Indonesia's biggest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, has asked its chief to resign for inviting a U.S. scholar known for his support of Israel during the Gaza war to an internal event in August, according to meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters.
Indonesia, the world's Muslim-majority nation, has routinely condemned Israel's actions in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since the war broke out in 2023 © Mena Today
Indonesia's biggest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, has asked its chief to resign for inviting a U.S. scholar known for his support of Israel during the Gaza war to an internal event in August, according to meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters.
The leadership of NU, which is also the world's biggest Islamic organisation with around 100 million members and affiliates, has given Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf three days to offer his resignation or be removed from his post, according to the minutes from a meeting on Thursday.
NU cited Staquf's invitation to a person "affiliated with an International Zionism network" for an internal event and alleged financial mismanagement as reasons for his ouster.
Staquf, who has been NU's chairman since 2021, did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment.
On Sunday, Staquf said he was appointed for a five-year term and would not resign, adding that the leaders who convened the meeting had no authority to remove him, according to local media reports.
NU Deputy Secretary General Najib Azca told Reuters the decision was linked to Staquf's invitation to former U.S. official and scholar Peter Berkowitz for an August training event.
Staquf has apologised for the invitation and called it an oversight as he had not carefully checked Berkowitz's background, adding that he condemned Israel's "brutal genocidal acts in Gaza".
Berkowitz often writes in support of Israel's campaign in Gaza, according to his website, including a piece in September aiming to refute allegations of genocide against Israel.
Berkowitz spoke at NU seminars about the history of Western political thought in August, his website showed.
Berkowitz did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment that reached him outside of office hours.
Indonesia, the world's Muslim-majority nation, has routinely condemned Israel's actions in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since the war broke out in 2023. It has long advocated for a two-state solution and has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Reporting by Stanley Widianto, Ananda Teresia and Gayatri Suroyo
Defense contractor RTX announced on Saturday that its joint venture with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Raytheon-Rafael Protection Systems, has secured a USD 1.25 billion contract to provide Israel with surface-to-air missiles.
When you warn about Islamist organizations in the West, you hear the same sentence again and again. “Come on, this sounds like a conspiracy theory.”
With the first anniversary of the Lebanon–Israel ceasefire approaching, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, told the Security Council on Thursday that “the time for dialogue and negotiations is now.”
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.