Indeed, diplomatic sources were \u201cdisappointed\u201d Canberra backed away, despite indicating it was open to taking more action, with one telling the ABC it had \u201cmissed an opportunity\u201d to heap pressure on Israel. The UK, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden carried on without us, with the UK in particular provoking Israel\u2019s ire<\/a> after accusing Israeli settlers of ethnic cleansing<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tRelated Article Block Placeholder<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tArticle ID: 1266618\n\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t The ABC did not speculate as to why Australia withdrew\u00a0\u2014 though one source did, suggesting our government was worried about domestic politics. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said it was \u201cconcerned blanket import bans present practical challenges, including how to ensure they do not inadvertently harm Palestinian businesses\u201d, adding that it would pursue \u201cfurther targeted measures \u2026 to deter illegal settlements\u201d.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s absence from the joint statement had already raised eyebrows, well before the ABC revealed we were almost part of it. It was, frankly, strange that our government wasn\u2019t on the statement, given we have often been in lockstep with allies like the UK and Canada when it comes to sanctions<\/a> and<\/a> statements<\/a> against Israel. As many noted, these were similar sanctions to the ones outspoken<\/a> backbencher Ed Husic called for<\/a> at July\u2019s Labor conference, a motion for which he could not even find a seconder.<\/p>\n \tIndependent. Irreverent. In your inbox<\/p>\n \n Get the headlines they don\u2019t want you to read. Sign up to Crikey\u2019s free newsletters for fearless reporting, sharp analysis, and a touch of chaos. <\/p>\n By continuing, you agree to our\u00a0Terms & Conditions<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s good reason to suspect domestic political considerations once again got in the way of pursuing international justice. I initially wondered whether Australia\u2019s absence was related to the recently concluded Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, where the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism was at times blurred<\/a>, despite the best efforts of some witnesses to demarcate the two. <\/p>\n Anthony Albanese was cowed into calling the royal commission after the Bondi massacre, and seems wary of anything that could reignite claims he is hostile to Israel. Nevermind that 79% of Australians recently expressed an unfavourable view of Israel<\/a>, suggesting most can tell the difference between a state and a religion.<\/p>\n The ferocity with which UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has been attacked over sanctions<\/a> \u2014 he has been labelled antisemitic<\/a>, despite being Jewish, not to mention a longtime friend of Israel \u2014 lends credence to the idea Australian Labor did not feel it could take that heat right now. So too would the ludicrous question the PM was \u201chit with<\/a>\u201d by The Nightly reporter Latika Bourke on Sunday, asked if he was \u201ca fraud\u201d for accepting an award given he \u201cscrewed up the response to the worst massacre since Port Arthur\u201d. (\u201cNo,\u201d Albanese replied<\/a>, to his credit.)<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tRelated Article Block Placeholder<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tArticle ID: 1266589\n\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t The PM\u2019s recent statements on the world stage offer another potential reason his government backed away from the recent joint statement and sanctions \u2014 and another reason to abhor that decision. On Monday, Albanese launched<\/a> Australia\u2019s pitch for a seat at the UN Security Council for 2029-30, under the tagline \u201cWe listen. We partner. We protect.\u201d<\/p>\n Could the Albanese government be keeping its power dry (and its diplomatic stoushes to a minimum) for this bid, for which it will require support from two-thirds of the General Assembly? Curiously, the only other candidate so far for the available non-permanent seats is Finland, which did sign onto the West Bank\u2019s sanctions statement, along with its Nordic neighbours. Australia is leaning into its \u201cmiddle power<\/a>\u201d status, for which it might want to come off as taking the middle ground, Ed Sheeran-like, and refusing to piss off anyone.<\/p>\n We will likely never know why exactly the Australian government withdrew from the major step taken by our allies this month to try to put a stop to ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Whatever the reasoning, it throws into doubt whether we are even the sort of country that deserves to be on the Security Council, which it has pitched as focused on protecting civilians in overseas conflicts through proactive diplomacy, and amplifying the voices of small and mid-sized states.<\/p>\n In its UN bid, Australia claims to \u201clisten\u201d, \u201cpartner\u201d and \u201cprotect\u201d. Unfortunately, that tagline doesn\u2019t specify who we listen to, partner with, or protect. But our refusal to join with our allies on West Bank sanctions suggests it is not always the countries in need of protection that the Australian government is listening to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why did Australia withdraw from a UK-led move to impose trade sanctions on Israeli businesses in the illegally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2324,64,63,6897,44,6899,84,40632],"class_list":["post-904434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-politics","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\t\t\t![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GAOReport_1680x945.jpg\")
\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Crikey-Sami-Shah_1680x945.png\")
\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n