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NU activists’ visit to Israel does not represent government stance: Foreign Ministry
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A Palestinian casts his shadow on a damaged wall on July 10, 2024, as he inspects the site of an Israeli strike, outside a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (Reuters/Hatem Khaled)
T
he Foreign Ministry has said that the visit made by five young Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) activists to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem was not by any means representative of Indonesia’s official stance.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Roy Soemirat on Monday underlined that the ministry will not comment further on the visit since it “is not related in any way to the formal stance of the Indonesian government”.
Similarly, the NU executive board (PBNU) said that the visit was made without the organization’s endorsement, slamming the act as ignorant and “hurtful” to the principles held by NU.
Over the weekend, a post shared by an NU activist Zainul Maarif on his now-private Instagram account made rounds on the internet after it showed several Indonesian citizens posing with Herzog at his official residence in Jerusalem.
According to screen captures of the post, Zainul in his caption said that his visit was meant to discuss the “conflict between Hamas and Israel” and “the relationship between Indonesia and Israel”.
“I am not a protester, I am a religious philosopher. Instead of protesting on the streets and conducting boycotts, I much prefer discussions and conveying ideas,” he wrote.
As the post quickly gained traction online, NU headquarters in a Sunday statement lambasted the visit, saying that it was made by “people who do not understand geopolitics, are unaware of the NU’s organizational principles and are ignorant of the organization’s collective sentiment”.
