Australia has reversed a previous government’s recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the foreign minister said on, alarming Israel, according to media reports.
The center-left Labor Party government agreed to reaffirm Tel Aviv’s status as the country’s capital. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Cabinet also reaffirmed that Israel and the Palestinians’ peace talks must resolve Jerusalem’s status.
Australia remains committed to finding a two-party solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and according to Wong, “we will not support an approach that undermines this prospect.”
Yair Lapid, the prime minister of Israel, expressed dissatisfaction at Australia’s revised stance.
Nothing will alter the fact that Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel, stated Lapid in a statement.
Before Cabinet had approved the move, Wong said her department made errors by updating the website with information on Australia’s revised policy on Israel’s capital.
As a result, prior to Wong’s announcement, there were conflicting media stories regarding Australia’s position.
Lapid made it seem like Australia’s policy change was the result of this media confusion.
“In light of the way the decision was made in Australia, as a hasty response to a mistaken report in the media, one can only hope in other issues the government of Australia behaves more seriously and professionally,” Lapid said, according to BBC News.
The Australian ambassador will be called to convey Israel’s “deep disappointment” over a decision that was “based on short-sighted political considerations,” according to the foreign ministry of Israel.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, a top representative for the Palestinians, praised Australia for its decision “and its affirmation that the future of sovereignty over Jerusalem depends on the permanent solution based on international legitimacy.”
Even though the Australian Embassy was still located in Tel Aviv, former conservative prime minister Scott Morrison acknowledged west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2018.
Following Donald Trump’s decision to relocate the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the alteration was made. As the U.S. backs off its once intense mediation between the Israelis and Palestinians, who have not held meaningful peace discussions in more than a decade, President Joe Biden has kept the embassy in Jerusalem.
The Australian decision was widely criticised by pro-Palestinian groups as well as by the Labor party, which was then in opposition and promised to reverse the move if it was elected, according to Al Jazeera.
Wong called Morrison’s action “cynical play” to win a byelection in a Sydney area with a sizable Jewish community and out of sync with the rest of the world.
Dave Sharma, a Jew who was a candidate for Morrison’s Liberal Party, lost the byelection but won the seat in the subsequent general election.
Morrison’s government was elected out of office in May after nine years in power.
The government was applauded for “differentiating itself from the dangerous political posturing of the previous government,” according to Nasser Mashni, vice president of the human rights organisation Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.
Australia must not pre-empt the final status of Jerusalem, Mashni said in a statement. “This reversal brings Australia back into the international consensus,” he added.
Mashni continued, “Israel asserts that the entire city is exclusively theirs, denying the Palestinians of their connection to their ancient spiritual, cultural, and economic capital.”
The reversal was described as a “gratuitous insult to a key economic and strategic ally” by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which speaks for the Jewish community in Australia.
The council issued a statement saying, “This decision panders to the most extreme elements of the Labor Party and will also serve as a disincentive for the Palestinians to return to negotiations.”
Morrison, who is still a member of the opposition, criticised the government’s decision.
According to a statement from his office, the move “represents a further diminution of Australia’s support for the state of Israel by the Labor government from the high water mark established by the Morrison government.”
However, opposition leader Peter Dutton left open the possibility of the conservatives turning away from Morrison’s policy.
In the lead-up to the next election, we’ll publish our policy, Dutton told reporters. In 2025, there will be another election.
Simon Birmingham, a spokesman for the opposition on foreign affairs, called the decision “completely unnecessary” and the process “shambolic.”
In the 1967 Mideast war, Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to holy sites of three faiths, along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians want a future state to have its capital in east Jerusalem. One of the most complicated issues in the protracted struggle, the status of Jerusalem has led to multiple outbreaks of violence.
Kosovo and Guatemala are two of the few nations that have joined the United States in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The report was made with inputs from Associated Press’ writer Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem to various media houses and also from Al Jazeera, Wafa News Agency and others.
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