{"id":246450,"date":"2025-09-22T13:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/246450\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T13:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:57:11","slug":"ley-writes-to-republicans-vowing-to-revoke-palestine-recognition-ahead-of-albaneses-un-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/246450\/","title":{"rendered":"Ley writes to Republicans vowing to revoke Palestine recognition ahead of Albanese’s UN address"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has taken the unorthodox step of writing to United States Republicans to reassure the Congress members <\/strong>that a Coalition government would withdraw recognition of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

The letter was dispatched ahead of a major address by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the United Nations, where he is expected to tell the international community why Australia is joining to recognise Palestine.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Australian government formally recognised Palestine jointly with the United Kingdom and Canada, accelerated by Israel’s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n

In an address to the UN General Assembly, the prime minister is expected to warn that Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe for which the Israeli government must accept “its share” of responsibility.<\/p>\n

He will say that the ongoing conflict, the illegal expansion of settlements in the West Bank and threats to permanently displace Palestinian people are putting a two-state solution beyond reach, and a different path must be taken.<\/p>\n

“We must break this cycle of violence and build something better,” Mr Albanese is expected to say.<\/p>\n

“Working together, we can build a future where instead of children in Gaza dying in pain, living in fear or being taught to hate \u2014 they can go to school, build a ‘life in larger freedom’, aspire to raise children of their own.<\/p>\n

“That future depends on recognition being followed by reconstruction and reform.”<\/p>\n

Is Palestinian recognition a sick joke?<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Israel Defense Forces bomb Gaza and bulldoze the West Bank for settlements, moves to recognise Palestine in pursuit of a two-state solution may appear like something of a sick joke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese will repeat that Hamas can play no role in the governance of Palestine, and the Palestinian Authority must keep its promises to demilitarise, hold democratic elections and reform its finances and education programs.<\/p>\n

A “day after” peace plan that would be enacted following the end of conflict in Gaza is expected to be progressed at the UN.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government’s decision to recognise Palestine is one of the most significant splits in foreign policy between Labor and the Coalition, which until the announcement held the same longstanding position that recognition would follow a negotiated two-state solution between Palestine and Israel.<\/p>\n

Coalition writes to reassure Republicans angry at Australia<\/p>\n

A group of 25 Republicans on Sunday warned there could be “punitive measures”<\/a> if Australia, Canada, the UK and France joined more than 150 other countries to recognise Palestine.<\/p>\n

“Hamas’ war crimes are clear, and its rejection of diplomacy should lead your countries to impose more pressure. Instead, you offer greater rewards,” they wrote.<\/p>\n

“Proceeding with recognition will put your country at odds with long-standing US policy and interests and may invite punitive measures in response.”<\/p>\n

\"Senator<\/p>\n

Ted Cruz was among the signatories criticising Australia’s decision to recognise Palestine. (AP: Manuel Balce Ceneta)<\/p>\n

In reply, the opposition leader wrote to reassure the Congress members that the decision to recognise Palestine did not enjoy bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

“The Federal Opposition opposes this decision and would reverse it should we form government,” Ms Ley wrote.<\/p>\n

“It is our view that Australia\u2019s national interest is best served through a two-state solution underscored by America’s proactive engagement in the region.<\/p>\n

“The path to a two-state solution can only be achieved after Hamas has been removed from power in Gaza and all hostages have been released, not before.”<\/p>\n

Ms Ley wrote that the relationship between Australia and the US had been allowed to drift under Mr Albanese, and said she would travel to the US in December seeking to “bring ballast” to the alliance.<\/p>\n

The ABC understands Ms Ley has not yet locked in meetings with senior Trump administration officials.<\/p>\n

But Ms Ley’s announcement of a visit will put further pressure on the prime minister to finally sit down with US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

A meeting between Mr Albanese and Mr Trump is still not guaranteed \u2014 though the president hinted last week the pair would soon meet.<\/p>\n

The Coalition has pointed to the fact that the two are yet to meet face-to-face as a sign of fractures in the Australia-US relationship.<\/p>\n

Ms Ley also spoke to Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar to express her “disappointment at this break with bipartisanship” with Labor on the issue of recognition and to reiterate the Coalitions position, she said on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Sa’ar said<\/a> he expressed Israel’s “appreciation for her position” and the promise to reverse the decision. He also invited Ms Ley to visit Israel.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the list of concerns has grown: the multi-decade AUKUS submarine agreement is in question, the US is pressuring Australia to lift its defence spending, and Mr Trump has threatened massive tariffs on pharmaceuticals, a key Australian export, while pharmaceutical giants complain about Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.<\/p>\n

Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos told the ABC on Monday that he did not expect differences on Palestine to weigh heavily on the relationship.<\/p>\n

“I would take my cue from what happened in London where Keir Starmer, the British prime minister and the President Donald Trump agreed to differ on this subject,” he said.<\/p>\n

“While some people may criticise Australia about this decision of the Australian government, the reality is that’s not going to be a huge thorn in the side of the relationship as far as I can tell.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has taken the unorthodox step of writing to United States Republicans to reassure the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":246451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[38602,4740,19945,50,4851,43803,5620,17126,130993],"class_list":{"0":"post-246450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-anthony-albanese","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-letter","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-palestine","13":"tag-recognition","14":"tag-republicans","15":"tag-sussan-ley","16":"tag-united-nations-address"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115248304498823791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}