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We are extremely dis­ap­poin­ted by the Government’s decision to withdraw Australia’s recog­ni­tion of west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel without public con­sulta­tion or oppor­tun­ity for public debate, and in a con­spicu­ously opaque manner. Stake­hold­ers have simply been presented with a fait accomplit. That is not con­sulta­tion. 

The timing of this morning’s cabinet decision was clearly media-driven. The status of Jerusalem is an important foreign policy issue, and it is demeaning for Australia to have its inter­na­tion­al position changed in such a shoddy manner. 

This Gov­ern­ment has been highly critical of the previous Prime Minister for making key policy decisions “by stealth” to evade “public account­ab­il­ity”. The government’s decision to change Australia’s position on west Jerusalem suffers from precisely these defects. 

Aside from being poor policy, the with­draw­al of Australia’s recog­ni­tion that Israel’s capital is in Jerusalem is a gra­tu­it­ous insult to a key economic and strategic ally, with no coun­ter­vail­ing benefit for Aus­trali­ans. This is no way to treat an ally whose intel­li­gence-sharing with Australia has prevented at least one terrorist attack against Aus­trali­ans that we know of. 

This decision panders to the most extreme elements of the Labor Party and will also serve as a dis­in­cent­ive for the Palestini­ans to return to nego­ti­ations. Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel, the site of its par­lia­ment, supreme court, Min­is­teri­al offices and President’s residence. West Jerusalem has been part of Israel’s territory since the State was estab­lished in 1948. 

The arguments advanced by opponents of recog­ni­tion of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, namely that it would ignite unrest in the Arab world, were shown to be manip­u­lat­ive and inac­cur­ate, as five Arab countries have signed nor­m­al­isa­tion agree­ments with Israel in the inter­ven­ing period. 

We further note with regret that this decision was com­mu­nic­ated to us on the Jewish holyday of Simchat Torah, when we were precluded from making any public response. There is a bitter irony in the fact that the gov­ern­ment made its decision in the way that it did on a day when Jews celebrate receiving the Torah, the ethical basis of western civil­isa­tion. 

Jillian Segal AO, ECAJ President

Peter Wertheim AM, ECAJ Co-CEO

Alex Ryvchin, ECAJ Co-CEO