Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) has welcomed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s comments on ABC TV “Insiders” on July 27, appearing to rule out the possibility of Australia recognising “Palestine” in the near future. However, AIJAC also expressed concern that some of the Prime Minister’s comments on Gaza and international law appeared to misrepresent aspects of what international law actually says.

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “AIJAC has long warned that tokenistic and premature recognition of ‘Palestine’ would undermine the chances of real Israeli-Palestinian peace, and we are grateful the Prime Minister also appears to recognise this. As he suggested, issues such as how Hamas would be excluded and how to ensure a Palestinian state will not be a threat to Israel’s existence, have to be settled before any real progress toward a two-state outcome can occur.

“Premature recognition of the currently non-existent state of Palestine would be counter-productive for other reasons as well: ‘Palestine’ does not currently meet the criteria for statehood under international law; such recognition undermines the push for desperately-needed reforms of the Palestinian Authority; it encourages and perpetuates Palestinian rejection of the negotiations which are the only way a two-state resolution can even be achieved; and it constitutes a clear reward for the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, thus strengthening the forces of violence and rejectionism in Palestinian society.

“Furthermore, the push for premature recognition ignores the fact that Israel has offered Palestinian leaders statehood on at least three occasions, and it is the Palestinian side that walked away. Even the supposedly ‘moderate’ Palestinian Authority leaders appears to be at best ambiguous about any achievable two-state resolution, with most wanting a state in place of Israel, not one alongside it.”

Dr Rubenstein added, “While we give the Prime Minister full credit for his comments on delaying any recognition of Palestine, AIJAC does have concerns about some of his other comments on ‘Insiders’ accusing Israel of violating international law – which appear to represent misunderstandings or misinterpretations of what international law actually says.

“In particular, his comment calling Israel’s aid halt from early March to mid-May illegal fails to account for Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which makes it clear that aid flows can be halted if aid is being diverted, is not under effective control, or is providing a ‘definite advantage’ to enemy forces. All three were clearly the case in Gaza at the time. Furthermore, his comments regarding ‘collective punishment’ do not reflect the legal meaning of that term.  

“Without detracting from his sensible comments on recognition, we hope the Prime Minister will be better briefed on international law issues such as these in future,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.