Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, has called on its chairman to resign for inviting an American scholar known for his staunch support of Israel to an internal event earlier this year, according to Reuters and local publications.
The leadership of NU, which is the world’s biggest Islamic organisation with about 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 reports.
The organisation cited Staquf’s invitation to a person “affiliated with an international Zionism network”, who attended an internal event in August, as well as alleged financial mismanagement, as reasons for his need to step down.
NU official Najib Azca told the Reuters news agency that calls to step down stemmed from Staquf’s decision to extend an invitation to former US State Department official and scholar Peter Berkowitz to join an NU training event.
Berkowitz often writes in support of Israel’s war in Gaza, according to his website, including a piece in September aiming to refute that Israel has carried out genocide in the Palestinian territory.
In an opinion piece in October, Berkowitz said that “formal recognition of an imaginary Palestinian state sets back security, stability and peace” and “panders to the growing Muslim populations in Western democracies”.
“It reinforces the progressive fantasy that the primary obstacle to a just and lasting solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is Israeli belligerence rather than Palestinian intransigence and Hamas bloodthirstiness,” he said.
Berkowitz also wrote about the seminars he gave to NU participants in Indonesia in August, and praised the organisation’s chairman Staquf.
Staquf, who has been NU chairman since 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.
Staquf has apologised for the invitation to Berkowitz, calling it an oversight due to not carefully checking the scholar’s background, Reuters reports.
Local Indonesian news outlet Kompas reported that NU’s Secretary-General Yusuf Saifullah has called on the organisation’s membership to “remain calm ” and to not be swayed by “potentially misleading news” which could exacerbate the situation.
Saifullah also said NU members should “maintain a conducive spirit” as the issue was being handled by senior members “according to applicable internal mechanisms”.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, has routinely condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, has long advocated for a two-state solution and has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
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