Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday that Canberra no longer recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a reversal of the 2018 decision of the previous government led by conservative prime minister Scott Morrison.
Wong claimed that Morrison’s decision “caused conflict and distress in part of the Australian community, and the government seeks to resolve that.”
The government, now controlled by the center-left Labor Party, said that it is renewing Australia’s recognition of Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital, saying that the status of Jerusalem should be determined in “peace talks” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Wong added that the move “recommits Australia to international efforts in the responsible pursuit of progress towards a just and enduring two-state solution.”
Wong also claimed that Morrison’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital was spurred by an election in a suburb of Sydney with a large Jewish population. “You know what this was?” she said. “This was a cynical play, unsuccessful, to win the seat of Wentworth and a by-election.”
Prime Minister Yair Lapid responded to the announcement by stating: “In light of the way this decision was made in Australia, as a hasty response to an incorrect report in the media, we can only hope that the Australian government manages other matters more seriously and professionally. Jerusalem is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned Australian ambassador to Israel Paul Griffiths for a reprimand in the wake of the announcement.
International human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky responded to the announcement by stating: “Israel should move its Embassy from Canberra to Bondi Beach, pending a resolution between Australia and the Indigenous people, upon whose land they settled.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) expressed great disappointment in the government’s decision, stating: “The timing of this morning’s cabinet decision was clearly media driven. The status of Jerusalem is an important foreign policy issue and it is demeaning for Australia to have its international position changed in such a shoddy manner…[It is] a gratuitous insult to a key economic and strategic ally, with no countervailing benefit for Australians. This is no way to treat an ally whose intelligence-sharing with Australia has prevented at least one terrorist attack against Australians that we know of.”
“The 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.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Big deal. Who cares what the capital is. Makes no difference to Jews. It’s simply a political issue for the Zionists.
Ujm,
I would say the opposite
The zionists don’t care if it’s Jerusalem or Tel Aviv (hey Tel Aviv is where all the business is so it should be there) the religious should want it in Jerusalem because it’s proof of the Torahs authenticity
Just another example of why Jews can’t trust ANYONE!
I don’t recognize Canberra as the Australia capital
Australia 🇦🇺 is totally devoid of any decency as they so categorically banned all Minyonim thru the High Holidays 2 years running, and so absolutely refused to show any compassion whatsoever
coffee addict:
You have it backwards.
The Zionist capital is – in no way, shape or form – either a proof or disproof to anything Jewish.
Zionism is shmad. As Rav Chaim Brisker wrote a century ago, the Zionists need a State in order to shmad, not the other way around.
The Zionists constantly promote the Big Lie that their “State” is Jewish. In fact, the “State” of Israel is Zionist, not Jewish. But, unfortunately, many, many people, many Jews included, do not realize that they have fallen victim to Zionist propaganda.
So, the Zionists very much care to have their “State”‘s capital recognized as Jerusalem, because that gives them additional propaganda fuel when they claim that “Jerusalem is the undivided and eternal capital [city] of the Jewish people”.
The Zionists mean by that, of course, that Jerusalem is therefore the Zionist State’s eternal capital, as the Zionists falsely claim to represent the Jewish people. That’s the propaganda.
But some people don’t stop to consider how silly this is. Even in the time of King David, Judaism had no capital city; his kingdom did. Note how when the kingdom split after his son (King Shlomo)’s rule, there then were two capital cities: one for Judah (the capital of the kingdom of David’s ruling descendant) and the other for the kingdom of the Ten Tribes.
Finally, the Zionist “State” is a temporary (but unfortunately has lasted so, so long) impediment to the true and final redemption.
So the Zionist statement above, regarding their claim to Jerusalem, is simply idiotic propaganda.