It was barmy then and it is barmy now:
The government looked at relocating the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem less than six months ago but rejected it on a number of grounds including security, geopolitical consequences, cost and need.
As ministers and senior MPs in the Morrison government bicker publicly over whether to shift the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, The Australian Financial Review understands the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was consulted when the Turnbull government examined the move several months ago, following the decision in May by Donald Trump to shift the US embassy.
Anticipating that the US move would lead to similar calls in Australia, then-foreign minister Julie Bishop had her department provide advice.
The ABC has slumped into pure hearsay:
US President Donald Trump will be delighted at Scott Morrison’s talk of moving Australia’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and his administration will be applying “actual pressure” to make sure it happens.
That’s was the view expressed to the Q&A audience by a senior US editor who writes extensively on Trump’s America.
Susan Glasser, who writes for the respected New Yorker magazine and Politico website and has worked at the Washington Post, also said Australia would increasingly find itself in an “uncomfortable position” sandwiched between an expansionist China and a US President who is a fan of “Cold War rhetoric”.
This country has gone mad.
