Wong flags new settlement sanctions, rules out import ban

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

50% : Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Committee executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein said the focus on settlements has misread the obstacle to a two-state outcome.
49% : "Anyone who claims it's the settlements, or Israel's historical record, that is preventing a two-state peace is kidding themselves, especially in light of Israel's efforts at reconciliation over the years," he said.
48% : Israel responded to the British measures by ordering the closure of the UK consulate in Jerusalem and barring 12 British nationals, including 11 members of parliament, from entry.
46% : " On E1, the planned development between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim that critics say would sever the West Bank, Dr Rubenstein said past negotiations had assumed the area would remain Israeli under land swaps, and that "even if E1 is eventually built, the West Bank will still be wider at its narrowest point than Israel inside the Green Line is at its narrowest".
44% : "Rather than sanctioning the PA for this rejectionist behaviour, we and other countries have rewarded and encouraged it, and weakened our ability to influence Israel, by prematurely recognising a Palestinian state," he said.
42% : Labor backbencher Ed Husic, whose motion for a tougher stance on Israel was shut down at the ALP national conference in July, urged the government to follow the UK.
42% : "If we are serious about pursuing principled foreign policy and encouraging peace, rather than catering for domestic political considerations and appeasing extremist factions, we will withdraw our recognition of the Palestinian state and sanction the PA, not Israel," he said.
39% : He stressed that Britain would keep trading with Israel inside the Green Line and did not support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
34% : "It would be a deep mistake to take steps in such a direction," Dr Newman said, adding that anti-Israel protesters had been "brainwashed".
26% : Speaking before Senator Wong's announcement, Israel's ambassador to Australia, Dr Hillel Newman, told The Australian newspaper that any decision to sanction Israel would be "mistaken" and that the settlement issue had been "blown out of proportion".

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.