Australia urged to join Hague Group on Palestine

ANKARA

An Australian senator on Friday urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s administration to join the Hague Group on Palestine, saying Australia must support international efforts to prevent genocide and hold perpetrators accountable.

Senator Lidia Thorpe praised more than 20 countries whose representatives met Wednesday in Bogota and agreed to pursue legal and diplomatic measures against Israel over its continued violations of international law in Gaza and the West Bank.

"This is what real action to end genocide looks like," Thorpe said in a statement shared on X.

The summit was led by the Hague Group, a coalition of Colombia, South Africa, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, and Senegal. Founded in January in the Netherlands, the group aims to hold Israel accountable under international law.

Delegates from other countries also attended, including Türkiye, Brazil, Portugal, Algeria, Lebanon, Oman, Uruguay, Bangladesh, Chile, Djibouti, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, along with Palestinian representatives.

Several states signed an agreement pledging coordinated steps, such as halting arms transfers to Israel, blocking military shipments by sea and reviewing public contracts to cut ties with companies linked to the occupation.

“Australia must join global efforts to prevent genocide and hold perpetrators to account. At an emergency summit in Bogota, the Group announced coordinated diplomatic, legal, and economic actions to hold Israel accountable. Australia was invited — but chose not to attend,” Thorpe said.

She urged the Labor government to sign the agreement and back her "Red Lines Bills," submitted in Parliament with Senator Fatima Payman. The legislation, she said, would align Australia’s policies with the Hague Group’s measures and international legal obligations.

- Australia releases Palestinian woman

Australian authorities have released a 61-year-old Palestinian grandmother whose visa was cancelled over security concerns, ABC News reported Friday.

Maha Almassri, who fled Gaza in February 2024, was living in Sydney with her son when the Australian Border Force detained her last Thursday. Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Customs Julian Hill had revoked her visa.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declined to comment on the specifics of the decision.

"Any information in the public domain is being supplied by the individual or her family and is not necessarily consistent with the information held by our intelligence and security agencies," Burke said Friday.