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In Indonesia, social media amplifies local support for Palestine—and also Israel
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In ruins: Children look on as a masked fighter with the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stands in front of the ruins of the Al-Jalaa tower, which hosted the offices of news agency The Associated Press and the Aljazeera English channel. The tower was destroyed by Israeli strikes during recent confrontations with Hamas in Gaza City on May 23, 2021. (AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)
T
he latest escalation of violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict has sparked huge solidarity among Indonesians on social media and further amplified the pro-Palestine voices in the country, which has the world’s the largest Muslim population.
Digital technology, however, has also emancipated those supporting the other side in the decades-old conflict, with more pro-Israel Indonesian social media users, while still a minority, now emerging to openly challenge the pro-Palestine narratives.
Indonesia’s support for Palestinian independence goes back to the era of founding president Sukarno. It has become conventional wisdom that both its government and its people are unanimous in their support for Palestine. Jakarta does not have bilateral relations with Tel Aviv, and any form of formal cooperation with Israel is often viewed with suspicion.
But in cyberspace, that is not always the case.
A social network analysis (SNA) conducted by Indonesian social media analysis and monitoring system Drone Emprit has confirmed that the Israel-Palestine issue has been a hot issue among local netizens, with the Indonesian word “Palestina” mentioned 248,000 times within the period May 11 and May 18. Videos of the bombing of Gaza that claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinians, including children, have triggered a chorus of condemnation of the violence committed by the Israeli forces among Muslims.
Anti-Hamas narrative
Amid the overwhelming pro-Palestine voices on social media, Monique Rijkers, an openly pro-Israel Indonesian, argues on her Facebook and Instagram accounts that Hamas, the Islamist party in control of Gaza, was to blame for the recent escalation of violence and that condemning Israelis was wrong because they were "just protecting their citizens".
