Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is considering recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Morrison revealed that former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma, a Liberal Wentworth byelection candidate, helped convince him to closely examine the issue.
"The previous discussion was premised on the point that you couldn’t pursue this issue without risking or without prejudicing the final status. Now Dave is arguing the opposite to that and he’s saying that is possible. He’s arguing it can be done consistent with Australia’s long-running position … He’s actually changing the way in which the issue is conceived," Morrison said.
"I intend to discuss this further with cabinet colleagues in the coming months," he added.
According to Morrison, the recognition of Jerusalem would be separate from any potential relocation of Australia's embassy, which would be a "longer term consideration." He said that recognizing Jerusalem would not affect Australia's support for the two-state solution.
A small but growing number of countries have recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel since US President Donald Trump announced that the US would officially recognize the historic Jewish capital as the capital of the Jewish State last December. The countries include Guatemala, the Czech Republic, and Honduras.
In 2017, Russia announced that it recognized the western part of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel while also recognizing the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future Palestinian state.