Millions of dollars of food grown in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has been shipped to Australia labeled as "produce of Israel", according to The Guardian.
Analysis by human rights legal organization Global Echo of commercial documents and official trade data from the Israeli government and the Australian Bureau of Statistics found at least US$5m (A$7.2m) of organic dates grown in settlements across the West Bank had been shipped to Australia over the past eight years.
Global Echo analyzed 132 agricultural shipments from Israel to Australia between August 2018 and August 2026. Eighty-five, or 64%, contained settlement products. The proportion was higher in more recent years: between January 2025 and August 2026, 20 of 24 date shipments analyzed were sourced from settlements.
Israel's settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, and Australia recognizes the territory as part of the state of Palestine. Israeli law obliges exporters to label settlement products as originating in Israel unless the destination country prohibits such labeling, and Australia has no ban on importing such goods and no labeling requirement. Foreign minister Penny Wong told the Senate in September that the settlements were illegal, but said Australia was not pursuing a blanket import ban, citing concerns about unintended consequences for Australian businesses.