Australia’s former prime minister Tony Abbott, has called for Australia’s $40 million in Palestinian aid to be cut, citing concerns over the Palestinian Authority’s support for “terrorists and their families”, and suggested the Australian embassy in Israel be moved to Jerusalem.
Mr Abbott’s strongly pro-Israel declarations – which have been swiftly quashed by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop – follow the United Nations Security Council’s resolution on the country’s construction of settlements.
Backed by the UK and permitted by the US, the resolution had previously been condemned by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who called it “one-sided” and “deeply unsettling” and President-elect Donald Trump, who described it as “extremely unfair”.
Writing for The Spectator Australia after a recent trip to the region for the Australia-Israel-UK Leadership Dialogue, Mr Abbott said an Australian demonstration of “unswerving support for Israel, as the Middle East’s only liberal, pluralist democracy, might be to join any move by the Trump administration to move its embassy to Jerusalem”.
Christians United for Israel UK
