The leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s biggest Islamic organisation, has called on their chairman to resign, according to reports.Published On 22 Nov 202522 Nov 2025Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareIndonesia’s biggest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, has called on its chairman to resign for inviting an American scholar known for his staunch support of Israel to an internal event earlier this year, according to Reuters and local publications.The leadership of NU, which is the world’s biggest Islamic organisation with about 100 million members and affiliates, has given Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf three days to offer his resignation or be removed from his post, according to the reports.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe organisation cited Staquf’s invitation to a person “affiliated with an international Zionism network”, who attended an internal event in August, as well as alleged financial mismanagement, as reasons for his need to step down.NU official Najib Azca told the Reuters news agency that calls to step down stemmed from Staquf’s decision to extend an invitation to former US State Department official and scholar Peter Berkowitz to join an NU training event.Berkowitz often writes in support of Israel’s war in Gaza, according to his website, including a piece in September aiming to refute that Israel has carried out genocide in the Palestinian territory.
“Debunking Genocide Allegations Against Israel,” RealClearPolitics, Sept. 14, 2025https://t.co/SGgL62vBvp
— Peter Berkowitz (@BerkowitzPeter) September 14, 2025In an opinion piece in October, Berkowitz said that “formal recognition of an imaginary Palestinian state sets back security, stability and peace” and “panders to the growing Muslim populations in Western democracies”. Advertisement “It reinforces the progressive fantasy that the primary obstacle to a just and lasting solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is Israeli belligerence rather than Palestinian intransigence and Hamas bloodthirstiness,” he said.Berkowitz also wrote about the seminars he gave to NU participants in Indonesia in A …
