Embassy in Israel at issue in Australia

CANBERRA, Australia — A former Australian prime minister has warned the government to expect a negative reaction from Indonesia if Australia follows the United States by shifting its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke to reporters after meeting Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on the tourist island of Bali on Monday to discuss a bilateral free-trade deal.

“The president expressed to me … the very serious concern held in Indonesia about the prospect of the Australian Embassy in Israel being moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview aired Tuesday. “There’s no question that were that move to occur, it would be met with a very negative reaction in Indonesia.”

“This is after all the largest … majority-Muslim country in the world, so we have to be very clear-eyed about that and we have to take into account Australia’s national interest and our interests in the region when we … consider decisions like this,” he added.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday that no decision had been made yet on the embassy’s location.

Morrison sent his predecessor to represent Australia at a climate-change conference in Bali because of Turnbull’s close personal rapport with the Indonesian leader, who had been disappointed that Turnbull’s government colleagues replaced him in August in response to poor opinion polling.

Turnbull said he was confident that the free-trade deal between Australia, a nation of 25 million people, and Indonesia, a near-neighbor with a population of more than 260 million people, would be signed within weeks.

Turnbull also said Australia should stick with a policy of more than 40 years that its embassy should be in Tel Aviv.