Australia urged to target Israeli ministers with sanctions

ISTANBUL

The government of Australia on Wednesday has been urged to target at least two Israeli ministers with sanctions amid Tel Aviv’s ongoing genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza.

“The need for such action has been reinforced by the Ministers’ recent alarming statements in relation to Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza,” said the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), referring to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Smotrich called for the destruction of the Gaza Strip “within a few months,” while Ben-Gvir has publicly demanded a complete stop to humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

“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,” it said.

Rawan Arraf, executive director at the ACIJ, said: “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… 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.”

This came a day after Spain’s parliament on Tuesday passed a non-binding motion calling on the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel in response to its military operations in Gaza.

Separately, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Tel Aviv to allow a “full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza.”

Reiterating opposition to the expansion of Israeli military operations into Gaza, Wong said: “We condemn the abhorrent and outrageous comments made by the members of (Benjamin) Netanyahu government about these people (Palestinians) in crisis.”

The Israeli army resumed its assaults on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has since killed 3,427 people and injured 9,647 others, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January, and adding to the overall death toll since October 2023 of some 53,000 people.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.