If Indonesia’s support for Palestine never changes, why is Israel’s ZIM shipping company still reaching its ports?

On 14 August 2026, the Speaker of Indonesia’s People’s Consultative Assembly, Ahmad Muzani, stood before parliament in Jakarta and said something Indonesians have heard many times before. He said that Indonesia’s support for Palestine has never wavered. He tied it to Indonesia’s own history of colonization and to the country’s constitution, which calls on Indonesia to help build a world order based on freedom, lasting peace, and social justice.

These are strong words, and many Indonesians believe them sincerely. Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Indonesian passports state they are not valid for travel to Israel. Indonesian leaders, from Sukarno to Prabowo Subianto, have repeated the same message for decades: Palestine must be free, and Indonesia stands with it.

But there is a gap between what a government says and what actually happens at its ports. And that gap has a name: ZIM.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services is a container shipping company founded in Israel in 1945. For much of its history it was partly owned by the Israeli state. Today it is one of the twenty largest shipping companies in the world, and it is widely reported to be closely tied to Israel’s economy and, according to campaigners, to shipments connected to Israel’s military.

Because of this, ZIM has become a global target for people who want to pressure Israel over its actions in Gaza. Dockworkers and activists have blocked its ships in Australia, the United States, Canada, and several other countries.

Indonesia had its own ZIM controversy in January 2024. Word spread that a ZIM-linked vessel was scheduled to call at four Indonesian ports: Jakarta, Belawan, Semarang, and Surabaya. Indonesians reacted quickly. An online campaign asked the Transport Ministry to block the ship. Then-President Joko Widodo responded publicly, saying Indonesia’s ports would not be used to serve Israel’s interests. The Transport Ministry’s spokesperson said something more specific and more revealing. She explained that the ministry had never issued a permit to any ship flying the Israeli flag, and that Indonesia’s rule is based on the flag a ship carries, not on who owns or operates the company behind it.

That last detail is the key to the whole problem. Indonesia’s policy blocks Israeli-flagged ships. It does not block ships that belong to an Israeli company but fly a different country’s flag. And container ships almost never fly their owner’s national flag. They fly what is called a flag of convenience, usually the flag of a country like Liberia, Panama, or the Marshall Islands, chosen for lower costs and lighter regulation.

This is exactly what appears to be happening today. ZIM operates a route called the South China Indonesia Service, which connects southern China to Indonesia through a rotation of ports: Xiamen, Nansha, Jakarta, Surabaya, Yantian, and back to Xiamen. One of the ships recorded on this route is the MV Wantai, a container vessel about 210 metres long with room for roughly 2,890 containers.

According to shipping tracking data, the Wantai sails under a Liberian flag, not an Israeli one. So under Indonesia’s own rule, it is allowed to call at Jakarta and Surabaya, even though it is running a schedule for an Israeli shipping company.

In other words, the promise that Indonesian ports will not serve Israel’s interests is being kept in letter but not necessarily in spirit. A flag-based rule sounds firm, but it leaves an obvious door open for exactly the kind of company Indonesians said they wanted to keep out.

It is worth comparing this to what Malaysia did. In December 2023, Malaysia’s government announced a ban not just on Israeli-flagged ships, but on any vessel owned by ZIM, no matter what flag it was flying. That is a company-based ban rather than a flag-based one, and it closes the loophole that Indonesia’s current rule leaves open.

If Indonesia’s leaders want their words about Palestine to mean as much in practice as they do in speeches, this is a straightforward place to start. The Transport Ministry could follow Malaysia’s example and extend its restriction to any vessel operated by or chartered for ZIM, regardless of the flag painted on its hull.

Parliament could ask the ministry to explain, clearly and publicly, how many ZIM-linked calls have occurred at Indonesian ports since January 2024, and why the flag-only rule has not been updated.

Indonesia’s stated position on Palestine may well be sincere. But sincerity is tested at the level of policy detail, not just in speeches on the anniversary of independence. Right now, there is a real distance between what Jakarta says on the podium and what its own port data shows. Closing that distance would cost Indonesia very little. Leaving it open costs Indonesia’s credibility on an issue its leaders say matters to the nation’s soul.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.