REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) commented on Israel's wish to promote diplomatic ties with Indonesia. It was uttered earlier by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an international conference in Jerusalem on Sunday (Oct 14).

JK said before peace is established between Palestine and Israel, Indonesia would not open diplomatic relations with Israel.  “It’s not the time yet, of course he (Netanyahu) asked for that, but the most important thing is peace,” JK said on Tuesday (Oct 16).

He stressed Indonesia continued to promote peace between Israel and Palestine. If the peace has been realized, Indonesia will open diplomatic relations with Israel.

“If peace between Palestine and Israel has been realized, the diplomatic relations can be happened, but before it happens, we are impossible to open diplomatic relations,” JK explained.

Also read: Indonesia's solidarity means fresh air for Palestine

Earlier on Sunday (Oct 14), Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his desire to improve diplomatic relations with Indonesia. He said on international conference of of Christian journalists, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

“Indonesia is over 200 million people. It has Muslims. It has tens of millions of Christians. We would like to see them here. We would like to have excellent relations with them,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also said he wanted to see more Indonesians in Israel. So far Indonesia has only had trade, economic and tourism relations with Israel. In June 2018, Israel has lifted a ban on Indonesian tourist visas to Israel.

The decision was also welcomed by Israeli tourism association. Besides Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Saudi Arabia also do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

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