JAKARTA: Indonesia has denied visas to Israeli gymnasts, costing them a spot in a world championship in Jakarta this month, a sports official in the Southeast Asian nation said on Friday, amid outcry over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
The Israeli team was set to participate in the World Artistic Gymnastics championship from October 19 to 25 in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
“They are confirmed to not be attending,” Ita Juliati, the chief of the Indonesian gymnastics federation, told reporters.
The Israel Gymnastics Federation did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Indonesia decided not to issue visas to the Israeli athletes, senior legal affairs minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said, citing objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the government in Jakarta, the capital.
The decision is in line with Indonesia’s policy of having no ties with Israel until it recognizes “the independence and full sovereignty of the state of Palestine,” Yusril added in a statement on Friday.
The most recent Israeli campaign in Gaza, which began in October 2023 over an attack by Hamas and has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the enclave, has drawn criticism from Indonesia.
Israel launched the assault after Hamas-led militants stormed through Israeli towns and a music festival, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages.
A recent Instagram post from the Indonesian gymnastics federation drew hundreds of pro-Palestinian comments from domestic users, days after an Israeli association said it would attend the Jakarta event.
Under the government of President Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia has softened its Israel stance slightly.
The world must have an independent Palestine, but also recognize and guarantee the safety and security of Israel, Prabowo told last month’s session of the United Nations General Assembly.
It is not the first sports-related dispute between the two countries.
In March 2023, FIFA dropped Indonesia as host of the Under-20 World Cup, citing failure to honor its commitments, after a regional governor refused to host the Israeli team.
Last month, UN experts called for FIFA and the Union of European Football to suspend Israel as a country team from international football, as “a necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Israel has dismissed accusations of genocide.
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Indonesia denies visas to Israel gymnasts amid Gaza outcry
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Indonesia denies visas to Israel gymnasts amid Gaza outcry
- The Israeli team was set to participate in the World Artistic Gymnastics championship from October 19 to 25 in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country
Russian barrage kills 10 in Ukraine as Zelensky heads for talks with Turkish leader
KYIV: A large Russian drone and missile barrage killed 10 people and injured dozens more in Ukraine overnight, officials said Wednesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was due in Turkiye for talks on finding a settlement that might end Russia’s invasion of his country.
The nighttime attack hit two nine-story apartment blocks in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Emergency crews were sifting through the rubble in daylight to find any survivors, he said. At least 37 people were reported injured, including 12 children.
Russia fired 476 strike and decoy drones, as well as 48 missiles of various types, at Ukrainian targets overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia (to stop the war) is insufficient,” Zelensky wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader said he would meet with Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later Wednesday as part of his efforts to diplomatically isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and bring more international pressure to bear on him.
“Foremost, we will discuss maximum capabilities to ensure that Ukraine achieves a just peace,” Zelensky said of his talks with Erdogan, adding that the leaders have “good relations.”
Zelensky also said: “We see some positions and signals from the United States, well, let’s see tomorrow.”
He didn’t elaborate but tough new American sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, devised to push Putin to the negotiating table, are due to take effect on Friday.
A senior Turkish official initially said that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would join Zelensky in Turkiye, but backtracked later in the day and said Witkoff wouldn’t be coming.
The Ukrainian city of Ternopil, located around 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Polish border, sits in a part of relatively peaceful western Ukraine where many people from the east and south moved to as they fled danger along the front line.
Almost 50 people were injured in Russian strikes on three other Ukrainian regions.
Two Eurofighter Typhoon jets and two F-16s were scrambled in Romania when a drone entered the NATO member’s airspace during the Russian attacks, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said.
The Polish military said that Polish and allied aircraft were deployed in the middle of the night as a preventive measure. Poland’s Rzeszów and Lublin airports were closed temporarily to prioritize military aviation, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said.
In northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian droned injured 46 people, including two girls, the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, wrote on Telegram. Drones hit several city districts, at least 16 residential buildings, an ambulance station, school and other civilian infrastructure, he said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukraine fired four American-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian city of Voronezh on Tuesday. All four were intercepted, the ministry said, but the debris damaged an orphanage and a gerontology center. There were no casualties, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s General Staff on Tuesday reported firing ATACMS missiles at Russia without offering details.
The nighttime attack hit two nine-story apartment blocks in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Emergency crews were sifting through the rubble in daylight to find any survivors, he said. At least 37 people were reported injured, including 12 children.
Russia fired 476 strike and decoy drones, as well as 48 missiles of various types, at Ukrainian targets overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia (to stop the war) is insufficient,” Zelensky wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader said he would meet with Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later Wednesday as part of his efforts to diplomatically isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and bring more international pressure to bear on him.
“Foremost, we will discuss maximum capabilities to ensure that Ukraine achieves a just peace,” Zelensky said of his talks with Erdogan, adding that the leaders have “good relations.”
Zelensky also said: “We see some positions and signals from the United States, well, let’s see tomorrow.”
He didn’t elaborate but tough new American sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, devised to push Putin to the negotiating table, are due to take effect on Friday.
A senior Turkish official initially said that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would join Zelensky in Turkiye, but backtracked later in the day and said Witkoff wouldn’t be coming.
The Ukrainian city of Ternopil, located around 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Polish border, sits in a part of relatively peaceful western Ukraine where many people from the east and south moved to as they fled danger along the front line.
Almost 50 people were injured in Russian strikes on three other Ukrainian regions.
Two Eurofighter Typhoon jets and two F-16s were scrambled in Romania when a drone entered the NATO member’s airspace during the Russian attacks, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said.
The Polish military said that Polish and allied aircraft were deployed in the middle of the night as a preventive measure. Poland’s Rzeszów and Lublin airports were closed temporarily to prioritize military aviation, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said.
In northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian droned injured 46 people, including two girls, the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, wrote on Telegram. Drones hit several city districts, at least 16 residential buildings, an ambulance station, school and other civilian infrastructure, he said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukraine fired four American-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian city of Voronezh on Tuesday. All four were intercepted, the ministry said, but the debris damaged an orphanage and a gerontology center. There were no casualties, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s General Staff on Tuesday reported firing ATACMS missiles at Russia without offering details.
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