There is no polite way to say this: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto does not care about Palestine. Not liberation. Not justice. Not ending occupation or dismantling apartheid. What he cares about is power, prestige, and his own image on the world stage. This is what his foreign policy is all about. Palestine is never a principle — it is a prop.
The most glaring evidence is his decision to join Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace. This was not a neutral or technical move. It was an alignment with a worldview that treats Palestinian life as expendable and Israeli supremacy as untouchable. The Board does not seek justice. It seeks calm without accountability, peace without freedom, normalization without consequences. By joining it, Prabowo signalled that Palestinian lives are expendable as long as he gains favour with the global elite.
This was deliberate. Not a misstep. The betrayal was the point.
Prabowo’s actions before and during his presidency reinforce this. Long before assuming office, he maintained quiet engagement with Israel, including cooperation on security training and agricultural projects. These were never neutral technical contacts — they were political signals that Palestinian rights could be compartmentalized or ignored if they conflicted with Indonesia’s “strategic interests.”
His rhetoric is equally telling. At the 2025 United Nations General Assembly, Prabowo spoke of “peace” without ever naming Israel’s occupation. He condemned violence without identifying the perpetrator. Palestinian suffering was framed as unfortunate tragedy rather than the predictable outcome of decades of colonial domination. Most damningly, he repeatedly emphasized Israel’s “security,” signalling that the priorities of the occupier outweigh the rights of the occupied. This was not diplomacy — it was capitulation.
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Everywhere he goes, the same hollow mantra follows: the two-state solution. Recited at the UN, in Pakistan, and across the Muslim world, it functions as a ritual: a way to signal concern without demanding action. In 2026, invoking the two-state solution while ignoring Israel’s systematic destruction of Palestinian statehood — through settlements, annexation, apartheid laws, and siege — is not serious policy. It is deliberate deception.
Under Prabowo, Indonesia’s foreign ministry has institutionalized this hypocrisy. Foreign Minister Sugiono repeats the same language in every forum: “balance,” “restraint,” “security for all sides.” No sanctions are proposed. No accountability is demanded. No acknowledgment exists of the stark power imbalance between occupier and occupied. This is not confusion; it is coordination.
Prabowo’s foreign policy is designed for access to elites, not justice for the oppressed. He aggressively courts Washington, even aligning with figures openly hostile to Palestinian freedom, while seeking prestige and influence in global fora. Aid may be sent to Palestine, but it is never tied to justice, accountability, or resistance to occupation. Words and aid are cheap; they do not threaten his standing. Every time Palestinian rights clash with optics or personal gain, Prabowo chooses himself over liberation.
Indonesia once held moral authority in the world because of its anti-colonial struggle and constitutional rejection of occupation. That legacy meant more than material power: it gave Indonesia the credibility to speak truth to injustice. Under Prabowo, that authority is bartered for handshakes, applause, and photo opportunities.
Strip away the euphemisms and empty slogans, and the truth is unavoidable: Prabowo does not care about Palestine. He cares about himself. He cares about prestige. He cares about power. And in that pursuit, Palestinian liberation is not merely ignored — it is actively sacrificed.