(Bloomberg) -- Australia is considering following U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead in moving the nation’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
“Australia should be open-minded to this,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. “We’re committed to a two-state solution but, frankly, it hasn’t been going that well.”
World leaders from the Vatican to Tehran denounced Trump’s decision to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv. The contentious inauguration in May, timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence, escalated clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Morrison said he would ask his Cabinet to consider recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the embassy switch -- a potential move welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I’m very thankful to him for this,” Netanyahu said in a tweet after speaking with Morrison. “We will continue to strengthen ties."
Australia will also review its support for the Iran nuclear agreement due to “potentially destabilizing behavior in the Middle East when it comes to the activities of Iran,” Morrison said.
Morrison said he was persuaded to consider reversing the government’s long-held position to keep the nation’s embassy in Tel Aviv by Dave Sharma, a former Australian ambassador to Israel and the governing Liberal Party’s candidate in a special election this weekend in the Sydney-based district of Wentworth. The electorate has a relatively high Jewish population.
Should it fail to win the seat, Morrison’s government will lose its one-seat majority in the lower house, meaning it will be forced to rely on the support of minor parties to survive and pass legislation.
The main opposition Labor party, which polls show is on track to win national elections that must be held by May, said Tuesday’s announcement showed just how desperate the government is to win in Wentworth.
“Both the government and the opposition have supported the approach of most other nations of maintaining our embassy in Tel Aviv on the grounds that Jerusalem’s status must be determined as part of an overall two-state solution,” Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said in a statement. “The people of Wentworth, and all Australians, deserve a leader who puts the national interest ahead of his self-interest.”
Morrison, an evangelical Christian, denied the potential embassy switch was motivated by domestic politics, his religious beliefs, or that Australia’s main strategic ally, the U.S., had influenced the decision.