SOVEREIGNTY IS A TWO-WAY STREET:

Canberra's recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel's capital on Saturday can best be seen as the return flight of a boomerang -- a tool that likely originated among Australian Aborigine hunters. Indeed, there is hardly a better metaphor to illustrate how the zest with which the Jewish state and its supporters urged the world to follow Washington's move last year has backfired.

While Australian Zionists celebrated the decision as "historic," a recognition of only West Jerusalem as Israel's capital may after all be detrimental to the Jewish state's efforts to secure the international community's support for Israeli sovereignty over the entire city. [...]

On October 16, Morrison, Australia's conservative prime minister, and his foreign minister, Marise Payne, announced that they would "consider recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, without prejudice to its final boundaries."

In a joint statement, Morrison and Payne said they would look at moving Australia's embassy to West Jerusalem, and acknowledge the eastern part of the city "as the expected capital of a future Palestinian state."

Already then, the writing was on the wall: Australia's declaration would be closer to Russia's surprising April 2017 recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel's capital than to Trump's more sweeping December 6 announcement.

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