MEDIA RELEASE
09 September 2026
The Jewish Council of Australia welcomes moves by twelve countries including the UK, Canada, and France in restricting trade with illegal West Bank settlements and urges Australia to follow suit.
The move to ban imports comes after an Israeli government announcement that it was pressing ahead with development of ‘E1’, an illegal development of 4,000 housing units for Jewish Israelis in the occupied West Bank that would effectively divide it in two.
It follows years of escalating settler terrorism, where, according to Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, settlers have terrorised Palestinian villages on a daily basis with tacit support of the Israeli government. These attacks reached a two decade high last year, but only three per cent of such attacks resulted in any form of criminal conviction.
The Jewish Council supports the decision of the twelve countries who have put trade restrictions on illegal Israeli settlements and urges the Australian government to do the same and then go further, imposing country-level sanctions. Other measures adopted by the UK include the banning of advertising of settlements in Britain, targeted sanctions against individuals and businesses profiting from settlement construction and further restrictions on weapons trade.
Bart Shteinman, Executive Officer at the Jewish Council of Australia said:
“Banning imports from settlements deemed illegal by the United Nations under Article 49 of the Geneva Convention is the bare minimum. Once again Australia is at the back of the pack when it comes to upholding our international law obligations.
“Israel has made no secret of its intentions behind the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich has explicitly stated that developing E1 would “bury” Palestinian statehood.
“The immediate diplomatic backlash to the ban from Israel only proves how closely the settler movement works with the Israeli government. Settler violence and settlement expansion are part of the same enterprise – funded through government budgets and facilitated by the Israeli military.
“This genocidal regime will continue to operate with impunity until more countries take action. Australia’s desire to continue doing trade with illegal entities while paying lip service to human rights concerns is beyond comprehension.
“Many Australians are aghast that our government cannot do the bare minimum to protect Palestinians and that inaction does damage to our social cohesion.
“In the 1980s the Hawke government led the international community against apartheid South Africa. The Albanese government must rediscover that resolve and take action immediately.”
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