Liberal MPs still keen to move embassy to Jerusalem

Support for moving Australia’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem remains strong among Liberal MPs.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Freydenberg front the media at Kirribilli House yesterday after the by-election in Wentworth. Picture: David Swift.

Support for moving Australia’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem remains strong among Liberal MPs, but independent candidate for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps says she will seek high-level security briefings about the foreign policy implications of the move should she be elected.

Scott Morrison last week declared he was “open to” the idea of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to the Israeli capital, Jerusalem, citing the support of Wentworth Liberal candidate Dave Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel.

The Prime Minister’s comments — which follow a similar announcement earlier this year from US President Donald Trump — prompted criticism from Labor, and a threat from Indonesia to put its free-trade deal with Australia on ice in protest.

Deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg yesterday denied Mr Morrison’s comments were a political tactic aimed at appeasing Jewish voters in Wentworth.

“The reality is, as Scott Morrison has explained, there was a major vote at the UN that Australia had to make a decision on, and it was therefore timely to announce our position,” the Treasurer told Sky News.

“The same people who would criticise us for making this ­announcement about Australia-Israel relations a week before Wentworth would have been the same ones who criticised us for making the same announcement a week after Wentworth.”

Asked whether he would like to see the embassy move, Mr Frydenberg said: “That is a decision for government into the future, but now we have a process under way.”

Dr Phelps said she would be seeking security briefings about the defence, trade and security implications before commenting.

“It’s obviously a very sensitive foreign policy issue, and it’s not an announcement that should have been made in the way that it was during a by-election campaign, so I think it’s a careful approach to that particular foreign policy issue,” she told Sky News.

Crossbench MP Bob Katter said he “absolutely” supported moving the embassy in solidarity with Israel. “This is a little country of people who have been persecuted for thousands of years, and their neighbours say they want them annihilated,” he said.

NSW Liberal MPs Alex Hawke, Jason Falinski and Trent Zimmerman said the government’s position on moving the embassy should not change because of the Wentworth result.

Reid MP Craig Laundy said he was opposed to the embassy being moved but he accepted the ­majority of the partyroom was in favour of it. “Our policy position is a two-state solution and I believe the best way forward … is not with embassy moves. However, I acknowledge I’m in a minority in my team and … I have to accept the decision,” he said.

Additional reporting: Jared Owens