By Oyintari Ben
Australia has rescinded a previous administration’s designation of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the foreign minister has announced alarming Israel.
The Australian Embassy will continue to be located in Tel Aviv, as agreed upon by the centre-left Labour Party government. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Cabinet also reiterated that Israel and the Palestinians’ peace talks must address Jerusalem’s status.
Australia is still committed to finding a two-party settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian problem, and according to Wong, “we will not support a strategy that undermines this opportunity.”
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, said Lapid in a statement.
Wong said that her organization erred when it updated the website with the new Australian stance on the capital of Israel prior to Cabinet’s approval.
As a result, prior to Wong’s declaration, 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.
“One can only hope that the Australian government performs more carefully and professionally in other areas in light of the manner the decision was made there, as a rushed response to a false claim in the media,” Lapid said.
The Australian ambassador will be called to convey Israel’s “great disappointment” over a decision that was “based on short-sighted political considerations,” according to the foreign ministry of Israel.
The government was applauded for “differentiating itself from the harmful political posturing of the previous government,” according to Nasser Mashni, vice president of the human rights organization Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.
Mashni said in a statement that “this shift in perspective pulls Australia back into the world consensus—Australia must not pre-empt the final status of Jerusalem.”
Only a small number of nations have followed the United States in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, including Kosovo and Guatemala.
