Prime Minister Scott Morrison has encountered more objections to his policy shift on Israel, as a prominent Asian leader raises concerns about the decision and warns that questions over Palestine are contributing to terrorism.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad raised the issue during a meeting with Mr Morrison in Singapore on Thursday on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit of regional leaders.
“I pointed out that in dealing with terrorism, one has to know the causes,” Dr Mahathir told reporters after the meeting.
“Adding to the cause for terrorism is not going to be helpful, I pointed that out.”
An Australian source said Mr Morrison and Dr Mahathir had a general discussion about terrorism in their meeting but this did not include the question of whether Australia would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
As the meeting ended, however, Dr Mahathir said the issue of Palestine was a contributing factor to terrorism, but he did not say Australia was contributing to that problem, the Australian source added.
Dr Mahathir raised concern about recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but this was met by an assurance from Mr Morrison that no decision had been made and that an internal process was underway to decide the matter.
Read the article by David Crowe & Karuni Rompies in The Sydney Morning Herald.