The Albanese government’s formal recognition of Palestinian statehood has been branded “useless” by the Palestine Action Group, who claimed it was meaningless while the country continues to arm Israel.
Organiser Amal Naser, the daughter of Palestinian refugees and a lead organiser of August’s ‘March for Humanity’ on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge called for sanctions and an end to the arms trade.
“It’s absolutely useless to recognise a state while arming the very state that’s seeking to annihilate it,” she told Central News. “We need to remember that the state of Israel is seeking to completely exterminate Gaza and occupy the Gaza Strip.
“It’s increasing its settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Netanyahu government’s goal is for Palestine to no longer exist and that is being done with the very arms that Australia is providing.”
“In terms of recognition at this time, I think there is quite a consensus that it is not a sufficient response to address the genocide. The demand from the community has been clear, which is sanctions on Israel and the end to the arms trade.”
Her comments come after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, spoke at the United Nations in New York alongside Canada and the United Kingdom, to announce Australia “recognises the legitimate and long-held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own”.
With that, Australia joined more than 150 UN member states that have formally recognised Palestinian statehood.
Yet, less than 24 hours later, the Department of Defence revealed it had awarded a $9.7 million contract for military radios to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer and long tied to operations in Gaza.
The deal is the latest in a string of defence contracts with Israeli arms firms, despite Elbit’s reported links to the drone strike that killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza in April last year.
Nour Al Hammouri, former president of the University of Technology Sydney’s Students’ Association and Palestinian Society, said the humanitarian toll makes Australia’s ongoing arms trade and diplomatic ties with Israel impossible to reconcile with recognition.
The reality is that Palestine isn’t just a political project, it’s a humanitarian one.
He believes the announcement is more an attempt to silence criticism of Australia’s complicity, arguing Canberra’s credibility has been undermined by its own “genocidal settler image”.
He said universities often reflected the same double standards as the government, with students for Palestine facing academic misconduct charges simply for speaking out.
“The reality is that Palestine isn’t just a political project, it’s a humanitarian one,” Al Hammouri said, adding that the Albanese government must look beyond diplomatic rhetoric and approach the situation through the lens of human rights.
A UN Commission of Inquiry recently reported Israel’s military operations in Gaza were carried out with genocidal intent, systematically employing methods of warfare that resulted in mass civilian deaths.
It found more than 80 per cent of those killed were civilians, including children, and noted Israel’s siege, destruction of infrastructure and mass displacement created conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 67,160 people and wounded 169,679. Public statements from Israeli leaders were cited as “direct evidence” of genocidal intent.
Navi Pillay, former UN human rights chief and chair of the commission, warned that when “clear signs of evidence and genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity”.
Others have urged Australia to act accordingly. Greens senator David Shoebridge argued that Canberra should hold Israel to the same standard it applied to Russia following its illegal invasion of Ukraine, using sanctions as a concrete tool to enforce accountability.
By contrast, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, speaking in New York, emphasised that Australia’s initial steps would include updating official references to the ‘State of Palestine’ rather than the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’.
Albanese has defended the decision as sovereign and in line with Australia’s national interests, insisting it was not determined by Washington or any other capital.
Assala Sayara. Photo: Nadia Elkaid.
He reiterated his belief that a two-state solution is “humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East,” framing recognition as part of a coordinated international effort to build renewed momentum for peace.
But Naser rejected this, describing it as “tooting the horn of an idea that no longer exists,” adding settlement expansion in the West Bank and the ongoing genocide in Gaza had destroyed any prospects of such a solution.
She noted just a week before October 7, Israel told the United Nations its goal was “greater Israel,” which excluded any possibility of a Palestinian state.
“I don’t understand why the Albanese government is now trying to revive a solution that is dead by all accounts,” Naser said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to recognition of statehood, was to condemn world leaders including Albanese for recognising Palestine and declared, “there will be no Palestinian state”.
For Palestinian activist Assala Sayara, Netanyahu’s position underlines a pattern of erasure.
Australia’s recognition, in her view, was not a reflection of the demands of the people but yet another example of western governments dictating not only the future of Palestine, but the very existence of its people.
“The question is, where is the Palestinian voice in that?” she asked.
Sayara warned recognition without sanctions leaves Palestinians exposed to further bloodshed, contending Israel continues its genocide with the full impunity of Western governments, including those that have formally recognised Palestinian statehood.
“Home is the memory. Home is the future. Home is the call. Home is a meeting. Home is a test. Home is where my mind, body and soul meet and I am at a place where I am yearning for home.”
The march on the Harbour Bridge did get us media attention, but it required a massive stunt to do so.
The Jewish Council of Australia, called on the Albanese government to impose targeted sanctions on Israeli government officials, end military cooperation and hold Israel accountable under international law.
Executive officer Sarah Schwartz said there is an emerging consensus among Australian Jews that the promise of ‘Never Again’ must apply to everyone, including Palestinians.
The council had just delivered an 80-page submission, supported by more than 2700 signatures, to the prime minister’s office, calling for sanctions on Israel “to put a stop on the genocide”.
The push for stronger measures has also intensified on Australian university campuses.
Just weeks ago, universities across the country held student-led referendums on Palestine, where overwhelming majorities voted to censure the government for its complicity in the genocide and urged universities to cut ties with Israeli weapons manufacturers.
Naser was also critical of the Australian media’s response.
“I think the Australian media has largely failed to platform the demands of the Palestinian movement properly and efficiently,” she said.
“In the aftermath of mass marches such as the march on the Harbour Bridge, that did get us media attention, but it required a massive stunt to do so.
“Generally on the day-to-day, the media has largely failed in promoting and platforming our demands, but also doing so in a non-critical way. When our demands have been platformed, it has usually been in a way to criticise and downplay them.
“When over 300,000 Australians came together to march on the Harbour Bridge on the 3rd of August, which was the largest march in Australian history, those were the two demands [sanctions and ending the arms trade] that were clear. We were not marching under the banner of demanding recognition.”
Main image by Caitlin Maloney.
