Wong prepares sanctions but does not pursue broad settlement goods ban
Labor Friends of Palestine wrote to Wong on Wednesday after Australia did not join the United Kingdom, Canada and France in banning trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The group urged Australia to coordinate its response with allied countries and take stronger action in response to violence against Palestinians.
The campaign group within Labor’s rank-and-file membership tied its request to changes in the party’s national platform agreed in July. Its conveners told Wong that joining the push led by the United Kingdom would be consistent with principles Labor members endorsed at the party’s national conference in Adelaide.
Labor’s platform guides policy development and opposes the annexation of Palestinian territory. It calls for Israel to end illegal settlement activity and the occupation. It also calls on the Australian government to end any support for illegal settlement activity or extremist violence and to implement further action and sanctions as necessary.
“The announcement by Canada, France and the United Kingdom provides Australia with an opportunity to give practical effect to those commitments,” Labor Friends of Palestine said in the letter, which was provided to Guardian Australia.
The group called for “careful policy design” rather than “inaction.” It said policymakers should consider how targeted trade restrictions could be implemented while protecting Palestinian workers and avoiding unintended consequences.
Wong confirmed this week that Australia was preparing another round of sanctions against Israel but did not join the United Kingdom in banning trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. She also said Australia was not pushing for a broad ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements.
An accompanying Guardian video described Australia as planning “targeted measures” to stop Israeli settler violence without an import ban.
In the Senate on Thursday, Wong disputed claims by the Greens that Australia was trying to placate the Netanyahu government. “I think the prime minister Netanyahu’s government has made very, very clear their displeasure at the actions that the Albanese government has taken,” Wong said.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi challenged Wong to say whether she agreed with Miliband that ethnic cleansing of Palestinians was taking place in the West Bank. Wong responded that Australia had “sanctioned Israeli extremists for the abhorrent settler violence terrorising Palestinian communities.”
Labor Friends of Palestine said Australia had previously worked with the same countries in response to escalating settler violence. In June, Australia joined Canada, France, Norway and the United Kingdom in coordinated sanctions and other measures against extremist settlers and people supporting violence against Palestinian civilians.
The United Kingdom’s new package includes a ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories and a new ban on arms licences and other exports. Sanctions against individuals are also planned, although the package could take six to nine months to implement.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a joint statement that their governments were taking further action to push for progress on a two-state solution. Nine European countries also said they were considering similar measures.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called Israeli efforts to control the territory unlawful and agreed there was “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists.”
Wong has also been working with the family of Zomi Frankcom on a response to the Israel Defense Forces’ decision not to open a criminal investigation into Gaza strikes that killed the Australian aid worker and six of her colleagues.