Even first-year graduates at the Department of Foreign Affairs are well appraised of the sensitivities around Jerusalem which both Israelis and Palestinians want to claim as their capital. Australia's policy has always been carefully calibrated to maintain an equilibrium with Israel as well as the much broader Arab and Muslim worlds, especially Indonesia and Malaysia. All of which made Prime Minister Morrison's stream-of-consciousness musing during the Wentworth byelection about moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem a faux pas majeur.

His motivation for doing so, while still not plausibly explained, is now moot. The consequences of him doing so though are not moot by any stretch. Initial murmurings of discontent from Indonesia, soon turned into a roaring protest from Arab nations and a threat to the ratification of a critical Free Trade Agreement with our closest Muslim neighbour. As the public discord spread further, an even more pernicious consequence was floated – had Morrison put national security in jeopardy with his ill-disciplined kite flying?

Oman Rohman, centre, the key ideologue for Islamic State militants in Indonesia, on trial earlier this year for ordering a 2016 suicide bombing and gun attack in Jakarta that killed eight people, including the four attackers. Credit:AP

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir made that point on the margins of the APEC summit in Port Moresby, but Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg shot back, publicly accusing Mahathir of pursuing his trademark anti-Semitic posturing. The very public squabbling now emerging within the Coalition frontbench is a symptom of a government that is divided on this issue and belies attempts by the likes of Simon Birmingham and Mathias Cormann to portray this discussion as one of sober due process. Curiously, Peter Dutton and Marise Payne have been quiet when their portfolios are arguably in the best positions to gauge the threat to national security.

No doubt behind the tough rhetoric Morrison is looking for a face-saving solution to this diplomatic own goal. He may well find one, but a breakthrough in the diplomatic impasse may not diminish the nourishment he has thrown to Islamic extremists on our doorstep.