Jakarta. Indonesia recently told an emergency UN meeting that it did not want to hear excuses from Israel, as Tel Aviv blamed Lebanese militant Hezbollah for the slain peacekeepers.

Members of the UN Security Council convened in New York on Tuesday local time after three Indonesian blue helmets died in two separate blasts in southern Lebanon. The soldiers were part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Violence has surged in the region as Israel-Hezbollah fighting entered its second month. 

The council’s meeting saw Israeli representative Danny Danon in defensive mode as he pinned the blame on Hezbollah. Indonesia’s representative Umar Hadi told the chamber that Jakarta was not looking to hear Israeli excuses. Jakarta also called for an “immediate, thorough, and transparent investigation” into the attacks that they described as war crimes.

“We demand investigation by the UN, not excuses from Israel. We demand that the Security Council keep abreast of the investigation and immediately follow up on the results,” Umar said.

“... The perpetrators must be held legally accountable. immunity must not become the standard, and attacks against peacekeepers must not be repeated nor tolerated.”

Earlier in the meeting, Danon had tried to deflect the blame for the strikes by showing a map of what he claimed to be Hezbollah launchers put close to the UNIFIL positions. The Tehran-backed group had been clashing with the Israeli forces after the former fired retaliation attacks after Tel Aviv not long ago assassinated Iran's then-supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

“They [Hezbollah] put UNIFIL in the line of fire, in the middle. This is not a coincidence,” Danon said.

US Representative to the UN Mike Waltz told the conference and the world to “reserve judgment” until the probe is complete.

“The media, the world watching, and this council should pause and allow the UN to fully investigate and assess the circumstances of these incidents,” Waltz said.

The UN Security Council is the organization’s principal organ dedicated to maintaining world peace. Its decades-old resolutions established the UNIFIL, which were set to cease operations by the end of 2026. As many as 755 Indonesian peacekeepers served with the UNIFIL as of March 30, making the country the world’s biggest contributor to the mission. Indonesia had kicked off its national statement by reading aloud the names of the fallen blue helmets: Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, Muhammad Nur Ichwan, and Farizal Rhomadhon.

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