A reality check Australia cannot ignore: UN Special Rapporteur’s report exposes Australian Government’s complicity in Gaza genocide through combat aircraft supply chain

31 October 2025

In response to the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine exposing the complicity of States in Israel's crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Amnesty International Australia condemns the Australian Government's role in the supply of F-35 aircraft components in sustaining Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia's Occupied Palestinian Territory Spokesperson says:

"Special Rapporteur Albanese's report is a reality check that Australia cannot ignore. Australia must immediately uphold international law and cease complicity in the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

"Special Rapporteur Albanese's report is a reality check that Australia cannot ignore."

"Australia's current arms export controls framework is appallingly weak and dangerously opaque. Australians have a right to know. The secrecy surrounding our defence exports undermines Australia's obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty and risks entrenching our complicity in genocide. This is morally reprehensible and unacceptable to all Australians who believe in human rights and the protection of innocent lives.

"Amnesty International Australia urges States to uphold their international legal obligations. Israel must grant independent human rights monitors immediate access to Gaza to document evidence, expose violations, and ensure justice, reparations for victims, and accountability for perpetrators. The genocide must end. Israel must dismantle its system of apartheid and end its unlawful occupation.

"Amnesty International Australia urges States to uphold their international legal obligations. Israel must grant independent human rights monitors immediate access to Gaza to document evidence, expose violations, and ensure justice, reparations for victims, and accountability for perpetrators."

"Now is the time for Palestinian self-determination. They have the right to fully and meaningfully participate in all decisions about their future - with their rights, dignity, and humanity respected in full, and the international community must ensure it."

Amnesty International Australia reiterates its call for a comprehensive, two-way defence embargo on Israel, including F-35 aircraft components and all other military equipment and components used to commit genocide and war crimes. The Australian Government must immediately halt all arms transfers to end its complicity in the Gaza genocide. We urge that the ceasefire be respected and sustained permanently and that lifesaving humanitarian aid reach all areas of Gaza, to end the catastrophic suffering of Palestinians.

Background

UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, released a 24-page report that examines the role of 63 states in Israel's actions in both Gaza and the West Bank. The report details how both direct and indirect transfers of arms and components, particularly those under the F-35 fighter program, implicate 19 States in complicity.

The report details States' continued justification of arms exports to Israel as "defensive" or "non-lethal", which blatantly contradicts State Parties' obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Articles 6 and 7 of the ATT, to which Australia is a party, prohibit transfers where there is a clear risk of their use in serious violations of international humanitarian law - obligations that have been breached at an appalling cost in civilian lives throughout the Gaza genocide.

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