The visiting chief of the Red Cross says it is not his place to come up with ‘political solutions’, but tells SBS News he ‘cannot see the rationale’ for shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv.
The visiting head of one of the world’s largest humanitarian groups, the Red Cross, has questioned the “logic” and “rationale” of the Morrison government’s plan to potentially move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Peter Maurer, president of the international ICRC, told SBS News the government should instead pursue “quiet diplomacy” in the Israel-Palestine space.
While Mr Maurer said it was not his place to comment on political solutions, he said he had not been convinced of the rationale for matching the United States’ decision to move its diplomatic outpost to Jerusalem, and formally recognising it as Israel’s capital.
“I fail to understand, at the present moment, what the logic is,” he told SBS News on Tuesday.
Read the report by James Elton-Pym and watch the news clip on SBS TV News.