Australia Won’t Move Embassy To Jerusalem
Image by Pexels
(JTA) — Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australia will not be moving its embassy to Jerusalem, despite her Liberal Party’s support for the move.
The party approved a non-binding resolution supporting the move and calling for a suspension of aid to Palestine until it stops paying jailed terrorists and their families. The motion was approved by a vote of 43 to 31, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.
“While I understand the sentiment behind this resolution, the Australian government will not be moving our embassy to Jerusalem,” Bishop said, according to the newspaper. “Jerusalem is a final status issue and we have maintained that position for decades and we are doing all we can do to ensure that any support we give to the Palestinian Authority is only used for purposes that we determine.”
Bishop said she had recently written to her Palestinian counterpart, Palesitnian Foreign Miniser Riyad al-Maliki, to ensure that the $43 million in Australian aid is spent on health, education and governance.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
