A coalition of Christians has written to the Albanese government to protest its decision to officially recognise Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza as Occupied Palestinian Territories, reversing the policy of previous coalition governments. Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong has asserted that around 150 Jewish settlements in those areas are illegal. Israel-based Christian journalist and commentator Stan Goodenough who’s known as the Jerusalem Watchman told Vision Radio that’s wrong.
“It was a very determined statement that the Australian official position on the question of land ownership in the Biblical land of Israel, the historical land of Israel, would be to support the Palestinian claim to the centre of that land for a state of Palestine by recognising that that land is not the Jewish heritage, it is not Jewish Aboriginal land, which it is. Whichever way you look at it, whether it’s Biblical or whether it’s archaeological or historical, the Australian Government has decided that that land is no longer Jewish and is actually Palestinian land which is occupied by Israel. And that’s a hostile move,” Mr. Goodenough explained.
He notes that the world’s holiest city Jerusalem is also considered as Palestinian land by Australia: “It’s not just any part of Jerusalem that is now occupied Palestinian territory, according to the Australian government. But it is in fact the heart of Jerusalem, which includes the mountain known as Mount Moriah, the mountain of the Lord, the Temple Mount, as it’s called; the Western Wall; the whole of the Old City of Jerusalem; and the Mount of Olives, where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, where Jesus came down on a donkey and was welcomed as the King of Israel by the people of Jerusalem.”
Read the article by Tony Davenport in Vision Christian Media.