Yahya’s Visit to Israel Has No Linkage With MUI

Jakarta, MINA – The Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) KH Ma’ruf Amin has affirmed that the visit of the Secretary General of the Nahdatul Ulama (PBNU) Yahya Cholil Staquf to Israel has nothing to do with the MUI as he did so on his own initiative.

“It’s his own initiative, and so it’s his own responsibility. The problem has nothing to do with MUI, especially with PBNU. Therefore, the MUI does not give  support what Yahya Chalil did. It also has no right to take action,” he said after a press conference at MUI office, in Central Jakarta, Tuesday (12/6).

In this case Ma’ruf Amin said that Yahya’s ontroversial visit, both to the Indonesian people and the Palestinians who criticised it, including the Hamas and Fatah factions, did not represent any institution either government or Islamic community organizations.

He said the issue of Palestine remains a focus of attention for the Muslim community of the world, especially in the country of Indonesia.

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“The MUI is consistent with the Palestinian issue, we support the stance of our government that firmly supports the attitude of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,” he said.

Related to this, Ma’ruf suggested that Yahya give an explanation of what his purpose was his visit to Jerusalem which was done at the invitation of Israel.

Furthermore, Ma’ruf can not express how far the influence of Yahya’s visit to the steps of the Foreign Ministry which is seeking Palestinian independence.

“Later we will see how much disturbance to the steps taken by the Foreign Ministry  in order to seek peace for Palestine to become an independent and sovereign state. Well, it will be seen later. But in fact the diplomacy we want remains through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially, “he explained.

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He said that although Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, Indonesia under certain consideration can issue visas to Israeli citizens. But the immigration authorities have banned to issue the entry visas following the massacre of Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza as well as the Jewish state has probitted Indonesians to make pilgrimage to Al-Aqsa Msoque. (LT/R04/RS5).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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