Bibi gets backing on illegal settlements Down Under
Sydney, Feb. 22: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull attacked the United Nations for “onesided resolutions” against Israel’s push to build settlements on occupied land as he welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday on his first official visit to the country.
Ahead of the four-day visit, Mr Turnbull wrote a newspaper editorial slamming the UN Security Council for a resolution adopted in December that called for an end to Israeli settlement building on occupied Palestinian territory.
“My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticising Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimise the Jewish state,” Mr Turnbull wrote in The Australian newspaper.
The Israeli Prime Minister welcomed the strong show of support, telling reporters he “was delighted” by the article. “Australia has been courageously willing to puncture UN hypocrisy more than once,” he said.
“The UN is capable of many absurdities and I think it’s important that you have straightforward and clear-eyed countries like Australia that often bring it back to earth,” he said.
Mr Turnbull said he supported direct negotiations towards a two-state solution, My govt won’t support one-sided resolutions criticising Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UNSC
Malcolm Turnbull, but warned that Israel’s security needs would have to be met for any peace agreement to take hold.
“You cannot expect any Israeli government to put itself in a position where security is at risk, where its citizens are not safe. The first duty of every government is the safety of the people,” he said.