PIKIRAN RAKYAT - Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI) recently released a survey revealing that the majority of Indonesians do not have a problem with or reject the arrival of the Israeli national team for the U20 World Cup. The survey was conducted using the random digit dialing (RDD) method and involved 1,229 respondents with a margin of error of approximately 2,9 percent.

The survey showed that 68 percent of respondents were aware that Indonesia was hosting the U20 World Cup, while 32 percent were not. Additionally, 76,1 percent of respondents knew that Israel was participating in the U20 World Cup, while 23,9 percent did not.

Of all the respondents, 71,3 percent indicated that they did not have any issue with the arrival of the Israeli national team in Indonesia, while only 27,5 percent rejected their arrival. A small proportion (1.2 percent) did not respond.

Among the respondents who expressed no objection to the Israeli team's arrival, 52,3 percent stated that football and politics are unrelated. Conversely, of those who opposed the Israeli team's arrival, 32,2 percent cited Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Baca Juga: Survei LSI: DPR dan Partai Politik Lembaga Paling Tidak Dipercaya Masyarakat

Regarding the cancellation of the U20 World Cup in Indonesia, the survey found that 64,1 percent of respondents regretted the rejection of the Israeli national team, which resulted in FIFA canceling Indonesia's status as host. In contrast, 28,7 percent of respondents had no issue with FIFA canceling Indonesia as the host, while 7,2 percent did not respond.

On March 29, 2023, FIFA officially announced the cancellation of Indonesia's status as the host of the U20 World Cup. The decision came after opposition mounted against the Israeli national team's arrival in Indonesia.

Baca Juga: Tak Terima Divonis 4 Tahun Penjara, Eks Wali Kota Cimahi Ajay: Saya kan Dipaksa Robin, Bukan Ngasih

The Israeli national team was one of the 24 teams that qualified for the U20 World Cup and was scheduled to participate in the tournament. However, some groups believed that their arrival would conflict with Indonesia's political stance.

Two governors, whose provinces were to host the matches, openly opposed the Israeli team's arrival. I, Wayan Koster, the Governor of Bali Province, rejected their arrival because Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. On the other hand, Ganjar Pranowo, the governor of East Java province, rejected their arrival because it was not in line with Bung Karno's stance.***