The Australian government no longer recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The Australian government, now under the control of the country’s Labor Party, has officially become the first government to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. This decision was somewhat expected given the Labor Party’s stance. Penny Wong, Australia’s Foreign Minister, has stated that the legal and political status of Jerusalem and the debate over the capital of Israel and Palestine should be determined through bilateral negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, not through unilateral decisions by Israel or other countries. As expected, Israel has strongly criticized this decision, with the Israeli Prime Minister accusing the Australian government of being hasty in its foreign policy.