Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the country’s support for a Palestinian bid to become a full United Nations member is part of building momentum to secure peace in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Australia voted on Friday with the overwhelming majority of the U.N. General Assembly in backing a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
Last month, the United States vetoed a recommendation that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership” in a Security Council vote.
The question of Palestinian membership is one of the few diplomatic issues where close allies Washington and Canberra differ.
“Much of our region and many of our partners also voted yes,” Wong tells a press conference in Adelaide. “We all know one vote on its own won’t end this conflict – it has spanned our entire lifetimes – but we all have to do what we can to build momentum towards peace.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz labelled the UN decision a “prize for Hamas,” in a statement released by his office.
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