HNW Hopes OIC Will Stand United in Supporting Palestinian Sovereignty
Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid (HNW) has expressed support for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretariat General and its member states in openly rejecting and strongly condemning remarks by United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. The US ambassador endorsed Israel’s right to expand its territorial control to the borders stretching from the Nile River to the Euphrates.
According to HNW, such expansion would mean Israel not only occupying Palestine — encompassing Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem — but extending into other Middle Eastern nations, the maps of which have even appeared on Israeli military insignia. Israeli officials have on several occasions stated that Israeli expansionism extends to include parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the entirety of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
HNW endorsed the OIC’s position that the US ambassador’s remarks are extremely dangerous, extreme and provocative. He said the statements create tensions, violate international law and UN conventions, legitimise illegal occupation, and must therefore be rejected.
He stressed that this should galvanise the OIC’s responsibility to strengthen solidarity and bolster its standing in order to safeguard the sovereignty of its member states, including Palestine, so that Palestine may be saved from Israeli expansionism and colonialism.
“This is also a moment for the OIC, as its firm stance is shared by the Arab League, the World Muslim League, the GCC, and the joint position of 11 OIC foreign ministers from countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Palestine, Indonesia, Pakistan, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. Most of these foreign ministers come from countries that are members of the Board of Peace (BoP),” HNW said in a statement on Monday (23 February 2026).
HNW explained that the US ambassador’s remarks clearly contradict and undermine the peace efforts being promoted by US President Donald Trump through his BoP initiative. This serves as a test of the seriousness and effectiveness of the BoP in achieving peace and ending war — or whether, conversely, it is merely a front for the US to protect Israel and legitimise Israeli expansionism.
“OIC member states that sit on the Board of Peace should not only openly reject the US ambassador’s remarks but also demand that Trump publicly clarify his position if he is genuinely serious about bringing peace to the region, and immediately correct his ambassador’s statements,” he said.
“If necessary, Ambassador Huckabee should be recalled from Israel. But if no correction is forthcoming and the US ambassador’s public statements are left unchallenged, it could be interpreted that Trump himself shares his ambassador’s views, potentially undermining the very BoP mission he established to end war and bring peace,” he added.
Furthermore, HNW noted that condemnation and pressure regarding Ambassador Huckabee’s remarks have come not only from outside the United States but also from within.
“Several prominent figures within the US have firmly called for Ambassador Huckabee to be recalled and barred from representing the US abroad, given that his statements are dangerous to peace and American interests,” he explained.
HNW warned that if such extreme and provocative statements are left unchecked, the Middle East situation will continue to escalate and move further from peace.
“The agenda to realise the Greater Israel claim, as articulated by the US ambassador, has long been criticised and flagged by resistance groups in Gaza and Palestine, in an effort to protect neighbouring countries that could potentially fall victim to the Greater Israel dream,” he said.
According to HNW, this was also what drove the Gaza resistance group to launch Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on 7 October 2023 to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine, whilst also putting neighbouring countries at risk of becoming victims of Israel’s expansionist Greater Israel claim.
“Therefore, Israeli colonisation of Palestine — including Gaza and the West Bank, let alone its expansion to the territory between the Nile and the Euphrates as stated by the US ambassador — must be halted through strong solidarity among the OIC, the Arab League and the GCC, including by member states of these three international organisations who also serve on the BoP,” he said.
HNW called for serious discussion within the BoP regarding Israel’s plans to expand its occupied territories. Allowing Israel to continue its war and distance the prospect of peace would demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the BoP established by President Trump.
“The US ambassador’s statement, delivered in Tel Aviv whilst the BoP summit was being held in Washington, clearly contradicts the cessation of war and the pursuit of peace declared by Trump through his BoP, as well as the principle of the two-state solution also referenced in the OIC’s rejection and the joint statement of 11 OIC foreign ministers, and directly stated by delegations of OIC member states attending the BoP summit in Washington,” he said.
HNW further stated that defending the existence of an independent Palestinian state, already recognised by 153 UN member states, must remain the collective anchor for rejecting such statements — even in the form of a two-state solution — despite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials having repeatedly and openly rejected it.
“Moreover, four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have already recognised Palestine as an independent state,” he noted.
HNW affirmed that if the US ambassador’s statements — which would perpetuate war, threaten peace and expand Israeli colonisation — are not corrected by President Trump, then the option for Indonesia to withdraw from BoP membership should be considered.