The Australian government has quietly deleted a statement from the website of its Foreign Ministry on the recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus reversing the decision made by the previous cabinet led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Guardian newspaper reported on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2022) The Australian government has quietly deleted a statement from the website of its Foreign Ministry on the recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus reversing the decision made by the previous cabinet led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Guardian newspaper reported on Monday.
In 2018, Morrison announced that Australia recognized West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and intended to open trade and defense offices there.
The Labor party that now runs the government did not accept the decision, but the statement saying that Australia recognized West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel "being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of the Israeli government," was deleted from the website after the Guardian requested a comment from the cabinet on this matter, the newspaper reported.
"The Australian government continues to consider the final status of Jerusalem as a matter to be resolved as part of any peace negotiations," a foreign ministry spokesperson told the Guardian after the change to the website.
Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital, and the status of the holy city has long been regarded as a matter that must be resolved through a Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
