Israel Regrets Indonesian Response
VIVAnews - "I’m happy that there is actually a media from Indonesia who finally contacts us,” was the first impression of Israeli Ambassador for Singapore and non-Resident Ambassador for Timor Leste, Ilan Ben-Dov, when contacted via telephone by VIVAnews, Thursday, Jan. 8.
According to the Tel Aviv born diplomat, the Indonesian media news coverage on the Gaza crisis tends to be biased, leaning more towards condemning and analyzing Israel’s mistakes rather than focusing on Hamas’s acts which he views as terroristic.
In fact he asked, rhetorically, why there have been no demonstrations condemning acts by Hamas. Hamas, according to Ben-Dov, has attacked Israel everyday with rockets for the past eight years. “Some hitting schools, kindergartens, mosques in south Israel,” he said.
Israel does not have an embassy in Jakarta, and vice versa, Indonesia does not have an embassy in Tel Aviv. There is no diplomatic relations between the two countries, considering Indonesia’s strong sentiment against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian areas.
When asked about the economic boycotts planned by several countries against Israel, Ben-Dov replied that such actions will only disadvantage those who do the boycotting. “Israel is a country that is economically strong and will not be affected by boycotts,” he said.
In speaking about boycotts, he made a remark on the Indonesian media. “I also regret the attitude that the media in your country that boycott every news about us,” he said.
When asked about what kind of boycott he was referring to, Ben-Dov said that the Indonesian news media are reluctant in interviewing Israeli officials. “They don’t want to interview us and one news media refused to publish a statement from us,” said Ben-Dov, who is fluent in English, German and Hebrew.
Ben-Dov is convinced that in essence Indonesia has become a democratic country and every individual is entitled to his or her own opinions and to access information.
In addition, Indonesian media has also enjoyed freedom of the press and, according to Ben-Dov, Indonesia should be writing about issues such as Middle East by approaching sources in an impartial manner. “But what often happens is that the Indonesian media publish one-sided news and ignore balanced stories by not paying attention to our voice. This is not the situation of a free media,” said Ben-Dov.
Regardless, Israel’s Embassy in Singapore has created a special website in Bahasa Indonesia, http://jakarta.mfa.gov.il. In that website, Israel provides a column “Open Letter” for Indonesians who demonstrate against Israel.
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