Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday reversed a decision by the previous government to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, returning the title to Tel Aviv. The current Australian prime minister is from the left-aligned Labor party; unlike its predecessor, on the right.
According to the country’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, the status of the city must be resolved through peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. In a statement, she said Australia “will always be an unwavering friend to Israel” and is committed to a two-state solution in which the two countries coexist peacefully within internationally recognized borders.
The Australian decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital was led by the previous prime minister, Scott Morrison, in December 2018, in the wake of the transfer of the American embassy to the city – at the time, the US was presided over by Donald Trump.
Canberra, however, did not move his embassy there immediately and stressed that this would only happen after a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. Still, he established an office in charge of defense and commerce in the western part of the Holy City.
Morrison’s move also had reasons for his country’s domestic politics: it sought to seduce the conservative Jewish and Christian electorate, crucial to sustaining its then-narrow majority in the Australian Parliament. The strategy worked and, in the election of the following year, his party managed to expand its base in the Legislative.
On Tuesday, Wong told reporters that Morrison’s 2018 decision “put Australia out of step with the majority of the international community” and was met with concern by Indonesia, a Muslim-majority neighbor. At the time, Jakarta froze negotiations with Canberra for a bilateral trade agreement.
“I am sorry that Morrison’s decision to play politics has resulted in Australia’s changing position and the anguish of many Australians who care deeply about this issue,” she said.
Following the announcement, the British newspaper The Guardian detected that Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had already removed language describing West Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
In practice, only four countries currently have embassies in Jerusalem: the US, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo. In 2018, while he was campaigning for the presidency, Jair Bolsonaro announced plans to move the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to the Holy City. After being elected, however, he said the decision had not yet been made.
In the same year, his son and now federal deputy, Eduardo Bolsonaro, said that the change was decided. “The question is not asking if it will, the question is asking when it will be,” he said. Since then, Bolsonaro has not advanced on the subject, fearing mainly economic retaliation from Arab countries – major importers of halal chicken.
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