On Wednesday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, dismissed rumours that the country was in talks with the Jewish state of Israel to establish official diplomatic ties. Despite media reports suggesting otherwise, the government in Jakarta has maintained that Indonesia harbours “no intention to open diplomatic ties with Israel” and is committed to the Palestinian cause.
Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokesman Teuku Faizasyah clarified the government’s stance on Monday saying that “the Foreign Affairs Ministry has never been in contact with Israel” and that the foreign policy of “the Foreign Affairs Ministry is still consistent with Palestine in accordance with the mandate of the constitution”.
This position was also backed by the nation’s Islamic groups, who have voiced their opposition to the idea of normalization of ties with Israel. Starting in August, several traditional enemies of Israel, including the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, have signed normalization deals with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Outside of the accords, Bhutan has also signed a formal normalization agreement with the country. Following this, the Jerusalem Post reported that there was speculation that Israel was now in “advanced” stages of talks to sign similar normalization deals with Oman and Indonesia, and possibly even Saudi Arabia.
Indonesia has rubbished the claims for now, given that its religious make-up strongly resembles Palestine’s. It is estimated that 13% of the Palestinian population is Jewish, while 86% of its population is predominantly Sunni Muslim. Indonesia, meanwhile, is home to the largest Muslim population in the world, as 86% of its population is Muslim, 99% of whom are Sunni Muslims. Beyond this, Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land has irked the Muslim majority Southeast Asian nation and deterred it from officially normalizing diplomatic relations with the country.
The resistance against Jerusalem has been a consistent theme of Indonesia’s foreign policy. In 2018, when the pro-Israel Trump administration relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, officially recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, and cut off its relief funds to Palestine, thousands of Indonesian citizens protested on the streets of Jakarta. Therefore, unconfirmed reports that Indonesia was looking to sign a normalisation deal with Israel hurt both Indonesian and Palestinian sentiments.
Nevertheless, despite its tensions with Tel Aviv, Indonesia has maintained unofficial relations with Israel by cooperating in trade and defence. Israel sold arms to Indonesia in the 1970s and 1980s, and Indonesian soldiers have also trained in Israel. Additionally, Indonesian religious tourists are also a valuable source of revenue for Israel, with over 30,000 citizens flying to Israel each year.