Palestinian human rights organisations have claimed a strategic victory against the Minister for Defence in their legal challenge to access documents related to Australia’s arms exports to Israel and the use of such exports in grave violations in the unlawfully Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Following a two-year battle to gain transparency over export permits to Israel, Al-Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (the organisations) have secured an agreement that the Minister for Defence disclose information relevant to export permits.

On 25 June 2026, Justice McElwaine of the Federal Court of Australia, made an Order by consent of the parties that the organisations be provided with a list of documents related to arms exports to Israel. These relate to: the export of F-35 components where the permission is currently in effect; permissions related to Bisalloy Steel; permissions granted after October 2023 that are currently in effect; decisions not to revoke current permissions that were granted before October 2023; and, documents related to permits that are still under scrutiny following the government’s review into current permits issued before October 2023.

The battle is not over. The Minister may yet claim that certain documents should not be released on public interest immunity grounds. However, maintaining transparency relating to grave crimes is in the public interest.

The organisations sought access to these documents to determine whether the Minister has properly assessed the risk that the arms goods or technology being exported may be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights abuses, or may be used in a way contrary to Australia’s international obligations or commitments including in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. The documents may pave the way for judicial review on the basis that the Minister has made a legal error in granting or otherwise refusing to revoke permits, bringing an end to unlawful exports.

The outcome is a strategic victory, but greater transparency into Australia’s opaque arms export regime is still required.

The organisations are represented by the Australian Centre for International Justice and barristers from the Victorian Bar and the New South Wales Bar. 

Shawan Jabarin, General Director at Al-Haq, said:

“This Court Order is the first win for us. But we know the battle ahead is long. We shouldn’t have to take this route. We should not have to go to court to understand who is arming the Israeli settler-colonial apartheid regime. Palestinians are not speaking about arms exports in the abstract. We are speaking about bombs falling on families, homes, hospitals, schools, refugee camps and entire communities. When States refuse to disclose what they are exporting, they are also refusing to confront the human consequences of the weapons systems they help sustain.”

Issam Younis, Director General, at Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, said:

“Palestinians have lived with the devastating consequences of Israel’s military operations while States continue to transfer the arms, components and technologies that sustain them. This case was, and is, about uncovering whether Australia has properly assessed the risk that its exports are contributing to serious violations of international law. The outcome at this stage is a win and we are ready to continue the fight.”

Raji Sourani, General Director, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said:

“Palestinian human rights organisations have documented killing, displacement, starvation, destruction and other grave violations against our people. We ask the following questions: What has Australia approved, and did the Australian government represented by its Minister properly consider the risk that those exports may contribute to these violations? We have a right to know, as do the Australian people, because we know the people of the world are on the side of what is right and what is just, and arming the oppressor amounts to complicity in those violations and crimes.”