NEW YORK: Indonesia joined dozens of countries in walking out on Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in a show of protest as Israel faces growing diplomatic isolation over its actions against Palestine.
A widely circulated video showed Indonesia’s seven-member delegation rise and walk out of the General Assembly hall as Netanyahu started delivering his statement. Some other countries left a single representative or did not attend the address altogether.
Meanwhile, representatives of the United States, Germany and Argentina remained in the hall during the speech. Netanyahu responded to the walkout by calling the departing delegates “cowards” before spending the next 40 minutes defending Israel’s policies on Palestine and Iran, among other issues, to a largely empty hall. “If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” the prime minister said before his address.
In a statement to The Jakarta Post on Friday (Sept 25), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl A. Mulachela said the walkout represented Indonesia’s “solidarity with the people of Palestine” and condemnation of Israel’s “crimes against humanity”, insisting that Israel’s repeated offences could not be normalised by the international community.
“The walkout reflects Indonesia’s consistent stance in supporting Palestinian independence and opposing all forms of violence and violations of international law, including the genocide committed by Israel,” Nabyl said.
Instability in the Middle East loomed over hundreds of meetings held in the UN this week. While the US-Israeli War on Iran continues to disrupt global supply chains, Israel’s ongoing military campaign and settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories have continued to draw international ire.
Palestine push
Historically a long-standing supporter of Palestine, Indonesia has used this week’s packed diplomatic circuit to push its call for Palestinian statehood and a reconstruction process centred on the wellbeing of its people.
In New York, Foreign Minister Sugiono took part in several Palestine-focused meetings on the sidelines of the assembly, such as a roundtable on Wednesday led by Egypt on advancing Gaza’s recovery.
The meeting built on last year’s Sharm El-Sheikh meeting cohosted by US President Donald Trump that later paved the way for the 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza and the Board of Peace, in which Indonesia has participated.
At the meeting, Sugiono called for a dignified recovery in Gaza, urging the international community to help ensure its people have adequate supplies and resources.
“For the people of Gaza, peace must mean more than the absence of violence,” the foreign minister said. “They must be able to rebuild lives of decency and dignity.”
Sugiono participated in two other Palestine-related meetings on Tuesday, including the High-Level Meeting on the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, where he called for greater accountability for violations. He cited the attack on the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza and the deaths of Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon as examples to pair protection with accountability.
Back on track
Indonesia’s Palestine push at the UN this year marked a shift from President Prabowo Subianto’s address at his UNGA debut last year, when Jakarta drew international headlines for signaling it could recognise Israel should it recognise Palestine, said Yon Machmudi, a Middle East expert at the University of Indonesia.
While Prabowo’s address remained consistent with the country’s support for a two-state solution, observers and analysts viewed the delivery as a departure from Jakarta’s long-standing reluctance to establish ties with Israel.
Such perceptions were reinforced when Prabowo later said Indonesia would guarantee Israel’s security, joined the Trump-led Board of Peace and pledged up to 20,000 troops for the board’s International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
Yet, a year later, Indonesia appears to have pulled back from that position, Yon noted, with Jakarta having paused deliberations on the Board of Peace following the US-Israeli strikes against Iran.
“Both domestic pressure and the Board of Peace’s unclear direction have prompted Indonesia to reposition itself toward its previous course,” Yon said on Friday. “Prabowo’s statement expressing support for Palestine last week at the Gontor anniversary is a strong signal of that.”
He referred to the President’s “Free Palestine” chants during the 100th anniversary celebration of the Darussalam Gontor pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Ponorogo, East Java, which was also attended by Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Abdulfattah AK Al-Sattari.
The fiery moment caught the attention of several Israeli media outlets, which contrasted Prabowo’s Gontor speech with his address at last year’s UNGA. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
