Scott Morrison open to moving Israel embassy to Jerusalem

Scott Morrison confirms he’s considering moving Australia’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem, says new ideas for two state solution.

Scott Morrison in question time yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith

Scott Morrison says new ideas are needed to achieve a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine as he confirmed the government was considering moving Australia’s embassy in the Jewish state to Jerusalem and was reviewing the Iran nuclear deal.

The Prime Minister said he had decided to review Australia’s foreign policy in the region without being asked by the United States, despite Donald Trump moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last year.

He also denied the Wentworth by-election was the reason for the timing of the announcement, after crediting Liberal candidate Dave Sharma with influencing his decision to review the government’s policy on Israel.

Speaking from Parliament House this morning, Mr Morrison said it was worthwhile considering recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“We’re committed to a two-state solution, but frankly, it hasn’t been going that well, not a lot of progress has been made, and you don’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results,” Mr Morrison said.

“So when sensible suggestions are put forward that are consistent with your policy positioning and in this case pursuing a two-state solution, Australia should be open minded to this and I am open-minded to this and our government is open minded to this.”

Mr Morrison said the timing of the review was because the government will this week oppose a United Nations vote on whether the Palestinian Authority should chair a group of developing nations, known as the G77.

“Our government will be voting against that resolution. We won’t be abstaining. We will be voting against that resolution because we don’t believe that conferring that status, especially at this time, would add to the cause of moving parties towards the two state solution,” Mr Morrison said

PM open to embassy in Jerusalem

Scott Morrison has signalled a ­potential relocation of Australia’s embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in line with a decision by US President Donald Trump earlier this year to formally recognise the city as the legitimate capital of Israel.

In a significant shift in the ­Coalition’s Middle East policy, the Prime Minister will also move to a hardline stance against Iran, ­announcing an inquiry into whether Australia should abandon support for the Iran nuclear deal, which the US has also walked away from.

Mr Morrison will today unveil a foreign policy statement on ­Israel prompted by a decision to vote “no” tomorrow on a UN resolution to recognise the Palestinian Authority as the chair of the G77 group of nations next year.

It will include a deepening of defence ties with Israel, with an agreement to place defence ­attaches in each other’s embassies for the first time.

Mr Morrison said he had been persuaded to consider the issue of moving Australia’s mission to Jerusalem — in stark contrast to the position taken by Malcolm Turnbull — following discussions with the Liberal Party’s candidate in this weekend’s Wentworth by-election, Dave Sharma, a former Australian ambassador to Israel.

The move is likely to spark protest from Labor, with the ­announcement coming ahead of Saturday’s by-election in a seat that has a high Jewish constituency and was made vacant only after Mr Turnbull’s resignation from parliament following the August leadership spill.

Mr Morrison said the timing of the announcement to bolster Australia’s longstanding support for Israel was unrelated to the by-election and was based on the ­immediacy of the UN vote ­tomorrow.

He confirmed that the potential embassy move had been raised with members of the ­national security committee of cabinet and former foreign minister Julie Bishop, who had first considered the issue when Mr Trump confirmed the US was moving its embassy. It had also been discussed in a phone call between Mr Morrison and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the days ­following the August leadership spill.

This morning, Mr Netanyahu expressed his thanks to Mr Morrison for considering shifting Australia’s embassy in Israel.

“I spoke today with Australian PM @ScottMorrisonMP,” Mr Netanyahu tweeted. “He informed me that he is considering officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel & moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem. “I’m very thankful to him for this.”

I spoke today with Australian PM @ScottMorrisonMP. He informed me that he is considering officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel & moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem. I’m very thankful to him for this. We will continue to strengthen ties between 🇮🇱 & 🇦🇺!

— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) October 15, 2018

Mr Morrison told The Australian that Australia was not changing its position of support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but said the argument put to him by Mr ­Sharma for moving the embassy was “persuasive”.

He said it provided a solution that would locate the embassy in West Jerusalem while recognising East Jerusalem as the likely capital of a future Palestinian state. This would allow Australia to relocate the embassy in support of Israel without prejudicing the Palestinian question.

Mr Sharma has argued for moving the embassy and recognising Jerusalem as part of a two-state solution rather than apart from it. Speaking at a Wentworth candidate’s panel in Bondi yesterday, he said: “I think we should be open to considering that question, as Australians. The US has moved their embassy to West Jerusalem. That part of Jerusalem has been controlled by Israel since 1948 and everyone accepts that it would be part of Israel in any two-state solution. But I also believe we need to look at this question in the context of our support for a two-state solution, and whether such a move would help further a sovereign two-state solution.”

Earlier, independent candidate Kerryn Phelps said having an embassy in Tel Aviv was bipartisan policy.

Mr Morrison said Mr Sharma’s Jerusalem proposal was a “practical and insightful way forward which I’ve found quite persuasive”.

He said the issue of Iran had been raised with him regularly since he became Prime Minister seven weeks ago. He had been convinced that Tehran needed to be held to greater ­account on its nuclear ambitions and the question of its ­alleged role as a sponsor of terrorism in the region.

Australia is not a signatory to the nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan agreed to by the UN in 2015 under Barack Obama’s administration as a way to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for an easing of trade sanctions. Israel believes the deal is a ­delaying tactic for Iran to realise its nuclear ambitions.

Mr Morrison said any decision to abandon its support of the deal in line with the US would be ­symbolic. “I’ve indicated that I share concerns about Iran’s destabil­ising behaviour in the Middle East,” he said.

“I will be reviewing our position on the Iran nuclear agreement.”

A decision to move the Australian embassy to Jerusalem would put Australia at odds with a non-binding UN general assembly ­resolution in December, which ­effectively rejected recognising ­Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital and condemned the US moving its embassy.

In May, Bill Shorten said he did not support moving Australia’s embassy to Jerusalem.

Addressing expected protests from the opposition, Mr Morrison said the timing of the Israel policy shift had little to do with the by-election and was prompted by the need to put clarity around Australia’s decision to vote “no” tomorrow to recognising the Palestinian Authority as the chair of the G77 for 2019.

While official Labor policy is to support a two-state solution, ­several state Labor conferences have sought to move to immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.

In 2012, the UN general assembly granted Palestine non-member observer state status.

Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard was forced to drop the government’s plans to vote against the resolution after her foreign minister, Bob Carr threatened to lead a partyroom ­revolt.