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Prospect of RI-Israel ties grows ever distant after U-20 bust
The public’s consistently strong stance against Israel, as evidenced by the recent removal of Indonesia as host of the U-20 FIFA World Cup, was an indication that a formal tie between the two states was a nearly impossible prospect, experts said.
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Members of Indonesia's Islamic mass organizations stage a rally in Banten, on Dec.10, to protest former US president Donald Trump’s controversial remarks, in which he said his administration acknowledged Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (Antara/Asep Fathulrahman)
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he public’s consistently strong stance against Israel, as evidenced by the recent removal of Indonesia as host of the U-20 FIFA World Cup, was an indication that a formal tie between the two states was a nearly impossible prospect, experts have said.
The analysis, given amid reports from earlier this month that Israel had ramped up its efforts to convince Indonesia to sign the Abraham Accords, added such agreements would put Jakarta at risk of great political chaos.
On Thursday, FIFA officially removed Indonesia as the host of this year’s U-20 World Cup, following a wave of protests from grassroots organizations to public officials claiming any permissiveness toward the Israeli team entering Indonesia would go against Jakarta’s long-standing foreign policy of supporting Palestine’s independence.
Upon the sudden vacuum in host position, some countries expressed their readiness to replace Indonesia, with the latest being Argentina, which submitted a formal bid on Friday.
FIFA’s decision, which will likely be followed up with a list of sanctions to Jakarta for violating its commitments, came only a few weeks after several media outlets in Israel reported Israel was negotiating with four countries including Indonesia to expand the 2020 Abraham Accords normalization agreements.
According to the reports, the negotiations were mediated by some of the United States’ top officials, including US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
First spearheaded by former US president Donald Trump, the Abraham Accords sought to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel. While others like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Morocco signed the accord, Indonesia firmly made it clear from the get-go that it will remain a staunch ally of the Palestinian struggle and will not cave.
