Indonesia should stop selling palm oil to Israel

Indonesian palm oil is still going to Israel. This week, new reports showed that thousands of tonnes are shipped there every year, even during the genocide in Gaza.

The numbers come from Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture and its national statistics agency, Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Indonesia sent about 29,600 tonnes of palm oil products to Israel in 2023, about 22,400 tonnes in 2024 and about 19,500 tonnes in 2025. From January to August this year, another 10,400 tonnes went there, together with almost 4,900 tonnes of coconut products. In those eight months, the two products were worth about $20.8 million.

Two economists from Widyatama University in Bandung found that from 2020 to 2025, Indonesia supplied on average 71 per cent of the crude palm oil that Israel bought from other countries. Other reports say that in some years the share reached 88 per cent. The products include palm olein, palm kernel oil and glycerine. Some shipments may go through Singapore or Hong Kong first.

The amounts have gone down since 2023. But the trade has not stopped.

Palm oil is one of Indonesia’s biggest exports. It is used in cooking oil, soap, snacks and many other products. Indonesia has no official relations with Israel. It does not recognise Israel because Palestinians still live under its occupation. Many Indonesians believe this means the country also does not trade with Israel. They are wrong.

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The preamble to the 1945 Constitution says that colonialism must end everywhere in the world. Indonesian presidents often repeat these words when they speak about Palestine. Indonesia’s trade with Israel does not match them.

Social media posts have named several large palm oil groups: Wilmar; Sinar Mas, through its company SMART; Musim Mas; and Royal Golden Eagle, through Apical and Asian Agri. These groups sell a large part of Indonesia’s palm oil abroad. But there are no shipping papers yet that show which company sold to Israel. Sinar Mas did not answer questions from reporters.

So the companies should tell the public. If their oil does not go to Israel, they can show it. If it does, people have a right to know.

Some people worry that a ban would hurt Indonesia’s economy and its farmers. But Israel is a very small buyer. The Widyatama study shows that Israel bought less than 0.12 per cent of the crude palm oil Indonesia sold abroad. In 2023, BPS said that Israel took only 0.07 per cent of all Indonesian exports. Farmers would hardly notice.

For Israel, it is different. Indonesia is its biggest supplier of palm oil. This gives Indonesia power, but the government does not use it.

The researchers also found that Indonesian export rules treat Israel like any other country. This includes export taxes, fees and even the short export ban in 2022. Indonesia’s foreign policy says no to Israel. Its trade rules say yes.

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the United Nations, ordered Israel to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. In September 2025, a UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide there. It called on all countries to stop their companies from helping. Israel rejects these findings.

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Last week, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, urged Indonesians to step up the boycott of Israel during a visit to Jakarta. The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) has urged the government to stop trade with Israel. The boycott group BDS Indonesia has called for palm oil exports to end.

Malaysia has already acted. In December 2023, it banned Israeli ships from its ports. It also stopped any ship going to Israel from loading cargo there. Indonesia, by contrast, still allows Israel’s ZIM shipping company into its ports.

Indonesia can act in four ways.

First, the Ministry of Trade should ban exports of palm oil, coconut and their products to Israel.

Second, exporters should declare where their goods will finally go. Then the oil cannot quietly travel through Singapore or Hong Kong. Companies that break this rule should lose their export permits.

Third, the big palm oil groups should publish where their oil is sold, including sales through traders.

Fourth, the House of Representatives (DPR) should hold a public hearing and ask BPS to publish this trade data every month.

Israel may still buy palm oil from another country. But Indonesia would no longer take part. For a country that says it stands with Palestine, this matters.

Selling oil to a country that a UN inquiry says is committing genocide does not fit the values written in the Constitution. It is time to stop.

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