Australia Foreign Minister Sanctions Israeli Youths Over Alleged Acts of Torture

Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong delivers her keynote speech during the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia on March 4, 2024. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Serious allegations have been made against a group of Israeli youths in the West Bank, resulting in Australia’s foreign minister levelling Magnitsky-style financial sanctions and travel bans against them.

It is a long way from the Middle East to the office of Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and questions have been raised around the MP’s decision to become involved in a democratic ally’s legal processes.

Ms. Wong announced the sanctions on July 25, alleging the youths had committed several serious criminal acts, including beatings, sexual assault, torture, injury, and, in some cases, death.

However, the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), says if Israeli youths did commit such acts, then Israel had a judicial system for handling such cases and any offenders would be properly dealt with under the law.

AJA CEO Robert Gregory said Ms. Wong’s choice to sanction the youths would have no impact on the Middle East, but could serve to inflame tensions and antisemitism within Australia further.

“Labor has had nothing to say as many Jewish people have been murdered and severely injured by Arabs in Judea/Samaria (the West Bank) recently,” he said in a statement.

“Labor has not imposed sanctions on the thousands of individuals who took part in the October 7 massacre.”

Mr. Gregory said many Australians would be questioning why Ms. Wong had not placed such sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran—both of which have committed egregious human rights abuses.

“When there are isolated incidents of Jews retaliating or taking vigilante actions, Israel’s legal system promptly handles it,” he told The Epoch Times.

“This is an ugly act of interference in our ally’s legal system.

“Australians would not welcome other countries interfering or imposing sanctions on our citizens.”

Securing Votes

AJA President David Adler expressed concern that Ms. Wong’s involvement was motivated by domestic politics, saying it was aimed at securing votes.

The AJA says Labor is in a position, at present, where it is competing with the Greens, who have been staunch opponents of the state of Israel.

Labor’s status quo among voters was recently the target of activist group The Muslim Vote, which aims to gather Australia’s 800,000 Muslims to bloc vote and take down key Labor seats in the next election.

The group has been a vocal supporter of former Labor senator Fatima Payman, who left Labor after she crossed the floor to side with the Greens in calling for recognition of a Palestinian state.

Australia Working Towards Peace: Wong

On July 25, Ms. Wong said Australia was working on peace in the Middle East.

“The Australian government has imposed Magnitsky-style targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli individuals, and targeted financial sanctions on one entity, for involvement in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank,” she said in a statement.

“The individuals sanctioned today have been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians.

“This includes beatings, sexual assault, and torture of Palestinians resulting in serious injury and in some cases, death. The entity sanctioned is a youth group that is responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinian communities.”

Ms. Wong did not elaborate on the origin of the information regarding the youths, their identities, or whether they were already being dealt with by the Israeli justice system.

“We call on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution,” she said.

“The Albanese government has been firm and consistent that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace.

“Australia will continue to work for a just and enduring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The West Bank has been a disputed territory for decades.

Following the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, the region was annexed by Jordan, who ruled over it until 1967, when it came under Israeli rule following the six-day war.

The U.S. government estimates the Palestinian population of the West Bank to be around three million. There are just over half a million Jews living in the West Bank.

Magnitsky-Style Laws Different from Usual Sanctions

Magnitsky-style laws differ from usual sanctions, as they act against citizens rather than nations.

Targets of the laws, which Australia adopted in 2021, are intended to be serious perpetrators of major human rights atrocities.

These could include cyber hackers, corrupt generals, cronies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, or Chinese Communist Party officials accused of serious offences.

The Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Thematic Sanctions) Bill 2021 prevents serious offenders from seeking safe haven in foreign countries, for their family members, or for their assets.

More than 20 countries have adopted similar laws, based on the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which came about following the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky after he uncovered $230 million fraud involving Russian tax officials.

The original law was signed off on by former U.S. President Barack Obama and saw individual sanctions placed against numerous Russian nationals believed to have contributed to Mr. Magnitsky’s mistreatment and eventual death.

Australia enforced its own Magnitsky-style code against a number of Russian officials involved in the same case in 2022. It was the first and only use of the law until Ms. Wong’s announcement on July 25.