Sanctions not working. Israeli settler violence continues unopposed

Australia’s sanctions regime against Israel fails to hold many perpetrators accountable for gross human rights violations and war crimes. Karen Edyvane Regarding Amnesty International’s newly published report.

As illegal Israeli settlements and settler violence escalate in the occupied West Bank, Australia has sanctioned only half of those approved by our allies.

Despite Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong recently announcing additional sanctions, Australia’s response has not only been minimal, slow and ineffective; serious sanctions reforms were ‘vetoed’ by the Israel Lobby.

Amnesty International recently published an important statement report It details Israel’s rapid annexation and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, particularly Palestinian Bedouin and shepherd communities.

The report is a detailed and chilling account of Israel’s systematic state-led and state-financed campaign of ethnic cleansing and settler-military violence. The result is “an exponential increase in state-sponsored settler violence.”

terrorizing and deporting thousands of Palestinians to annex the land.

Settlers’ growing demands ignored

The number of Israeli settlements deemed ‘illegal’ under international law has increased by 80 percent since the far-right Netanyahu Government came to power. 102 new settlements It has been established since 2022.

Since October 7, 2023, the West Bank has seen a massive increase in Israel’s state-sponsored ethnic cleansing, including state-led settlement expansion, forced displacement, illegal land confiscations, and settler-military violence.

Controversial measures such as E1 settlement project And new land ownership rules Designed to undermine the 1993 Oslo Accords and ‘accelerate settlements’; and, more importantly, to establish the “de facto” annexation of the West Bank and, in the words Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich,

Bury the idea of ​​a Palestinian State.

There have been more than 3,000 settler and military attacks in the West Bank since October 2023 (about five attacks per day). 1,096 Palestinians were killed in these attacks, approximately one-fifth of whom were children.

In January 2026 alone, more than one 200 violent settler army attacks It was reported in the Masafer Yatta area in the Southern Hebron Hills. At least 50 Palestinian villagesMostly Bedouin shepherd communities have been completely wiped out and driven from their historical lands.

There are settlers More than 18 percent of the land was confiscated It was designated for a future Palestinian state, but had little repercussion.

international sanctions

International pressure has increased greatly. Global South Through sanctions, legal action and arms embargoes. As the calls increase Suspending the EU-Israel Trade AgreementAny progress has been blocked by dialogue advocates Germany (a major arms supplier to Israel) and Italy.

Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Canada and Japan imposed an arms embargo or stopped arms sales to Israel.

Australia, by contrast, has no arms or trade embargo, and progress on sanctions against Israeli settlements and settlers has been slow and limited. The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) has described Australia’s sanctions system as “broken” for its abject failure to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing human rights abuses, ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.

Last week Penny Wong posted another public condemnation related to Escalating settler violence in the West Bank – “Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Norway and the United Kingdom reiterated coordinated action to impose sanctions and other measures to hold extremist settlers responsible for appalling settler violence against Palestinian civilians.”

So how coordinated and effective have Australia’s enforcement efforts been?

Australian sanctions are behind us

Following the October 2023 attacks and the subsequent genocidal war in Gaza, Australia imposed sanctions for the first time. Sanctions in July 2024 A lawsuit has been filed against seven settlers and one extremist organisation, ‘Hilltop Youth’, over settler attacks in the West Bank.

in June 2025Australia joins England, Canada, New Zealand and Norway for the second round. MagnitskyThe style of sanctions against Smotrich and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir. In September 2025, Australia relisted the extremist ‘Lehava’, which was first listed under its UN Security Council obligations in 2001.

Last week, more than a year later, Australia targeted three more people There are sanctions and four settler outposts for the first time; all of which were already subject to international sanctions years ago (by the UK, Canada and/or the EU).

So 5 out of 7 individuals/entities in Australia’s last round of sanctions were sanctioned by our closest allies two years ago.

In short, Australia’s sanctions regime against Israel is neither ‘coordinated’ nor kept in step with our closest allies. Rather, it has consistently and reluctantly pursued its international partners for several years.

Australia never took independent action.

Like, Australian charities openly linked to Israeli settlement activitiesOnly six Israeli organisations, including the Chai Charitable Foundation and the United Israel Appeal, continue to operate without penalty because they are approved by DFAT.

