Washington Offers Jakarta $2 Billion to Forge Ties With Israel Published December 29th, 2020 - 11:21 GMT (Shutterstock) A senior Indonesian lawmaker says it is impossible for his country to recognize Israel and normalize diplomatic ties with the occupying regime, after reports said Washington has offered a further aid of up to $2 billion to Jakarta if it forges ties with Tel Aviv. “The situation of the Palestinian issue is getting worse due to the blind bias of the United States towards Israel, and its disregard for the rights of Palestinian people. [The US President] Donald Trump administration is placing Arab and Muslim countries under pressure to conclude normalization agreements [with Israel],” Palestinian Arabic-language Shehab news agency quoted Fadli Zon, speaker of the Indonesian People's Representative Council and vice president of the World Parliament League for al-Quds, as saying at a webinar entitled “Why does not Indonesia normalize relations with Israel?”