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Opinion
No point hesitating to name Israel’s genocide. Australia is already legally culpable
Chris Sidoti Contributor September 18, 2025 — 5.30pm Advertisement
Almost two years since Israel started its current campaign in the Gaza Strip, many governments are reluctant to call it what it is – genocide – simply because acknowledging it as such would incur legal obligations. However, they have legal obligations whether they acknowledge it as genocide or not. International law is clear: all states are obliged not only to punish genocide when it has occurred, but to prevent it from happening.
On Tuesday, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on which I was one of the commissioners, released