In short, you cannot breach DFAT’s sanctions list; There is almost no one on the list!

Charities funding Israel’s illegal settlements are untouchable, Labor says

Who is missing?

according to Sanctions List of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) As of 20 May 2026, Australia had imposed sanctions on only 18 of 40 Israeli individuals and organizations targeted by international partners.

Of the more than 2,400 ‘entities’ listed by DFAT, almost a third are Russian (719). Palestine and Israel (combined), ranked 6th (i.e. 70 organizations or 2.8%)

Ironically, Australia has sanctioned more British citizens – 35 people – than Israelis, even though the International Court of Justice is currently reviewing Israel’s ‘plausible genocide’ in Gaza. The turning point of the court is July 2024 It was decided that the aggressive and lethal occupation of Israel’s apartheid regime, which has been going on since 1967, is unlawful.

Australia’s sanctions list notably excludes several high-profile extremist settler figures already sanctioned by Australia’s close allies.

These include Daniella Weiss, who has been described as the “godmother” of the settler movement and a leading proponent of the biblical vision of “Greater Israel”, endorsed by the UK, Canada and the EU. In 2025, Weiss appeared in Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary. settlers.

Other confirmed ‘missing’ individuals/entities include:

• Isaschar Manne from ‘Manne Farm’ in Hebron Hills.
• Reut Ben Haim and Shlomo Yehezkel of ‘Tzav 9’ are accused of blockading humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza.

Australia’s sanctions will be largely ineffective unless they focus solely on individuals and target the broader and well-documented political, military, religious and organizational structures that support settlement expansion, annexation and settler violence.

In February this year, Australian members of the Global Sanctions Coalition (GSC) (i.e. JCA, Amnesty International, APAN, War Prevention Medical Association) He called out to Australia Sanctioning the World Zionist Organization (and its organisations) as well as Israeli settler politicians and Israel’s ‘Settlement Division’.

Potential extremist settler politicians who may be subject to sanctions (among others):

• Orit Strock: Minister of Settlements and National Missions, who has come under intense criticism from groups such as Amnesty International for distributing state-funded equipment, cameras and off-road vehicles directly to radical settlers to occupy Palestinian pastures. [1, 2]
• Zvi Sukkot: A Knesset member known for leading Knesset committees advocating deep annexation of the West Bank. He actively defended controversial conferences that encouraged relocation or displacement of the population in Gaza. [1, 2, 3]
• Amihai Eliyahu: Heritage Minister who sparked massive global outrage by publicly stating that dropping nuclear weapons on the Gaza Strip during the conflict was “one of the possibilities.” [1]

GSC also called for sanctions against 3 settler/construction companies involved in the widespread destruction of Palestinian civilian property (West Bank, Gaza): Alon Elgali (Meshek Afar Ltd), Harel Libi (Libi Construction and Infrastructure Ltd) and Uria Loberbom (founder of Uria Unit). Harel Libi and his company were sanctioned by the UK more than a year ago. Australia still needs to act.

Australia has failed to impose sanctions on major extremist settler organizations even as Israeli violence spread beyond Gaza and the West Bank into southern Lebanon. As ‘Uri Tzafon’ and networks supporting the annexation and ethnic cleansing of Lebanon.

West Bank. Israel’s cruelty is in sight but out of mind

Australia’s sanctions regime urgently needs an overhaul to comply with international legal standards and address Israel’s ongoing serious human rights violations and escalating violence in the West Bank and Occupied Palestinian Territories.

in 2021Leading human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson condemned the failure of Australia’s sanctions system:

Targeted sanctions should be about human rights rather than foreign policy.

“The government does not understand that sanctions can only be credible if they are fair and supported by the objective views of human rights experts, not politicians or ministers.”

Amnesty International’s main report In the West Bank, it was claimed this week that the international community’s continued silence and failure to act decisively to stop Israel’s crimes “has emboldened Israeli authorities to escalate a brutal campaign to forcibly displace Palestinians and expand its control over territory in the West Bank.”

Israel lobby sells stolen Palestinian land to Australian investors

Karen Edyvane is an academic and international aid worker and honorary associate professor at the Australian National University. A long-time member of Amnesty International, she visited the West Bank in 2025 for a human rights internship.