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Shadow A-G slams government’s reversal on Israeli capital
The new shadow attorney-general, Julian Leeser MP, has labelled the Albanese government’s foreign policy “shambolic” in the wake of the announcement not to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Jerome Doraisamy
Earlier on Tuesday, 18 October, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong, announced that the federal government was reversing the decision made by former prime minister Scott Morrison to recognise West Jerusalem as Israeli capital.
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The decision, the minister said, reaffirmed Australia’s “previous and longstanding position” that Jerusalem is a final status issue that should be resolved as part of any peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people.
The Albanese government “will not waver” in its support of Israel and the Jewish community in Australia, Senator Wong went on but added that it is “equally unwavering supporters” of the Palestinian people, providing humanitarian support every year since 1951 and advocating for resumed peace negotiations.
“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,” the minister noted.
In a series of tweets sent earlier this afternoon, Julian Leeser MP — the Liberal member for Berowra and new shadow attorney-general and shadow minister for Indigenous Australians — said that the government had espoused three different positions in the past 24 hours on this matter, which he said “shows how shambolic Labor’s foreign policy is”.
“Before the election, [Attorney-General] Mark Dreyfus and [chair of the parliamentary joint committee on human rights] Josh Burns wrote in the AJN [Australian Jewish News] there is no difference between the Morrison government’s policy and Labor’s policy on Israel.
“This decision shows that is just not true,” Mr Leeser tweeted.
“West Jerusalem has been part of the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948. The Knesset is there. The President lives there. The Supreme Court is there. It looks like any other capital city to me. The question is why can’t Labor see that too.”
The Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid, has also criticised the move.
“In light of the way in which this decision was made, 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,” he said.
“Jerusalem is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that.”
