The following media release concerns the relo­ca­tion of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the ongoing Gaza riots. To download this media release in PDF format, click here.

US embassy move to Jerusalem and Gaza riots

15 May, 2018
The ECAJ policy platform has for many years affirmed the cent­ral­ity of Jerusalem his­tor­ic­ally, reli­giously and cul­tur­ally to Jews and Judaism. It has called on the Aus­trali­an Gov­ern­ment to recognise Israel’s sov­er­eignty over Jerusalem and to transfer the Aus­trali­an embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It is grat­i­fy­ing to see the US fulfil a long-standing com­mit­ment by suc­cess­ive Pres­id­ents to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and of course we would like Australia to follow suit.
Israel has no better friends than Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop. Nev­er­the­less we respect­fully disagree with their view that re-locating the Aus­trali­an Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the US has now done, would harm the prospects for peace.
Recog­ni­tion of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is simply a pragmatic acknow­ledge­ment of the fact that Jerusalem has been Israel’s seat of gov­ern­ment for almost 70 years. Israel’s par­lia­ment, Min­is­teri­al offices, Supreme Court, President’s residence, the Prime Minister’s residence and now the US Embassy are all located in the western part of Jerusalem which has been a part of Israel’s sovereign territory since shortly after the State was estab­lished. This area is not a part of the so-called “occupied” territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
It follows that recog­ni­tion of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital does not entail any pre-judgement about the final bound­ar­ies of Jerusalem, or alter the status quo con­cern­ing the Holy sites. Nor would it pre-empt the outcome of nego­ti­ations between Israel and the Palestini­ans for a two-state solution. The recog­ni­tion of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by the US, the Czech Republic, Guatamala, Honduras, Paraguay and even Russia does not preclude the des­ig­na­tion of the pre­dom­in­antly Arab neigh­bour­hoods in the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestini­an state, if this were to be part of a com­pre­hens­ive peace agreement.
The cynical manip­u­la­tion by Hamas of its own people, including children, to sacrifice their lives in order to make a false political point demon­strates yet again how unfit for gov­ern­ment Hamas is. No respons­ible gov­ern­ment treats its own people as dis­pens­able pawns for its own ends. The results are not only tragic for the people concerned, but a travesty. Once again Palestini­an leaders have shown that their true priority is not to establish an inde­pend­ent Palestini­an state, but to tear down the world’s only inde­pend­ent Jewish state.
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au