‘Entirely unacceptable': Ambassador condemns Australian sanctions on senior Israeli ministers

The Age

a day ago

At Ben-Gvir's direction his ministry purchased thousands of rifles for settler communities, where some groups have been dispossessing Palestinians and committing violent acts.
Smotrich has also made inflammatory public remarks, including stating that Gaza 'will be entirely destroyed' and suggesting Palestinians be forced to emigrate. Last year, he indicated the deaths of 2 million Palestinians by starvation in Gaza might be 'justified', comments that drew rebukes from allies including Germany.
But British officials said the sanctions were also designed to pressure Netanyahu to negotiate a ceasefire as humanitarian conditions in the strip become increasingly dire. Hamas has not agreed to release all the remaining hostages.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the international community's patience had run out, declining to rule out further sanctions on the government of Israel.
'The situation in the West Bank and the situation in Gaza are untenable, both for civilians and long-term peace in the form of a two-state solution,' she said in Canberra on Wednesday.
Wong gave multiple media interviews and a press conference about the sanctions on Wednesday in a departure from Labor's more reserved tone on the matter in its previous term of government, when former opposition leader Peter Dutton frequently castigated the government for breaking with Israel.
The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said the Israeli government would meet early next week to determine how to respond.
'The decision to impose sanctions on two Israeli cabinet ministers is deeply concerning and entirely unacceptable. These ministers are part of a government that operates under the principle of collective responsibility, making such measures unreasonable,' Maimon said.
Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Michaelia Cash did not make any comments supporting the two most hardline members of Netanyahu's cabinet. But she did question whether the Magnitsky-style sanctions used by the government were appropriate to impose on a democratically elected government.
'We are concerned that there is a pattern of decisions by the Albanese government targeting the Israeli government, rather than Hamas,' she said.
The rocky pathway to a two-state solution will capture global headlines later this month at a New York summit to be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia. Australia has been involved in working groups for the summit, but officials at home and abroad have cast doubt on the prospects of reaching consensus, as diplomats hastily scramble to put together a clear agenda for the gathering.
The two-state solution has been key Western policy for decades, but the Trump administration's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, suggested this week that the US was no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state. Asked by Bloomberg News if a Palestinian state remained a US aim, he said: 'I don't think so.'
Under Australia's Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, sanctions can be applied against individuals responsible for serious violations of human rights, including the right to life and protection from torture. Any Australian found to be dealing with the sanctioned individuals' assets faces penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment or fines reaching $825,000.
A leading Palestinian advocate in Australia, Nasser Mashne, said the sanctions were 'crumbs, tossed by the Australian government 613 days too late.'
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'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,' he said.
Daniel Aghion, of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the two ministers' behaviour was 'reprehensible' and about 80 per cent of Israelis did not support them.
'However, if Australia were to sanction every cabinet minister in every government who has incited hatred and violence, we would end up breaking off diplomatic relations with half the world. This measure is an exercise in performative politics,' he said.