Pictured Above: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Credit: Radio Television Malacañang via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) The leaders of two of Israel’s closest allies, Canada and Australia, shot down the possibility that they would follow the U.S. and move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“We will not be moving Canada’s embassy from Tel Aviv,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a visit to China, AFP reported. 

Following President Donald Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and initiate plans to eventually relocate the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland reaffirmed Canada’s position that “the status of Jerusalem can be resolved only as part of a general settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.”

“We are strongly committed to the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including the creation of a Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel,” she said.

Similarly, despite burgeoning ties between Australia and Israel during the past year, including reciprocal visits by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Canberra’s Foreign Minister Julia Bishop rejected the notion of an embassy move.

“We will not be taking steps to move our embassy in Israel, it will continue to offer diplomatic assistance in Tel Aviv,” she told reporters.

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