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But what about Gaza?
As the country with the world's biggest Muslim population, Indonesia could become the benchmark for other Muslim countries on how they should deal with the Jewish state.
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A picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during an Israeli bombardment on Jan. 22, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP/AFP)
For the state of Israel, Indonesia no doubt is one of the biggest-ticket items, in terms of bilateral relationships.
As the country with the world's biggest Muslim population, Indonesia could become the benchmark for other Muslim countries on how they should deal with the Jewish state.
The prospect of Indonesia opening bilateral ties with Israel would not only carry an important symbolism, but would also have real-world practical implications.
It is no longer a secret that for years, relationships have developed between business players in Indonesia and Israel.
For years, the Indonesian government has relied on Israel as one of its primary sources of weapons procurement. In the 1970s and 1980s, soldiers from Indonesia were in fact trained in Israel.
In recent years, it has been reported that a number of law enforcement agencies in Indonesia have procured surveillance technology from Israel, albeit through a third-party country.
Being the home of modern agricultural technology, Israel has also been the go-to country for Indonesian companies looking for business solutions. In fact, The Jerusalem Post wrote in January 2022 that agricultural ties had played a big role in "a recent warming of ties" between Indonesia and Israel.
And the ties between the two countries, which so far have had no direct bilateral relationship, have grown strong to a point where late last year, the governments of the two nations agreed to take them to the next level.
If the report from the Israeli newspaper Jewish Insider is to be believed, Indonesia and Israel were on the threshold of opening diplomatic relations, before the war in Gaza put the development on hold.
The news outlet stated in a report published in late February that the office of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Israel's then foreign minister Eli Cohen had approved a final draft of an agreement for the Jewish state and Indonesia to exchange trade offices, as a first step toward full diplomatic relations.
It also reported that October 2023 was a likely date for the official announcement, in conjunction with a planned meeting of the Negev Forum in the middle of the month, though November, when President Jokowi visited the White House, was also under consideration.
The report also carried a photo of members of an Israeli delegation posing with President Jokowi's then senior aide Andi Wijayanto.
Given the pragmatic and transactional approach that the administration of President Jokowi has taken on international affairs, we can give credence to the Jewish Insider report about the groundwork being laid in deepening the ties between Indonesia and Israel.
Also the Israeli government certainly could have banked on the presumed winner of the Feb. 14 presidential election and the incumbent Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto taking things further in the future.
The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza, however, should give everyone in Indonesia's foreign policy establishment a pause for thought.
The way Israel has executed its war in Gaza with its indiscriminate targeting and killing of civilians, including women and children, putting Gaza under siege and choking its food supply, as well as its complete annihilation of what was once already an "open-air" prison should be enough for Indonesia to reconsider its plan to upgrade its ties with the Jewish state.
Well, in fact the wholesale assault on Gaza should give everyone, every nation, not just Indonesia, a pause and start recalibrating its ties with Israel.
If anything, the death of more than 30,000 civilians in Gaza should be enough reason to demand accountability from the politicians and military generals calling the shots in Tel Aviv.
We should not reward bad behavior.
