TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsJerusalem, Iran and our national interest
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcements of a potential move of our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and less newsworthy but nonetheless significant of a review of our support for the Iran nuclear deal, threaten seriously to prejudice the Australian national interest.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
New Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison takes part in an oath-taking ceremony to become the nation's new leader at Government House in Canberra on August 24, 2018. (AFP/Saeed Khan)
P
rime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcements of a potential move of our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and less newsworthy but nonetheless significant of a review of our support for the Iran nuclear deal, threaten seriously to prejudice the Australian national interest. The status of Jerusalem has been central to the Arab-Israeli dispute for a century and more. Israel has been denied international recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state particularly as this would presuppose the outcome of a negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians of a comprehensive two state solution to the dispute.
Successive American administrations had supported this policy on a bipartisan basis — as have all our friends in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with whom we have been associated both in Iraq and Afghanistan.
United States President Donald Trump’s decision was a radical shift in the US’ historical position on Jerusalem. The decision predictably drew strong criticism from Islamic states and the nonaligned world. More tellingly, it prompted adverse reactions from European states historically well versed in the intricacies of the Arab Israeli dispute.
Following the American announcement, former foreign minister Julie Bishop did not deviate from existing Australian policy, noting that matters relating to Jerusalem were “subject to final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority“ and that Australia would continue its diplomatic representation to Israel from Tel Aviv and its representation to the Palestinian Authority from Ramallah in the West Bank.
