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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is standing by his decision to reverse a Morrison-era policy recognising West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but concedes it could have been handled better.
- The federal government has reversed a 2018 decision by Scott Morrison to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
- The reversal has sparked blowback from the opposition, crossbench and some members of the Labor Party
- The government says its position on the status of Jerusalem has always been clear
Labor promised at the election to reverse Australia's recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel's official capital, but the policy change was announced on Tuesday, a holy holiday for Jewish people.
"Of course some things can always be done better, but the truth is we have been very clear about what our position was," the prime minister said.
Mr Albanese said his predecessor was blatantly playing politics with the original announcement, which was made in the thick of the Wentworth by-election in 2018.
"The Morrison government said that they were going to move the embassy to Jerusalem and they would recognise Jerusalem as the capital," Mr Albanese said.
"They said that the embassy would move; it of course didn't move. They made an announcement, [and] once the by-election was over the embassy didn't move."
The Labor member for Macnamara, Josh Burns, released a statement denouncing the timing of the policy change.
"It's my view that any further alteration to Australia's policy needed to be considered extremely carefully," Mr Burns said.
"To my disappointment, this did not happen."
Mr Burns is a leader within the Jewish community, and represents many Jewish people in his electorate.
"I know people in my electorate and across Australia are hurt by this decision, and to be honest, so am I," he said.
"In relation to the insensitive timing of this announcement on a holy day, I am sorry — that clearly shouldn't have happened."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he was privy to the discussions on the issue.
"I do support and was part of the discussion that led to yesterday's announcement, so I take responsibility for that," Mr Chalmers said.
"We know these are sensitive issues, but from our point of view we reaffirmed a longstanding position we've held for some time now."