Presence of Indonesian students in Israel stirs debate over Jakarta's Palestine stance
The recent revelation that a small but growing number of Indonesian students are studying in
Israel – a country with which Indonesia has no formal diplomatic ties – has stirred domestic debate about the credibility of Jakarta's long-standing support for the Palestinian cause.
Advertisement
There are currently 200 Indonesians studying agriculture at the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) in Israel's southern Negev desert, according to a report published last week by Albalad.co, an Indonesian news outlet focused on Middle East affairs. The report, citing an anonymous source, said the figure was a sharp increase from last year's intake of 'around 90' students.
While
Indonesia routinely condemns engagement with Israel on political grounds, student exchanges in niche sectors such as agriculture have quietly continued and even gained some domestic political support.
Established in 1994, AICAT offers an 11-month diploma course in advanced and sustainable farming practices tailored to arid climates. Its website lists more than 20,000 alumni from Asian and African countries, including Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde, Cambodia, Thailand and East Timor.
Cooperation with Indonesia began in 2014, according to AICAT, which noted that since Israel had no diplomatic presence in the Southeast Asian country, student visas were processed through the Israeli embassy in Singapore.
Advertisement
In addition to AICAT, Indonesian students have also enrolled at other Israeli institutions, including Technion and Tel Aviv University. In 2022, the International University of Papua – then just formed – signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel's Ariel University to establish cultural and educational cooperation. According to a statement on Ariel's website, it was the 'first academic accord between Indonesia and Israel'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
8 hours ago
- RTHK
US judge orders release of protest leader
US judge orders release of protest leader Supporters of Mahmoud Khalil say he was unlawfully targeted for his advocacy of Palestinian rights. Photo: Reuters A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to release Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who became a leader of pro-Palestinian campus protests. Khalil, a legal permanent US resident who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, has been in custody since March facing potential deportation. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release on bail during a hearing on Friday and he will be allowed to return to New York while his deportation case proceeds. "After more than three months, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home," his wife, Michigan-born dentist Noor Abdalla, said in a statement. "We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians," added Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple's first child while her husband was in detention. Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is among the groups representing Khalil, welcomed the release order. "This is an important step in vindicating Mr Khalil's rights as he continues to be unlawfully targeted by the federal government for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights," Sinha said. "We're confident he will ultimately prevail in the fight for his freedom." Since his March 8 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Khalil has become a symbol of President Donald Trump's campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian student activism against the Gaza war, in the name of curbing anti-Semitism. At the time a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, Khalil was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. Following his arrest, US authorities transferred Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, nearly 2,000 kilometres from his home in New York to a detention center in Louisiana, pending deportation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy. Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review. (AFP)
RTHK
8 hours ago
- RTHK
No nuclear talks unless Israel stops attack, says Iran
No nuclear talks unless Israel stops attack, says Iran Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghch says Tehran would not resume negotiations with the United States until Israel stopped its attacks. Photo: Reuters Iran said on Friday it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel, as Europe tried to coax Tehran back into negotiations and the United States considers whether to get involved in the conflict. A week into its campaign, Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US "until Israeli aggression stops". But he later arrived in Geneva for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy. US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue. "I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said. Speaking to reporters after his plane landed in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump said he doubted European negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire. "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said. Trump also said that Iran had a "maximum" of two weeks to avoid possible US air strikes, indicating he could take a decision before the fortnight deadline he set a day earlier. "I'm giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum," Trump told reporters when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that. Trump had said in a statement on Thursday that he would "make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks" because there was a "substantial chance of negotiations" with Iran. Those comments had been widely seen as opening a two-week window for negotiations to end the war between Israel and Iran. But his latest remarks indicated Trump could still make his decision before that if he feels that there has been no progress towards dismantling Iran's nuclear program. On Friday, Trump again disagreed with his own national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, by insisting that Iran does have the capability to build a nuclear weapon. "She's wrong," Trump said. Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the US intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead. (Agencies)
HKFP
15 hours ago
- HKFP
2 Hongkongers evacuated from Israel as conflict with Iran enters 8th day
At least two Hongkongers, along with more than 100 Chinese students, have been evacuated from Israel, as the country's conflict with Iran entered its eighth day. China's official state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday that the two Hongkongers were among a group of 119 Chinese nationals who entered Egypt on Thursday via the Taba border crossing, located at the southern end of Israel. Also on Thursday, Hong Kong issued a 'black' travel alert – the most serious level of its kind, meaning 'severe threat' – for Israel and Iran, warning against all travel to the two countries. A 24-hour hotline was set up for Hongkongers in the two Middle Eastern nations as the government urged them to also seek assistance from the Chinese embassy there. HKFP has reached out to the Immigration Department for information about Hongkongers currently in the two countries. The armed conflict between Israel and Iran entered the eighth day on Friday as the two longtime enemies continued to trade fire. The Israeli military said on X on Friday that its fighter jets struck 'dozens of military targets in Iran' overnight, including industrial sites used to make missiles and what Israel said were research centres for developing nuclear weapons in Tehran. What did the IDF accomplish in Iran overnight? ✈️60+ fighter jets struck dozens of military targets in Iran using approximately 120 munitions. ⭕️Several industrial sites used to manufacture missiles were struck in the Tehran area. These sites served as a key industrial center… — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 20, 2025 Iranian missiles hit a hospital in southern Israel as well as residential buildings in Tel Aviv on Thursday, wounding 240 people, according to AFP. The White House said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump will decide whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran 'within the next two weeks.' 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt quoted Trump as saying. Meanwhile, China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for all parties, 'especially Israel,' to 'cease hostilities as soon as possible' in a phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin, according to Xinhua. China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday that close to 800 Chinese citizens had been evacuated from Iran since Israel began its strike against the country in the early hours of June 13.
