Australia Charts Friendlier Israel Policy at U.N.
The recently-elected Australian government has announced a change in its voting policy in the U.N. on issues related to Israeli building in Yehudah and Shomron, according to which each issue will be judged on its merits, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.
Until now, under the Labor government, Australia has been an automatic vote for condemnation of any new Israeli initiative in the region.
However, the new Liberal-National government of Tony Abbot is taking a different approach. Over the last month, Australia abstained on two annual anti-Israel resolutions, one calling for an end to all building activities “in all of the occupied territories,” and another calling on Israel to “comply scrupulously” with the 1949 Geneva Convention.
Abbot, who was elected in September, promised to restore Australia-Israeli friendship “to the strength it enjoyed under the [John] Howard government,” which maintained a close connection with Israel
from 1996 to 2007.
Australia’s ambassador to Israel David Sharma told the Post that the abstentions this month were part of the new policy. “The government is looking at the issues with fresh eyes,” he said.
Sharma said that Canberra does not want to single out Israel for condemnation in international forums: “The positions we take are designed to be constructive in supporting a two-state solution, instead of political posturing.”
This article appeared in print on page 6 of edition of Hamodia.
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