Latest / The Slippery Slope / Australia quietly drops recognition of West Jerusalem as capital of Israel
Transcript
- 0:06Hi, I'm Jeff Allen, and thank you for listening to the
- 0:09slippery slope. So we see Israel slowly becoming
- 0:13more and more isolated throughout within the world
- 0:18politically socially, it seems that countries that would never,
- 0:23you would never have thought, would become friends or
- 0:26Associates of Israel becoming A signing agreements business
- 0:32agreements with Israel and get other nations which historically
- 0:37friendly towards Israel. Now, slowly seem to be walking
- 0:40away from the Friendship such as what America is doing and now
- 0:44Australia as well. This headline here comes from
- 0:46the guardian, it says Australia quietly.
- 0:49Drops recognition of West Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
- 0:55So, Australia is quietly. Dropped this recognition of West
- 0:58Jerusalem as the capital of Row and winding language adopted by
- 1:02Scott, Morrison's Government after the u.s. moved its own
- 1:06Embassy from Tel Aviv. So the department of Foreign
- 1:09Affairs and trade has retained at the bipartisan position that
- 1:13Australia is committed to a two-state solution in which
- 1:18Israel and a future Palestinian State coexist in peace and
- 1:23security within internationally recognized borders.
- 1:27So, but in the past few days, it Has deleted two sentences from
- 1:31its website that were first added.
- 1:34After then prime minister Morrison unveiled, a new
- 1:37Australian policy for years ago. So, the freshly deleted
- 1:42sentences said consistent with this long-standing policy in
- 1:46December 2018, Australia, recognized West Jerusalem.
- 1:52As the capital of Israel, being the seat of the knesset and many
- 1:56of the institutions of the Israeli government.
- 2:00Australian looks forward to moving, its Embassy to West
- 2:03Jerusalem when practical in support of, and after the final
- 2:08status determination of a two-state solution.
- 2:12So, even even though, Scott Morrison, you know, supported
- 2:17Israel in this way, Australia has never never really done
- 2:22anything other than support a two-state solution which is
- 2:27okay. It's problematic in itself.
- 2:29Anyway, goes The science article that the foreign affairs
- 2:32minister any Wong has said in 2000 had said in 2018, that
- 2:39labor does not support unilateral recognition,
- 2:43recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and in
- 2:47government would reverse this decision but the language
- 2:52remained in the D fat website, as recently as last week.
- 2:55So now that they are in now that the Labour government is Is in
- 3:00government, is in power. The Israel section of the
- 3:03website was updated after the guardian Australia.
- 3:07Asked the government questions about the matter.
- 3:10So a spokesman for defense said, the Australian government
- 3:12continues to consider the final status of Jerusalem as a matter
- 3:18to be resolved. As part of any peace,
- 3:20negotiations status of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive
- 3:25issues in the long running conflict, given that both
- 3:28Israelis and Still in Ian's claim it as their Capital East
- 3:33Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip have been
- 3:37considered occupied. Palestinian territory under
- 3:40International laws, since the Six-Day War in 1967.
- 3:45Israeli leaders have repeatedly said, Jerusalem is the Eternal
- 3:50undivided capital of Israel. So because in 2017, the US
- 3:56president, then u.s. President Donald Trump directed.
- 3:59The state department to move, the u.s. embassy from Tel Aviv
- 4:03to Jerusalem as he determined that.
- 4:06It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the
- 4:09capital of Israel. The following year in the final
- 4:12week of the Wentworth by by election campaign.
- 4:16Prime minister, then prime minister Scott Morrison.
- 4:19Declared that he was open-minded about following the u.s. move.
- 4:24And promised, an Australian government review.
- 4:27And at the time, labor accused Morrison of playing games with
- 4:30long-standing foreign policy positions, five days out from
- 4:34the by-election. So Australia's spy agency,
- 4:37warned ministers that the proposal proposed.
- 4:40Move May provoke protests unrest and possibly some violence in
- 4:45Gaza and the West Bank. And later the government, the
- 4:49Australian government settled on a fullback policy that did not
- 4:52go as far as Trump. The December 2018 policy was
- 4:56directing, those West Jerusalem as Israel's Capital, but not to
- 5:00move the Australian Embassy there until after a peace
- 5:04agreement. So, there was still pushing for
- 5:06the student two-state solution. Anyway, so Morrison also
- 5:10acknowledged the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a
- 5:14future state with its capital in East Jerusalem, while saying,
- 5:19slavish adherence to the conventional wisdom over
- 5:22decades. Would only entrench a rancid
- 5:26style might so the head of the general delegation of Palestine
- 5:30to Australia. New Zealand and the Pacific is
- 5:34that Abdul Hadi said it was his expectation and hope the new
- 5:38Labour government would change its policy in a number of areas,
- 5:42from our perspective. He said the issue of Jerusalem
- 5:45East and West is one of the final status issues and should
- 5:50be resolved through negotiations and according in international
- 5:54law. So he said he goes on by saying
- 5:57that he hoped the new Australian government would proceed with
- 6:00immediate recognition of the State of Palestine to adhere to
- 6:04the Australian labor, party's 2018 and 21 legally binding,
- 6:09resolution of alp national conferences.
- 6:13So in both 2018 and 2020 one Labor's National Conference back
- 6:19to resolution that supports the recognition, and right of Israel
- 6:23and Palestine to exist as two states within secure, and
- 6:28recognized borders, and calls on the next Labour government to
- 6:32recognize Palestine as a state. However, these resolutions did
- 6:38not set a specific deadline saying, only that the party
- 6:41expected that this issue will be an important priority for the
- 6:45next layer. The government.
- 6:47So in June Australia, did not sign up to a u.s. lead statement
- 6:51about Israel and the Palestinian territories instead raising deep
- 6:56concerns about human rights abuses and the lack of progress
- 7:00toward a just and enduring two-state solution.
- 7:03So, Australia's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Amanda Galli
- 7:08agreed with us argument that the UN Human Rights Council brings
- 7:12disproportionate scrutiny to Israel, but she also It
- 7:16indicated that the Australian government would seek to take a
- 7:19balanced approach. So Australia's guiding principle
- 7:23will be advancing the cause of Peace goalie.
- 7:26Certain June viewing, any conflict from one perspective
- 7:30will not achieve that goal. So despite the recent deletion
- 7:34of language about West Jerusalem and the Australian Embassy D
- 7:37fats, Israel, country brief still retains much of its
- 7:42original content. The old and new versions both
- 7:45say is Australia is strongly opposed to unfair targeting of
- 7:49Israel in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions.
- 7:54However, we make it clear. Our concerns about Israel's
- 7:58actions that undermine, the prospects of a two-state
- 8:01solution and continue to urge Israel and other actors to
- 8:05respect international law, both versions.
- 8:08Say, so there you have it. The Australia.
- 8:11Still still pushing for a two-state solution and Hoping
- 8:16it's recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of
- 8:21Israel. So just briefly, I'll read one
- 8:24verse which I've heard many many times and you've probably heard
- 8:27this verse itself or its from Genesis 12, and it's God,
- 8:33talking to Abram and he says, I will make you a great nation.
- 8:36And I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be
- 8:39a blessing. Verse 3 says, I will bless those
- 8:43who bless you and I will curse him who curses you?
- 8:46You and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed, I
- 8:51believe, we are going to see more and more of this kind of
- 8:55rhetoric more and more of this kind of talk.
- 8:56We're going to see more Nations pull back from supporting
- 8:59Israel. And Israel will continue to
- 9:02become more and more isolated throughout the world.
- 9:06That is my opinion. Let me know what you think.
- 9:11Thank you for listening to the slippery slope.