JERUSALEM – Slowly but surely, countries around the world are beginning to openly demonstrate their support of the nation of Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. Following the United States’ relocation of its embassy, several other countries have declared their intent to move their embassies to Jerusalem in the future.
So far, the U.S. and Guatemala are the only countries to have actually made the move. That doesn’t mean that other nations are not going to follow through on their promises. Rather, each country must tread carefully to maintain economic stability with its major trading partners. That can require some delicate political maneuvering when those trading partners are Muslim and other anti-Semitic nations.
When Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison publicly recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, his country had to deal with blowback from its neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia. Under pressure from Palestinian representatives to stop trading with Australia, Malaysia rebuffed that announcement as a “humiliation to the Palestinians.”
In the wake of the December announcement, Izzat Salah Abdelhadi, the head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia, declared that
“We were very disappointed. Our contribution should be important to the final outcome of the consultative process, we are the owner of this issue and we were not consulted.”
Regardless, Australia has continued taking steps toward accomplishing the goal of moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital city of Jerusalem. On Friday, April 12, the government of Australia opened a new Trade and Defense Mission in Jerusalem as a precursor to moving the embassy in the future.
Note that the United States began by moving some embassy staff to its Jerusalem consulate, making progress and, at the same time, allowing time to address international politics and practical logistics.
Following the opening of the Trade and Defense Mission, the chairman of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) eloquently defended the leadership of Scott Morrison and the Australian government.
“AIJAC is very pleased to acknowledge that the government has fulfilled their promise to open this office so quickly. Building on the Australian government’s welcome and principled recognition of the reality that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and has been since 1949, this office should both give that recognition concrete form and help further develop the already extensive and mutually beneficial trade ties between Israeli and Australia.”
In addition to opening the mission office on St. George Street, the Australians are continuing to move forward “when practical” to relocate their embassy as they have promised to do.
Other nations which have expressed an intent to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate their embassies to the Holy City include Brazil, the Czech Republic, Paraguay, Romania, and Slovakia. Should the Conservative Party in Canada regain the leadership, it is highly likely that Canada would join the groups already preparing to move their embassies to Jerusalem.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” — Psalm 122:6
To read more news on Israel on Missions Box, go here.
Sources:
- The Jerusalem Post, Australia Opens Trade and Defense Office in Jerusalem
- The Australian Jewish News, Committed to West Jerusalem as capital
- World Israel News, Australia opens mission in ‘West Jerusalem’
- The Guardian, Arab countries discuss ‘Australia situation’ after recognition of West Jerusalem
Image Source:
- Kristy Robinson / Commonwealth of Australia [CC BY 4.0]