Australia’s left-wing Labor government has reversed the previous conservative administration’s recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Tuesday’s move drew an angry response from the Jewish state and applause from Palestinian activists and the Hamas terrorist organization.
Canberra also stated a new pre-condition that Jerusalem’s future status must be resolved in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
Wong told reporters the 2018 decision by the previous conservative coalition leader, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, had “put Australia out of step with the majority of the international community” and was met with concern by Muslim-majority neighbor Indonesia.
“I regret that Mr Morrison’s decision to play politics resulted in Australia’s shifting position, and the distress these shifts have caused to many people in the Australian community who care deeply about this issue,” she said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed disappointment in Australia’s changed position, deeming the move a “hasty response,” the Times of Israel reports.
“Jerusalem is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that,” the prime minister said in a statement published by his office.
“We can only hope that the Australian government manages other matters more seriously and professionally,” he added, AFP reports.
He added as a general rule, Israel did not define the capital cities of other nations, so other countries should not do so for Israel.
Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign ministry has summoned the Australian envoy to lodge a formal protest.
Morrison had reversed decades of Middle East policy in December 2018 by saying Australia recognised west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but would not move its embassy there immediately.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump had recognized Jerusalem as the capital a year earlier.
The Palestinians, whose U.S.-sponsored statehood talks with Israel stalled in 2014 and who boycotted Trump’s administration over his pro-Israel moves, praised Australia’s turnaround.
Calling it a “correction of a mistake made by the previous government,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told Reuters that Australia should now “move to the more important step, and that is recognising the state of Palestine in light of its commitment to the two-state solution.”
“We welcome Australia’s decision with regards to Jerusalem & its call for a two-state solution in accordance with international legitimacy,” the Palestinian Authority’s civil affairs minister, Hussein al-Sheikh, said on Twitter.
