Press Release
17 October 2018
Serious consequences if Canberra recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
Citizens International strongly condemns the statement by the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that Canberra was open to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and shifting its embassy there. Such a move is illegal and in violation of international law and several United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. Thirteen Arab countries and Indonesia have criticized the statement.
Morrison’s statement was issued just four days before a by-election in a constituency in Sydney where 12.5% of the electors are Jewish. Obviously, the statement is meant to win over the Jewish voters. It is shocking that a government pledged to uphold the Rule of Law and the UN Charter, is prepared to sacrifice its principles to win a by-election.
Israel is an Apartheid state as documented in a UN agency report. Currently, the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar is facing demolition to make way for illegal settlements there. The residents of this village were expelled from their homes in the Negev by the Israeli army in the 1950s as part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Expelling people under occupation is a war crime under international law.
Recently, the Israeli parliament enacted the nation-state law which an Israeli Christian Arab member of parliament called it “the final nail in democracy’s coffin, cementing in law a racist doctrine of “separate and equal”. The law states that, in Israel, Hebrew is the sole official language, the Jewish people have the exclusive right to national self-determination, and the “state views the development of Jewish settlement (in the Occupied Territories) as a national value, and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation”. Finally, Israel has, now, openly admitted that it is an Apartheid state, like Apartheid South Africa before.
The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has held that the settlements in the Occupied Territories are illegal under international law.
If Canberra recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it would be endorsing Israel’s crime of Apartheid. It would encourage Israel to continue with its persecution of the Palestinians, violation of their human rights, international law and the UN Charter.
We call on the Malaysian government to lodge a strong protest against the statement made by the Australian Prime Minister and to warn him that there will be serious consequence in Malaysia-Australia relations if Canberra recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
S.M Mohamed Idris
Chairman
Citizens International
