It could happen – and the irony would be thick.
Amid caustic international debate, another big nation is considering moving its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, possibly as soon as Christmas Day.
Following President Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem last May, in October Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison proposed following suit – touching off a hate-tinged firestorm with his counterpart in Malaysia.
Earlier in June, the Liberal Party’s annual federal council voted in favor of moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem.
Ironically, the government’s decision is set to be made before Christmas Day, 11:59 pm, Dec. 24.
The proposal has proven popular with evangelicals in Australia and younger voters, but very unpopular with Malaysia, a 60 percent Muslim nation, and Indonesia, the largest Muslim population nation in the world.
“I pointed out that in dealing with terrorism, one has to know the causes,” said Malaysia’s Mohamed Mahathir. “Adding to the cause for terrorism is not going to be helpful.”
The statement cut like a double-edged sword – either as a suggestion Islamist terrorism is caused by diplomatic decisions between nations, or as an excuse for it.
Mahathir, 93, has never been cautious with his words, calling Jews “hooked-nosed people” and questioning the number of people who were killed in the Holocaust. He also banned the movie “Schindler’s List” from being shown.
In an interview with the BBC last month, Mahathir said “the problem in the Middle East began with the creation of Israel.” He defended his description of Jews as “hook-nosed” in his book “The Malay Dilemma.”
He also said, “Anti-Semitic is a term that is invented to prevent people from criticizing the Jews for doing wrong things.”
Speaking Friday, Morrison declared that only “Australia determines Australian foreign policy. Make no mistake. I will not have our policy dictated by those outside the country.”
Indonesia has also expressed concern over the embassy review and suggested it might upset plans for a free trade agreement with Australia, though Morrison has said the issues were not conflated during recent talks he had with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
If Australia does opt to relocate it Israeli embassy, it would join not only the U.S. in doing so but the nations of Guatemala and Paraguay. Other nations considering such moves include the Czech Republic, Honduras, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Philippines and South Sudan.
