In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council established a Commission of Inquiry into Israel’s actions in Gaza.
On 16 September 2025, the Commission delivered its report after a two-year investigation. The Commission included an Australian Commissioner, Mr. Chris Sidoti. Sidoti is an expert in human rights law and who has served in similar investigative roles in Myanmar.
The Commission has determined that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza. It concluded that Israel has committed four of the five acts which are defined as genocidal acts in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
This includes:
- Killing members of a protected group;[1]
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Details of the acts constituting each of the above are set out in detail throughout the report and in accompanying documentation.
It includes findings of Israel targeting civilians, destruction of medical services, sexual and gender-based violence and blocking essential aid.
The Australian Government is a party to the 1948 Convention. Australia has a proud history as a champion of international human rights law, as a co-drafter of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
We must never forget that the UN human rights system was forged after the horrors of the Holocaust to ensure that it was never repeated. We now have reached the unthinkable position where we are witnessing a genocide in real time.
We must, as a community, decide whether we stand silent in the face of a finding of genocide and risk being complicit, or whether we support the international rules-based order.
The Australian Government must immediately move to:
- Expand sanctions against members of Israel’s Government identified within the report as inciting the commission of genocide;
- Support banning Israel from international sporting events; and
- Immediately cease exporting to Israel any equipment that can be used for military purposes.
Liberty Victoria.
[1] The International Court of Justice has recognised Palestinians as a protected group within the meaning of the Genocide Convention.