Settlement Dates Worth $5m Sold in Australia Labeled 'Produce of Israel,' Trade Data Shows

Of the 132 shipments of Israeli agricultural goods sent to Australia between August 2018 and August 2026, 85 contained produce grown in occupied West Bank settlements, according to trade data analyzed by the human rights legal organization Global Echo.

The analysis, drawing on commercial shipment documents and official trade data from the Israeli government and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, puts the value of settlement-grown organic dates shipped to Australia over the period at more than US$5m. All of it arrived labeled simply as "produce of Israel."

The settlements named in the shipment records, Netiv Hagdud, Beit Haarava, Arvot Jericho, Hamra, Tomer, Mechora, and Naaran, sit on occupied land that Australia itself recognizes as part of the state of Palestine. Under international law, the settlements are illegal.

The share of settlement goods in the shipments has risen sharply in recent years. Between January 2025 and August 2026, 20 of 24 date shipments to Australia analyzed by Global Echo originated in settlements, up from an overall average of 64 percent across the eight-year dataset.

Israeli law requires exporters to label the true origin of settlement goods only in countries whose own laws demand it. Australia has no such law. There is no ban on importing settlement produce and no requirement that it be marked as coming from occupied territory, leaving goods from Netiv Hagdud or Beit Haarava indistinguishable on Australian shelves from produce grown inside Israel's recognized borders.

"Agriculture has been used since the start of the settlement enterprise as a means of large-scale land grab and creeping annexation. This is not a secret; it has been declared openly by Israeli government officials and politicians over decades," said Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Global Echo's executive director.

Schaeffer Omer-Man said import bans adopted or announced by the UK, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands, Israel's largest export market, are pushing settlement exporters toward countries with no such restrictions, Australia, Russia, and the United States among them, where the goods "fly under the radar."

Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the Senate in September that Israel's settlements are illegal and called on Israel to stop settlers from "destroying properties, displacing families and beating, torturing, sexually assaulting and killing Palestinians." But she said Australia is not pursuing a blanket import ban, citing "concerns about the implementation of a blanket ban and unintended consequences for Australian businesses." The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia is pursuing unspecified "further targeted measures" to deter illegal settlement activity.

Sarah Sanbar, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said international trade functions as "one of the lifelines" of the settlements, which she described as inseparable from restrictions on Palestinian access to land, water, and movement. Global Echo's June report, Importing Occupation, documented similar mislabeling practices in exports to Europe, which it said allowed settlement produce to qualify for tax breaks while obscuring its origin.