The Australian government is increasingly alarmed at Israel’s “troubling pattern” of behaviour and has not ruled out a more assertive response, including sanctions against settlers.
In the wake of a sweeping international court of justice ruling read out in a courtroom in The Hague late on Friday that said the continued Israeli occupation of territory seized in 1967 was illegal, a senior Australian government source said the advisory opinion “can’t be ignored”.
Despite Israel maintaining that the ruling was “not legally binding” and “blatantly one-sided”, the Australian government source insisted the ICJ’s advisory opinion had “significant authority under international law”.
“Israel’s response demonstrates a troubling pattern, after the Knesset’s symbolic rejection of a two-state solution, ongoing acts of violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers and record expansion of settlements in the West Bank,” the source told Guardian Australia.
“As long as Israel continues to ignore these concerns, the international community will have no choice but to take action.”
Government sources would not confirm precisely what actions were under active consideration, but Australia has not ruled out imposing sanctions against settlers, a step already taken by some of its top allies.
The Australian government has already vowed not to grant visas to anyone identified as an “extremist settler” wishing to travel to Australia, but sanctions would take that a step further.
Other options believed to be under consideration include Australia being more forthright in publicly calling out the Israeli government’s actions, and working with other countries to try to kickstart progress on a peace process.
European Union officials have previously argued a two-state solution may need to be “imposed” from outside, especially in light of the Israeli government’s insistence that it must maintain full security control of all areas west of the Jordan River.
The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, called on the government to act on the ICJ ruling by taking “urgent and decisive steps to hold Israel accountable, including robust diplomatic measures and sanctions”.
The ICJ – the principal judicial organ of the United Nations – was asked by the UN general assembly in late 2022 to provide advice on the legal consequences arising from the prolonged occupation of territory seized by Israel in 1967, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
This request for legal advice pre-dated the current war in Gaza, and the Australian government voted against the December 2022 motion.
According to the ruling, Israel’s continued presence in the occupied territories “is unlawful” and must end “as rapidly as possible”.
The ICJ also found all other countries were “under an obligation not to recognise as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence”.
Significantly, the ICJ found Israel’s laws and measures maintained “a near-complete separation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between the settler and Palestinian communities” and these breached the international prohibition on “racial segregation and apartheid”.
The Israeli government has long rejected claims of apartheid, but the ICJ ruling is consistent with allegations levelled by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Jerusalem-based non-government organisation B’Tselem.
The Australian government refused to be definitive on Tuesday when asked whether it agreed with this finding, saying only that it was “carefully considering the detail of the ICJ opinion to fully understand the conclusions reached”.
Last week the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, voted 68-9 to pass a resolution that “firmly opposes” the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying this would “pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilise the region”.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said in June he was establishing “facts on the ground in order to make Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] an integral part of the state of Israel” and his “life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state”.
When asked about the collective impact of these developments, Australian officials said a secure and prosperous future for Israelis and Palestinians would “only come from a two-state solution”.
“Rhetoric and actions that delay or undermine a meaningful political process are not in the interests of the Israeli or Palestinian people,” a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
“Australia is pressing for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, the protection of civilians and increased humanitarian access. Resolution of this crisis is essential to a political process that can deliver a two-state solution.”
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, warned in April that the Netanyahu government’s refusal to even engage on the question of a Palestinian state had “caused widespread frustration”.
The government is facing domestic political pressure over its stance, with two new organisations seeking to mobilise Australian Muslims at the next federal election. Earlier this month the Labor senator Fatima Payman quit the party after crossing the floor to vote in favour of immediate recognition of Palestine as a state.
The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia called on the Albanese government to recognise the State of Palestine “without further delay”.
The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, circulated an Israeli foreign ministry statement that said the ICJ’s advisory opinion was “fundamentally wrong” and mixed “politics and law”.
The Israeli foreign ministry said: “While Hamas, Iran and other terrorist elements are attacking Israel from seven fronts – including from Gaza and Judea & Samaria [the West Bank] – with the aim of obliterating it, and in the aftermath of the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the opinion ignores the atrocities that took place on October 7, as well as the security imperative of Israel to defend its territory and its citizens.”
The Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Simon Birmingham, declined to comment on the ICJ’s ruling.
