PBNU Confirms 5 NU Cadres Meet Israeli President Will Be Sanctioned

PBNU Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf/PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - General Chairperson of the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board Yahya Cholil Staquf or Gus Yahya ensured that 5 NU or Nahdliyin cadres who met Israeli President Isaac Herzog would be subject to ethical sanctions.

The five people are Deputy Chairperson of PWNU Banten Sukron Makmun, Board of the DKI Jakarta PWNU Bahtsul Masail Institute Zainul Ma'arif, PP Sekum Pagar Nusa Munawir Aziz, Deputy Coordinator for Information Media, Research, and Development of PP Fatayat NU Nurul Bahrul Ulum, and Deputy Coordinator for Health and Environment PP Fatayat NU Izza Annafisah Dania.

Gus Yahya revealed that sanctions for the five NU activists will be given by each organization under the auspices of the PBNU.

"Regarding sanctions, sanctions will be processed and sanctions will be given. Our rules are clear and detailed, regarding these mistakes and sanctions," Yahya said at a press conference at the PBNU office, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, July 16.

Gus Yahya emphasized that the actions of the five NU cadres who met with the President of Israel were clearly mistakes because they had not previously reported the planned activities to PBNU and its underlying institutions. Thus, their arrival at the meeting was not on behalf of NU.

"These institutions, whose personnel left for Israel, did not know anything, there was no institutional mandate, no institutional talk, so what was done by the children who left for Israel the other day was their personal responsibility and was not related to the institution," he explained.

Gus Yahya emphasized that his institution also has rules that cadres must obey, especially in responding to the Israeli military aggression against Palestine. This, according to Yahya, should have been known by the Nahdliyin.

"There is no purpose for developing this activity and that, nothing. The only one allowed is to help the Palestinian people. That's the only thing that's allowed," he stressed.

"I think this is because of the ignorance of these friends about the constellation of geopolitical maps and so on. Because, yes, maybe not old enough or how, so the results are different from what was expected," he added.