KontraS Flags 'Inconsistencies' in Prabowo's Palestine Stance

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence () highlights the inconsistent stance ’s government displays in its diplomacy with Palestine. 

“There have been contradictory statements related to diplomacy on Palestinian issues,” says KontraS Working Committee Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya on Monday, January 20, 2025. 

Dimas arrives at such a conclusion upon discovering Indonesia’s economic cooperation with Israel. As of November 2024, he says, Indonesia's export value to Israel reached US$37,673,245, while its import value reached US$7,506,568. 

This contradicts the government’s commitment to cut ties with Israel as pressure efforts to stop Israel’s aggression on . Deputy Foreign Minister Muhammad Anis Matta called on the international community to cut all forms of economic relations with Israel at the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League.

Dimas also underscores Prabowo's support for a two-state solution to resolve the conflict in Palestine, as the president conveyed after a meeting with U.S. Joe Biden. 

According to Dimas, Prabowo fails to take notice of the historicity and conflict that occurred in Palestine. “Instead, he leans towards the narratives of countries that still affirm the crimes committed by the Israeli community,” says Dimas.

Israel's genocide on the Gaza Strip over the past 15 months has created a severe humanitarian catastrophe, killing more than 47,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and thousands more missing under the rubble, as reported by Anadolu as of Sunday night. However, a recent study suggests that the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza is likely much higher.

The study, conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published in The Lancet journal, stated that there were approximately 64,260 “traumatic injury deaths” in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and June 30, 2024. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza put the figure at 37,877 at the time.

By October 2024, the number of Gazans killed by violence is expected to exceed 70,000, the study said, based on estimates of unreported rates. The total death toll caused by Israel's military campaign is likely to be even higher, the study said, as its analysis did not take into account deaths caused by disruptions to health services, shortages of food, clean water and sanitation, and disease.

Sita Planasari contributed to the writing of this article. 

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