Conversation with Palestinian international lawyer and Al-Haq senior researcher Ahmed Abufoul

Ahmed Abofoul, a Gaza-born international lawyer and a legal researcher at Al-Haq, a leading Palestinian human rights organisation based in Ramallah. He’s currently based in the Hague, and specialises in documenting violations of international law and advocating for global accountability mechanisms. On 13 April 2026, 3 Palestinian human rights organisations, including Al-Haq, filed an application for preliminary discovery in the Federal Court of Australia to compel the Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, to release documents related to Australia’s arms exports to Israel.  A hearing was listed to be heard in the Federal Court of Australia on last Friday the 29th May and Ahmed was in Australia for the Federal Court hearing.  Following a two-year battle to gain transparency over export permits to Israel, the 3 Human Rights organisations have secured an agreement that the Australian 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 3 Palestinian 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.   In this conversation, Ahmed dicusses this court case as well as Australian and the international complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza.