FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has turned down a call from new Liberal senator James Paterson for Australia to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In his maiden speech to Parliament last week, Paterson pointed to symbolic and practical reasons for the move.
Speaking to The AJN this week about the advantages of relocating the embassy, the 28-year-old, the youngest ever Liberal senator, said, “I believe that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital city, as the Israeli government says it is, and I think it is appropriate that Australia both formally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and also symbolically recognise it by moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Read the full article in the Australian Jewish News