Jakarta. Indonesia wants the international community to kick Israel out of the UN General Assembly following its endless aggressions in Gaza.

Indonesia proposed revoking Israel’s membership at the UN General Assembly at the recent Arab-Islamic extraordinary summit in Riyadh. In an address before the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members, Indonesia said that the “only language that Israel -- under its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- and his right-wing extremist allies understand is the language of cruelty”. As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza continues to climb, it is about time for the international community to isolate Israel, and that includes not giving them a seat at the UN’s main policymaking body.

“The [Riyadh] summit needs to result in concrete recommendations and steps. … That is why we [Indonesia] propose for us to garner global support for Palestine’s independence by expanding the global alliance that encompasses the Global South and countries who wish Palestine to be independent,” Anis said in Arabic.

He added: “We also urge all international organizations to isolate Israel and have their UN membership revoked.”

For reference, the Global South is a term that commonly refers to developing economies.

Israel has been part of the UN General Assembly since 1949, while Indonesia got admitted to the organization about a year later. 

Palestine has been seeking to become a full-fledged UN member. Earlier this year, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly said yes to Palestine’s UN membership. However, it is still up to the UN Security Council to decide whether Palestine can actually join. Palestine needs 9 affirmative votes out of 15 members in the Security Council, provided that none of its permanent members -- China, France, the US, the UK, and Russia -- vote against its membership bid. The US is known to be Israel’s top military backer, and has previously blocked Gaza ceasefire resolutions from being passed. The recent Riyadh summit came out with an 11-page resolution which, among others, calls on the UN Security Council to follow up on Palestine’s candidacy.

Palestine is a non-member observer state at the UN and is unable to cast votes.

Indonesia attended the extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit as an OIC member. President Prabowo Subianto is currently on a two-week-long overseas trip and has sent Anis Matta to attend the Riyadh conference on his behalf. Prabowo is now in Washington for some bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden. It is still unclear whether Prabowo will bring up the Palestine issue when he meets Biden on Tuesday local time. Although the upcoming talks are likely to focus on bilateral partnership, Prabowo has said that Indonesia would continue supporting Palestine under his government.