Indonesia’s largest Muslim group rebukes members for meeting with Israel’s president

Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), on Tuesday apologized for what it said was an unsanctioned meeting between some youth wing members and Israel’s president, which has angered many in the staunchly pro-Palestinian Southeast Asian nation. 

Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and successive governments including the current administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo have been vocal supporters of nationhood for the Palestinians.

NU Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf said the Muslim organization’s leadership had no links to the early July meeting  at Israeli President Issac Herzog’s Tel Aviv residence, as Israel’s air and ground attacks on Gaza had entered the ninth month, having killed nearly 38,000 Palestinians.

“I apologize to the public that there were some individuals from Nahdlatul Ulama who recently went to Israel and engaged there,” Yahya Cholil told reporters.

Jokowi has condemned the Israeli strikes on Gaza following Palestinian group Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,100 people, according to Israel.

A photograph posted July 7 on Instagram by an NU participant at the meeting, Zainul Maarif, which was geotagged  as having been taken on the same date in Tel Aviv, featured at least five people from the Southeast Asian country.

“Direct discussion with the president of Israel,” Zainul’s Instagram post said, highlighting the sentence with capital letters.

Zainul’s post also said: “Rather than demonstrating in the streets and boycotting, I choose to engage in discussion and share ideas.”

The post went viral on Indonesian social media, leading to a widespread public backlash including intense criticism from netizens, Muslim leaders and politicians.

Yahya said that the young leaders had traveled to the Jewish state at the invitation of an NGO there, which he claimed operates to burnish the image of the Israeli government.

The plan was for the five NU scholars to participate in an interfaith dialogue and a session with Herzog was included unexpectedly.

“Israel hoped that these youths can help it to spread messages that align with its interests,” Yahya said without naming the NGO.

NU spokesman Ishaq Zubaedi Raqib told BenarNews that the organization had established protocols for its members’ international engagements on strategic issues.

“All discussions must officially represent the NU board of leadership, particularly on sensitive matters such as those involving Gaza and Israel,” he said.

The Tel Aviv meeting was highly inappropriate, local media quoted Lukman Hakim Saiffudin, an MP from the National Awakening Party (PKB), as saying on Tuesday.

“I don't know what their purpose was in going to Israel. But in my opinion, their meeting with the president of Israel was not proper,” Lukman said. “The meeting could hurt the feelings of the wider public who believe that independence is the right of all nations, including the right of the Palestinian people.”

Contacted by BenarNews, Zainul said he had written an opinion piece clarifying his position on the issue and sent it to a local media outlet that had yet to publish it. He declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, Jokowi reaffirmed Indonesia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when asked by reporters about the controversy.

“Indonesia remains committed to a world order founded on independence, lasting peace and social justice,” he said.

Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is set to assume office in October, voiced support last month for Palestinian independence during a speech at an international conference in Jordan on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

He also offered to treat up to 1,000 Gazan patients in Indonesian hospitals and expressed his country’s readiness to send United Nations-mandated peacekeepers to Gaza.

‘NU becomes a kind of target’

Analysts said the group’s meeting with Herzog was part of Israel’s outreach to Indonesian Muslims in an effort to mitigate a lack of global trust stemming from its military actions in Gaza, which have been widely condemned by countries across the world.

NU’s influence is seen as significant by Israel as a potential means to improve its international image, said Yon Machmudi, an NU member and international relations lecturer at the University of Indonesia.

“NU becomes a kind of target to be utilized in raising Israel’s image,” Yon told BenarNews.

Hasbi Aswar, a researcher at the Islamic University of Indonesia, said that Israel hopes Indonesia will be the next Muslim-majority nation to establish diplomatic relations after the so-called Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations in 2020.

“A key strategy in this process involves engaging with influential Islamic organizations like NU,” Hasbi told BenarNews.

Israel has historically engaged with NU, with the initiative dating back to 1994 when Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, the group’s chairman who would later become Indonesia’s fourth president, was invited to visit the Jewish state.

Back then, Gus Dur had suggested the Indonesian government consider establishing diplomatic ties with Israel, a position that resulted in allegations that he was a Zionist agent.

More recently, in 2018, current NU chairman Yahya, then secretary general and a member of the presidential advisory council, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.

That meeting, at the invitation of the American Jewish Committee, was also widely criticized in Indonesia.