Israeli siblings who fear breaking law in Gaza under IDF owed protection by Australia, tribunal finds

The three siblings have a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ if forced to return to Israel, the Administrative Review Tribunal of Australia found. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP View image in fullscreen The three siblings have a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ if forced to return to Israel, the Administrative Review Tribunal of Australia found. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP Israeli siblings who fear breaking law in Gaza under IDF owed protection by Australia, tribunal finds Exclusive: Tribunal accepts three siblings could face ‘persecution’ for refusing military conscription due to their political opinion on war Three Israeli citizens facing conscription into the Israel Defense Forces have been granted the right to reapply for protection visas in Australia, after a government tribunal found they held a genuine fear they would be forced to break international humanitarian law in Gaza. The Administrative Review Tribunal found the punishment the young adults could face from the state of Israel – including imprisonment as conscientious objectors – would amount to persecution. Part of a family group, three siblings faced mandatory national service if they were returned to Israel, and held a genuine belief they would be forced to “engage in breaches of international humanitarian law”. The tribunal found there were “credible allegations that Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip are in breach of international humanitarian law” and that international opinion was that the IDF’s actions in Gaza were disproportionate. It found the three siblings were refugees facing persecution from the state of Israel, and Australia had a legal obligation to protect them. The family’s case went before the tribunal in October last year. The decision was published in March. The family – a husband and wife and their children – arrived in Australia on the husband’s working visa a decade ago. That visa expired, and the family applied for protection visas in 2024, six months after the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 sparked the current conflict in Gaza and Israel. Their application for protection was rejected by the government. On appeal to the tribunal, the family claimed they were not safe from terrorist attacks anywhere in Israel and had “lost faith in the ability of the state of Israel to protect its citizens”, citing previous terrorist attacks by Hamas and being forced to live in bunkers for sustained periods. This argument was not accepted by the tribunal. While the tribunal found the family was at risk of being injured or killed by a Hamas rocket attack, it said any harm they suffered would not be the result of “discriminatory conduct aimed at them”. “Rather, it would be because they were a casualty of the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. The applicants do not meet the refugee criterion in relation to this aspect of their claims.” However, the couple’s eldest child – who, along with two siblings, had reached the age of 18 – told the tribunal she and h