Penny Wong says timing of Australia’s reversal on West Jerusalem ‘regrettable’

Writing in the Australian Jewish News about the government’s reversal of recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, vowed: ‘I will always be straight with you, and I won’t use this issue to score points.’ Photograph: Lukas Coch/AFP/Getty Images

Penny Wong says she deeply regrets the timing of the government’s announcement that it was reversing recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that coincided with a Jewish holiday.

In the wake of criticism from several prominent Jewish community leaders and a rebuke from the Israeli prime minister, the foreign affairs minister has written an article for Australian Jewish News promising never to play politics on the issue.