How did it come to pass that Australia’s First Law Officer, former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, made an official visit to Israel more than 12 months into a genocide in Gaza, armed with trade information and a briefing that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion in July 2024 was not binding on States? And why did he attend an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce function, with guests including the Zionist Federation of Australia, in contravention of Australia’s obligations under international law?
The final travel brief to Israel prepared for Dreyfus for his trip to Israel in January 2025, obtained by Declassified Australia via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, referred to the ‘Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory [OPT], including East Jerusalem’, noting that ‘…all States were obliged not to recognise as legal or assist in maintaining Israel’s presence in the OPTs. The Court said modalities of how to bring an end to the unlawful occupation as rapidly as possible was a matter for UNGA [UN General Assembly] and the UN Security Council (UNSC)…’ but concluded: ‘The Court’s findings are not binding on States, though are influential when interpreting international law’.
All States were aware from the Advisory Opinion and the UN General Assembly resolution that the illegality involved in Israel’s occupation of Palestine has important consequences for them because of the fundamental nature of the rules of international law that are being violated.
As expressed by Ralph Wilde, an expert in international law: “In international law, in a decentralised legal system where unlike in a national legal system there is no global ‘sovereign’ who can enforce the law, the role of individual States is much more important as an agent of enforcement.”
Respecting international law or an international rules-based order, on the part of a State member of the United Nations, involves accepting as a participating State the obligation to act in accordance with international law and not to engage in acts or omissions contrary to it or that tend to undermine it.
As a party to this international institution, Australia has an obligation to enforce its principles and norms including those laid down by the ICJ.
Australia cannot pick and choose which decisions it wishes to enforce.
AUSTRALIA’S SELECTIVE EMBRACE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
Compliance with the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and international law requires Australia to take all possible positive steps to bring the illegality to an end. Positive steps to bring the situation in Palestine to an end would include sanctions against Israel aimed at influencing its behaviour, as the ICJ said.
Australia also has negative obligations not to recognise the illegal situation and also not to provide any aid or assistance to it. Having ‘normal’ diplomatic relations with Israel involves expressly or implicitly failing to recognise not only that Israel isn’t sovereign over this territory but that it has no legal right to be there in the first place. States should not be engaging in diplomatic relations with Israel at all while its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands persist.
But international legal obligations didn’t stop Australia from sending its First Law Officer, Mark Dreyfus, to Israel with trade data and information confirming that, ‘in 2023, Australia invested $1.718 billion in Israel, while Israel invested $5.524 billion in Australia. On average over the last five years, Israeli investment in Australia increased 87.8 per cent, and Australian investment in Israel increased 13.4 per cent.’
In the former Attorney-General’s media release about his trip to Israel dated 14 January 2025, there was no specific mention of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce reception during that trip.
However, the final travel brief prepared for the former Attorney-General confirms that:
Established over 50 years ago to build collaboration and cooperation between Australia and Israel for the benefit of both nations, the AICC is widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading business forums.
Through its extensive program of high-profile business events, the AICC has become synonymous with the business, government and academic communities as an innovative, prestigious forum and connector to high value, thought leadership and influential networks of decision makers.
Since 1989, the AICC has attracted leaders from the business, academic and government communities to participate in trade missions to Israel. These delegations have been instrumental in encouraging trade and investment and fostering closer business relationships between Australia and Israel.
In the prepared ‘REMARKS FOR RECEPTION WITH THE AUSTRALIA-ISRAEL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE’, no mention is made of the rulings of the ICJ, or the findings of a plausible risk of genocide, or the ICJ Advisory Opinion. Instead, we see a determined focus on the ‘close ties between Australia and Israel’.
Attendees of the event included the who’s who of the pro-Israel community including AFIK & Co, The Zionist Federation of Australia, Edelstein & Co, Reptrak, Armoured Consulting, Voiceless FieldIn, SmartAID, Herzog Fox Ne’eman, Minderoo Centre for Technology., Joseph Shem Tov & Co, Reichman University – The Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Shuster & Co Law firm in Israel, Seital Marketing, Macquarie Capital and Asserson, with a further 25 invitees yet to respond at the time of briefing.
Of incidental current interest is the statement – emphasis added – towards the end of Dreyfus’ address to the reception attendees:
‘We have also appointed a Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism,
Ms Jillian Segal AO, who you will all know well as the former chair of the AICC.’
The final brief lists bilateral meeting briefs with Mr Yariv Levin, Israel’s Minister of Justice, who supports the illegal annexation of the West Bank, Ms Gali Baharav-Miara, Attorney General, Ms Illit Ostrovitch-Levi, Director General of Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, Mr Hussein Al-Sheikh, Palestinian Liberation Organisation Executive Committee Secretary General, Mr Sharhabeel Al Zaeem, Palestinian Minister of Justice, Mr Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, Ms Sharren Haskel, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs along with four redacted names.
GAZA BARELY MENTIONED
Dreyfus later issued a media release ‘Ceasefire in Gaza must also be a turning point in Australia’ stating:
‘..It was an honour to meet the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog [in Jerusalem, a city whose legal status is unresolved]. We reflected on our longstanding personal friendship which echoes the bonds of friendship between so many Israelis and Australians and our two great nations…’
What’s also significant is the question of the then-Attorney’s potential conflicts of interest. The Australian Centre for International Justice had this to say about the Attorney-General’s trip to Israel in its 16 January 2025 media release:
‘…As a State Party to the Rome Statute, Australia has an obligation under international and Australian law to uphold the rulings of the ICC, including acting on arrest warrants issued by the Court. It is highly concerning that the Attorney-General, in his capacity as the first law officer of Australia, has deemed it appropriate to proactively nurture a relationship with a State that stands credibly accused of violating the Genocide Convention and other peremptory norms of international law. Moreover, the Attorney-General has indicated that he intends to meet with Israeli officials – officials who may include the Israeli Prime Minister charged with the gravest of crimes or other officials who remain complicit in the ongoing and egregious assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and throughout the West Bank. This decision raises serious questions about the ethical and legal judgment guiding Australia’s diplomatic actions.’
In view of the appalling genocide and innumerable war crimes taking place in Gaza, it seems that the only way that the Australian Government can act consistently with international law and with Australian morality – as demonstrated by the huge number of protesters of all nationalities and faiths who ‘marched for humanity’ recently over the Sydney Harbour Bridge – is for the immediate imposition of full diplomatic and economic sanctions on Israel.
Furthermore, Australia must recognise the existence of Palestine as a State circumscribed by the 1967 boundaries (at least) and support the United Nations General Assembly resolution to put the ICJ Opinion into effect from September 2025 at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.
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