JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia will block Israeli athletes from competing at the upcoming gymnastics world championships in Jakarta, a government official said Thursday.
The decision to deny visas to the Israeli athletes comes after their planned participation had sparked intense opposition in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, which has long been a staunch supporter of Palestinians.
Israel is among 86 countries registered to compete at the worlds that start in Jakarta on Oct. 19, with a team highlighted by 2020 Olympic gold medalist and defending world champion Artem Dolgopyat in the men's floor exercise.
Now its participation is in doubt, even though the Israeli Gymnastics Federation said in July that it had been assured by Indonesian officials that it would be welcome at the worlds. That would have gone against Indonesia's long-standing policy of refusing to host Israeli sports delegations for major events.
On Thursday, Indonesia’s senior minister of law, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, made it clear the Israeli team will not be allowed into the country, despite Israel and Hamas having agreed to a ceasefire.
“The government will not grant visas to Israeli gymnasts who intend to attend the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta,” Mahendra said.
He added in a video statement that the decision was in line with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s previous directives on various occasions, and most recently in his speech at the UN General Assembly, which strongly condemned Israel for its continued attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Mahendra acknowledged that the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation had previously submitted a sponsorship letter for six Israeli athletes to obtain visas, but that “the federation has withdrawn the sponsorship letter.”
In recent days, Indonesian politicians and moderate Muslim groups had increased calls for the Israeli team to be barred from the worlds. They have been joined by a flood of outraged comments on social media by users objecting to the arrival of athletes from a country they say is committing genocide.
Jakarta Gov. Pramono Anung said the humanitarian catastrophe resulting from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is unbearable and that the Israeli athletes’ arrival would cause deep emotional distress to the majority of Indonesians.
“Their presence would obviously spark public outrage in such a situation,” Anung told reporters on Wednesday.
The MUI, Indonesia’s highest Islamic body, had urged all communities who support Palestinian independence to call for the Israeli team to be excluded.
“By refusing to allow Israeli athletes to compete in the sporting arena, we want to state that all forms of colonialism must be abolished because they are contrary to humanity and justice,” said Amirsyah Tambunan, the MUI Secretary General.
The Israeli Gymnastic Federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The gymnastics spat is the latest example of how the global backlash against Israel over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza has spread into the arenas of sports and culture. Israel’s critics say it should be sidelined from international events just like Russia has been since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The cycling team Israel Premier Tech announced Monday it was changing its name and moving away from its national identity after it was excluded from a race in Italy over concerns about pro-Palestinian protests, and less than a month after the Spanish Vuelta was repeatedly disrupted by protests against the team.
In soccer, Israel’s World Cup qualifying match at Italy next week is expected to attract more pro-Palestinian protesters outside the stadium in Udine than ticket-holding spectators inside the arena.
Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights for soccer's Under-20 World Cup in 2023 only two months before the start of the tournament amid political turmoil regarding Israel’s participation.
Indonesia has drawn a clear line for decades. Since the 1962 Asian Games when Israel and Taiwan were excluded from Jakarta, the country have maintained a consistent refusal to host Israeli delegations.
“That stance was never about pettiness or isolationism, it was a reflection of Indonesia’s conviction that no sporting event should legitimize an apartheid state,” said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies or CELIOS.
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Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan and Dita Alangkara in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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