flags new settlement sanctions, rules out import ban

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has announced Australia will pursue further targeted sanctions to deter illegal settlements and settler violence in the West Bank, but has ruled out imposing a blanket import ban such as the one announced by Britain this week.

Senator Wong told the Senate the Israeli government’s actions in the West Bank were “extinguishing the possibility of a two-state solution”, and that Australia would be “pursuing further targeted measures in co-ordination with international partners to deter illegal settlements and settler violence”.

“Australia is not, at this time, pursuing a blanket-style import ban. We have concerns about the implementation of a blanket ban and unintended consequences for Australian businesses, for Palestinians and for Israelis,” she said.

The statement followed Britain’s announcement on Tuesday that it would ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements, sanction companies and individuals facilitating settlement expansion, and refuse export licences for goods it says materially contribute to the occupation.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the House of Commons the “British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists”. He stressed that Britain would keep trading with Israel inside the Green Line and did not support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

France and Canada said they would introduce import bans of their own, and nine other countries, including Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, signed a joint statement backing national or European restrictions on settlement trade.

Speaking before Senator Wong’s announcement, Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Dr Hillel Newman, told The Australian that any decision to sanction Israel would be “mistaken” and that the settlement issue had been “blown out of proportion”. He said the territory was “disputed”.

“It would be a deep mistake to take steps in such a direction,” Dr Newman said, adding that anti-Israel protesters had been “brainwashed”.

The Israeli embassy said separately that Jewish Israelis who established settlements in Israeli-controlled areas such as the West Bank were not violating international law, a position at odds with the International Court of Justice, which has deemed settlement activity in the West Bank unlawful.

Protesters rallied outside the embassy in Canberra on Tuesday, calling for tougher sanctions, for an independent investigation into the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, and for Dr Newman’s expulsion.  Frankcom, from Melbourne, was one of seven World Central Kitchen staff killed in an Israeli strike on their convoy in Gaza in April 2024.

Labor backbencher Ed Husic, whose motion for a tougher stance on Israel was shut down at the ALP national conference in July, urged the government to follow the UK. “It’s only sustained, concrete action that can force a change,” he said.

Israel responded to the British measures by ordering the closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem and barring 12 British nationals, including 11 members of parliament, from entry. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Mr Miliband’s allegations “outrageous lies” and the decision “morally distorted”.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Colin Rubenstein said the focus on settlements has misread the obstacle to a two-state outcome.

“Anyone who claims it’s the settlements, or Israel’s historical record, that is preventing a two-state peace is kidding themselves, especially in light of Israel’s efforts at reconciliation over the years,” he said. “The Palestinian Authority has rebuffed every one of the numerous Israeli peace initiatives, including three offers of statehood.”

Rubenstein said Australia had weakened its own position by recognising a Palestinian state on undertakings that the Palestinian Authority would hold elections and end its prisoner payments scheme, neither of which had been delivered.

“Rather than sanctioning the PA for this rejectionist behaviour, we and other countries have rewarded and encouraged it, and weakened our ability to influence Israel, by prematurely recognising a Palestinian state,” he said. “It was notable that in her statement to the Senate on this matter, Senator Wong didn’t mention the PA’s conduct or obligations.”

On E1, the planned development between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim that critics say would sever the West Bank, Rubenstein said past negotiations had assumed the area would remain Israeli under land swaps, and that “even if E1 is eventually built, the West Bank will still be wider at its narrowest point than Israel inside the Green Line is at its narrowest”.

“If we are serious about pursuing principled foreign policy and encouraging peace, rather than catering for domestic political considerations and appeasing extremist factions, we will withdraw our recognition of the Palestinian state and sanction the PA, not Israel,” he said.