The Australian Government, led by Labor Party member Anthony Albanese, said on Tuesday, In 2018, he reversed his predecessor’s decision to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.. “We reiterate our view that Jerusalem is a matter of final status,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at a news conference in Canberra, stressing that Jerusalem’s status “must be resolved as part of any peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian people.”
Wong noted that the Alban government, whose Labor Party won the May elections and ended nine years of conservative rule, has no intention of moving its embassy to West Jerusalem, but will keep it in Tel Aviv. Australia continues its traditional foreign policy with the decision it has taken. Supporting Israel’s “peace and security” coexistence with a future Palestinian statewithin internationally accepted limits,” Wong said in a statement.
After the Australian Cabinet meeting today, the head of Australian diplomacy stressed that the Canberra administration would recommit itself to “seeking responsible progress towards a just and lasting two-state solution”. The Labor Government also reaffirmed its “unconditional” friendship with Israel and its support for the Palestinian people.
Australia changed its policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the liberal Scott Morrison government, when it announced in December 2018 that it recognized West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Thus, Morrison followed in the footsteps of then-US President Donald Trump, who in December 2017 broke the international consensus by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving its embassy to the Holy City.