Indonesia And Israel: A Relationship In Waiting
Jewish Political Studies Review 17:1-2 (Spring 2005)
Indonesia And Israel: A Relationship In Waiting
Greg Barton and Colin Rubenstein
Indonesia has faced much the same obstructions in developing its nascent relationship with Israel as have all the other Muslim-majority nations of Asia. While not inherently antithetical to Israel, Indonesia clearly places a higher value on avoiding trouble with radical Islamist elements at home than it does on normalizing relations with far-away Israel. The precedent was established by founding President Sukarno, who brushed aside early Israeli overtures and eventually adopted a strong pro-Arab policy as part of an overarching anticolonialist worldview. Although under Suharto the formal...