Directly led by the Chief Imam of the Istiqlal Mosque KH. Nasaruddin Umar, thousands of Muslims participated in the occult prayer for the leader of the militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an airstrike earlier this week.
Also present were the Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Zuhair al-Shun and the Iranian Ambassador to Indonesia Mohammad Bouroujerdi.
Speaking before the absentee prayers, Nasaruddin reiterated his commitment to Palestinian peace and independence.
“I appeal to all of us to perform absentee prayers wherever we are as a form of our concern over the cruelty that has been committed by this Israeli Zionist group,” he said.
Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Zuhair al-Shun was very grateful for the unseen prayer initiative. He believes Haniyeh is not the last victim of Israeli atrocities because killing Palestinians is Israeli policy.
“So our president, our leader condemns all the aggression and murder carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people everywhere,” he said, saying Haniyeh was a Palestinian national leader who fought to realize Palestinian independence.
Meanwhile, Iran's Ambassador to Indonesia, Mohammad Bouroujerdi, said that his office was still investigating Haniyeh's murder, which occurred in the capital Tehran, a day after the figure he called a “special guest” attended the inauguration of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
One of Haniyeh's bodyguards was also killed in the attack, the cause of which is still unclear as of this report. But Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack, especially since a day earlier there were also attacks that killed a military commander of the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran has said it will demand a very high price. It has not yet given details of what action will be taken.
“We will retaliate, we will not stop, we will not be silent on the violation of Iran's sovereignty. In Iran, the retaliation will be decided by the authorities, the leaders, how we will retaliate. You will witness that we will punish the occupier (Israel),” he said.
Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla together with former Minister of Law and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, former General Chairman of PP Muhammadiyah Din Syamsudin and Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar Ridwan Hassan also attended Ismail Haniyeh's funeral on Friday (2/8).
Haniyeh was buried at the family cemetery of the Emir of Qatar in the Lusail area, on the northern seafront of Doha, in accordance with Friday prayers or around 1:30 p.m. local time. Before being buried, Haniyeh's remains were prayed at the Mosque of Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab.
Haniyeh's Death Will Have Negative Impact
International Relations observer at Diponegoro University Mohamad Rosyidin explained that Haniyah's death would have a negative impact on the prospects for peace in the Middle East. This is because Haniyeh's murder in the heart of Iran while attending the inauguration ceremony of the country's new president is considered an attempt to embarrass Iran which will drag the country into direct confrontation with Israel.
“This will actually close the door to peace, worsening the situation in the region. Moreover, other parties are involved so that this conflict will not only escalate but will be multi-front because the fighting is not only in Gaza,” he said.
He added that until today Israel has not issued an official statement regarding the killing of Haniyeh. The only statement was from the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces SDF Daniel Hagari who confirmed that there was not a single drone flying in Iranian territory when the killing occurred. This statement actually provoked a new hypothesis about the use of other instruments, besides drones, in the attack that killed Haniyeh. (fw/em)
