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Alex Christy | Donor
Australia is the latest country to announce that it plans to follow the United States to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters Tuesday that he would consult his cabinet and other countries before formally making a decision on the embassy, according to the BBC.
The United Nations voted 128 to 9 to condemn US initial action in December 2017, and critics described it as a threat to the peace process. The United States formalized the move at a ceremony in May.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he would not support measures that "would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians." The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, said that this initiative would have "a potentially very worrying impact."
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Trump "was throwing the region into a circle of gunfire," according to the BBC. (RELATED: Trump strikes former presidents at the opening ceremony of the US Embassy in Jerusalem)
Some countries insisted that they would not follow Trump's initiative, but others, including Guatemala.
The Czech Republic has also planned to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Haaretz. According to the Jerusalem Post, Romania would be in the process of considering moving its embassy to Jerusalem on Friday as well.
Asked about the possible move, the prime minister said he was "open-minded" while asserting that he was still committed to a two-state solution.
New Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his deputy Josh Frydenberg attend a press conference in Canberra, Australia on August 24, 2018. REUTERS / David Gray
"No decision has been made regarding the recognition of the capital or the movement of an embassy", but the "Government of Australia is open-minded about it", he said, according to CNN.
"But frankly, things did not go well – little progress was made," he added.
Some critics have accused Morrison of stirring up controversy in order to win Jewish voters. He attributes this idea to Dave Sharma, former Australian Ambassador to Israel, who is participating in a special election to a seat held by his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull.
If Sharma lost, Morrison's coalition of Liberal and national parties "would lose a single-member majority in Parliament," the New York Times reported. (RELATED: Failure of climate change law puts Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the foreground)
Morrison, an evangelical Christian, denied that his faith, his domestic politics or his attempts to win favor with the United States influenced his decision in any way, according to Bloomberg.
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