President Reuven Rivlin thanked Australia for its ‘commitment to Israel’ during a recent visit down under this week.
By TPS
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin wound up the last day of his trip to Australia on Wednesday with a meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Parliament House in Canberra.
Rivlin thanked Morrison for “Australia’s friendship and commitment to the State of Israel and to the Australian Jewish community,” stressing that relations with Australia were among “the cornerstones of Israeli diplomacy.”
The President stressed the importance of countries expressing their opposition to a politicization of the International Criminal Court (ICC), thanking the Australian government for its decision to submit a request to become an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” to the Hague-based ICC. As friends of the court, Australia would be permitted to offer their views on the case and submit legal advice to the court.
Australia is adamant that the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes in Judea and Samaria, and Gaza, since it does not “recognise a so-called ‘State of Palestine’” and does not “recognise that there is such a State Party to the ICC’s Rome Statute,” an Australian Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated.
Morrison told Rivlin that “Australia is happy to stand with Israel in the international arena,” stressing the “important” relations between the states and its people.