Hamas Applies to be Removed from List of Terrorist Organisations

Hamas has made 27 submissions to Australian home affairs minister Tony Burke in respect of an application to see itself removed from the official list of terrorist organisations, and the Palestinian political group, which has an armed military wing, argues this should occur, as, ultimately, such a listing is illegitimate and has served to facilitate Israel’s commission of genocide in Gaza.

The application to reverse its status as a declared terrorist organisation was lodged under subsection 1.02(17) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) on 31 October 2025, after a Federal Court case fild in early 2025 by Krautungalung elder Uncle Robbie Thorpe and Sydney-based lawyer Daniel Taylor had, at a later date, sought to include delisting Hamas as an additional matter.

The original case filed in April 2025 related to a conversation Thorpe had with Black Peoples Union’s Keiran Stewart-Assheton in October 2024 on 3CR Radio program Bunjil’s Fire, which concerned the right of occupied people to take up armed resistance against their occupiers, and how, when viewed through this lens, the 7 October Hamas incursions into Israeli territory appear as acts of resistance.

Taylor had originally filed for delisting of Hamas in August 2024, but when the minister rejected this in July this year after it was added to the original case, the matter went to court in October, with Hamas then seeking to intervene to be included as a plaintiff, and the Palestinian organisation provided a submission with reasons for delisting, which was rejected by the court.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the Australian attorney general, however, put it to Federal Court Justice Graeme Hill that as one request for deproscription can be made in a 12 months period, and since the 12 months timeframe that related to Taylor’s August 2024 delisting request had just ran out, Hamas might as well lodge its own application for delisting, and the Palestinian political group now has.

Hamas goes to court

“Uncle Robbie and I thought that it was correct,” Taylor told Sydney Criminal Lawyers, in respect to the court finding that the reasonable course of action would be for Hamas to apply itself. “If the opportunity is there to launch a fresh case, then why not take it, and in that fresh case you can make all the arguments and provide all the evidence you want.”

“The court said that the arguments that Hamas is going to raise were the same that we were raising in court. So, why doesn’t Hamas lodge a new application?” the lawyer continued and further added, that the original submission the Palestinian political organisation put to the court had further not included enough evidence to substantiate that it is a juridical entity under Australian law.

Division 102 of the Criminal Code allows the federal government to list organisations as terrorist if the AFP minister, which is currently, once more, the home affairs minister, is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the group is “directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act or advocates the doing of a terrorist act”.

A listing as a terrorist organisation results in members of the group being subject to prosecution for a range of terrorism offences, including the offence of membership of a terrorist organisation under section 102.3 of the Criminal Code which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. 

The military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, was listed as a terrorist entity initially in 2003 and again in 2021. Home Affairs proscribed the entire organisation terrorist on 4 March 2022. However, financial sanctions against the organisation as a terror entity have been in place since 2001.

“The new case is not in the court yet, it is with the minister,” Taylor further set out. “There are 27 submissions with them so far.”

The arguments of Hamas

Hamas’ original 15 October 2025 submission provided reasons as to why it considers Australia should remove it from its list of terrorist organisations, with the first issue raised being that Hamas has been denied procedural fairness in not being included in the matter regarding deproscription.

Hamas considers that it was denied procedural fairness because it is an interested party, as well as the Gaza governing authority, and it could be contacted at all times, via its diplomatic mission in Qatar.

Broader concern it raised regarding being listed as a terror organisation included that the proscription serves to prevent a ceasefire in Gaza, it results in great numbers of civilian Palestinians being considered terrorists, and it incites Israel and provides it with cover to commit genocide. The listing further results in a legitimate liberation organisation, being considered a terrorist group.

Further issues with the listing include its framing of Palestinian resistance to a genocide as being in contradiction of international law, and Hamas had not been made aware of the original evidence against it, which has served to undermine “Palestinian sovereignty, self-determination and the right of organised armed self-defence and resistance against” illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide.

Atrocities down under

Uncle Robbie asked Taylor to explain the importance of having Hamas being delisted in Australia, during the 12 November 2025 Bunjil’s Fire episode, and the lawyer explained that any such terror listing of an organisation or a particular individual in this country, has the automatic effect of allowing the Israeli state to detain this person indefinitely.

Thorpe then highlighted that the position of Australia, the US and Britian have taken on with Hamas being considered a terrorist organisation likely leads to complicity in Israel’s ongoing atrocities in the Gaza Strip, and Taylor agreed and then underscored that international law actually requires the deproscription of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, because it is directly feeding into the genocide.

Uncle Robbie subsequently raised the point that Aboriginal people, while occupied by a foreign entity, seemingly aren’t able to claim the sorts of protections under international law that Hamas is seeking via its delisting by the Australian courts.

“I see our people as all prisoners of war. We are in a state of undeclared war, Aboriginal people,” the Krautungalung elder added. “Why can’t we use the Geneva Conventions in regard to releasing all our prisoners of war in this country?”