Yahya Staquf Sees His Visit to Israel Might Cause Controversy

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The secretary general of Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama supreme council Yahya Cholil Staquf stated his presence at a global forum of American Jewish Committee (AJC) was aimed at supporting Palestine. He claimed to be aware of the risk that Israel government might have a different opinion of his visit.

“When I was invited, I know it might cause controversy, but I saw a chance that it was a platform to share messages,” Yahya told Tempo on Friday, June 22.

As reported earlier, the Muslim cleric was invited to be a speaker on the forum of Shifting The Geopolitical Calculus: From Conflict to Cooperation held by AJC at Jerusalem. He explained many world’s conflicts using religion as weapons and justifications.

The visit sparked polemics in the country. Many parties argued Yahya was insensitive towards Palestinian fight for freedom and that his visit deemed as support to Israel.

The claim was brought up following a post of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through his Twitter account on June 14 saying, “A special meeting today in Jerusalem with Yahya Cholil Staquf, the General Secretary of the global Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama. I’m very happy to see that Arab countries and many Muslim countries are getting closer to Israel!”

Yahya said he knew that the prime minister might have interests behind the post. However, Yahya deemed, Netanyahu was quite polite as he did not mention Indonesia in written. The presidential adviser also asserted that his visit did not represent either Indonesia government or Nahdlatul Ulama.

“He [Netanyahu], indeed, intended to make benefit because he surely had interests. But he still respected my position and quite polite since he didn’t mention Indonesia getting close to Israel,” Yahya said.

To Netanyahu, Yahya added, he shared his own opinion to normalize the relationship between Indonesia and Israel which could not be apart from Palestine issue. “I have said, in my opinion, so long Palestine issue has not be solved, it’s difficult to normalize Indonesia-Israel relations,” he noted, adding that Netanyahu acknowledged the matter and willing to find a way out.

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