Australia must condemn Israeli attacks on Sumud Flotilla and stop being complicit in genocide – Media Release 3 May 2026

MEDIA RELEASE                                         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     3 May 2026

·       IPAN calls on the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to condemn recent illegal Israeli attacks on the Sumud Flotilla and condemn the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

·       Australia is failing in its obligations under international law by not condemning the actions of Israel

·       Australia is complicit in Israeli genocide through contracts with Israeli companies and the role of Pine Gap is playing

The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) is extremely disappointed in Foreign Minister Wong’s response to the most recent Israeli attacks on the Sumud Flotilla and the abduction of people including Australians on the boats.

According to Zack Schofield one of six Australians detained by the Israelis, the activists were violently attacked and he described how fellow activists were shot with rubber bullets, hit with rifle butts and bashed after Israeli soldiers boarded their boats[i].

‘Blaming these courageous people for being on the boats, is completely wrong and immoral,’ said Ms Katryn Kelly, spokesperson for IPAN.

‘These attacks on civilian boats, conducted in international waters, clearly contravene international law,’ Ms Kelly Said. ‘Senator Wong must condemn them.’

The Flotilla’s aims are to deliver urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza and to draw attention to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.

‘By not condemning the actions of Israel, Australia is failing our obligations under international law and is complicit in the Israeli genocide’, said Ms Kelly.

‘The continued sales of military materials to Israel and the use of Australian intelligence and targeting facilities, such as Pine Gap, further increases Australian complicity in Israeli criminal acts’, Ms Kelly said.

‘We believe our government now has an opportunity to take an independent stand during the escalating war in the Middle East where Israel and the USA have waged an illegal and criminal war on the people of Iran and an ongoing war on Palestinians and Lebanese people resulting in devastating human suffering’.

‘We in IPAN say it’s time to stand as a principled country respecting the United Nations Charter and the Human Rights Declaration to assert peaceful independent foreign policies, said Ms Kelly.
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‘IPAN also calls on the Government to find the courage to break ties with the US’. ‘Successive Australian governments have felt the need to keep on side with the US and this is a major reason why the Australian Government falls into line with the US backing of Israel’, said Ms Kelly.

‘Australia has a responsibility to defend itself, not rely on the US to defence us, and also to defend international law. The US will not defend us and is flagrantly violating international law,’   Ms Kelly concluded.

ENDS
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For Media Interviews:  Kathryn Kelly M: 0417 269 984
Media Liaison: Jonathan Pilbrow M: 0403 611 815
 
Bio: Kathryn Kelly is a former federal public servant who worked largely in the environment and Aboriginal affairs portfolios.  She visited Gaza and the West Bank in 2002 and 2003 and then founded the Australians for Justice and Peace in Palestine organisation in Canberra in 2003 and has been working on that issue at various intensities since that time. Kathryn was a member of the IPAN National Coordinating Committee as an ACT rep, serving from 2013-2023. Kathryn was also a founding co-convenor of the Alliance Against Political Prosecutors until recently, advocating for the truth tellers/whistleblowers – Bernard Collaery, Witness K, Julian Assange, David McBride and Richard Boyle.