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COPENHAGEN: Denmark is not ruling out the possibility of recognizing Palestinian statehood as long as it is democratic, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday.
“We’re not saying no to recognizing Palestine as a state,” she told reporters.
“We’re in favor of it. We have been for a long time. It’s what we want. But of course we have to be sure that it will be a democratic state,” she added.
On Sunday, more than 10,000 people marched in a protest in central Copenhagen calling for an end to the war in Gaza and urging Denmark to recognize Palestinian statehood.
In an interview with the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on August 16, Frederiksen said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “now a problem in himself,” and that his Israeli government was going “too far.”
“Netanyahu’s continued and very violent actions in Gaza are unacceptable,” she wrote on Facebook the same day, adding that she has, since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, supported Israel’s right to eliminate the “threat posed by Hamas.”
Recognition of a Palestinian state must serve “the right goal,” she stressed on Tuesday.
“It must come at a time when it genuinely benefits a two-state solution. And where a lasting and democratic Palestinian state can be guaranteed,” she said.
“And it must of course be done with (Hamas’s) mutual recognition of Israel.”
In the meantime, Denmark plans to use its current EU presidency to increase pressure on Israel.
“It will be difficult to rally the necessary support but we will do everything we can,” she said.
The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 62,744 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s parliament on Tuesday approved the establishment of a new ministry dedicated solely to Hajj and Umrah which will oversee pilgrimage services for millions of Indonesians traveling to �������� each year.

The world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia sends the largest contingent of Hajj pilgrims every year, while more than a million travel annually for Umrah.

Indonesian lawmakers unanimously passed revisions to the country’s 2019 Hajj and Umrah Law during a plenary session on Tuesday, effectively creating the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

“This ministry will provide a one-stop service (and) coordinate all matters related to organizing Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, whether in terms of infrastructure, human resources or services for the pilgrims,” said lawmaker Marwan Dasopang.

The changes were initially proposed to improve overall services for pilgrims and adjust to policy and technological developments in ��������, he added.

Pilgrimage services in Indonesia were previously organized by the Directorate General for Hajj and Umrah Management, which operated under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Earlier this year, 221,000 Indonesian Hajj pilgrims were among more than 1.6 million Muslims who traveled to Makkah to perform the pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam.

“This is a new breakthrough, because (especially) when it comes to Hajj we’re not talking about managing just a few people, but a huge ecosystem,” Deputy Speaker Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal told reporters in Jakarta.

“We hope that with this new ministry, services for pilgrimages will be further improved, more measured and continuously evaluated. The House of Representatives will be supervising closely.”

President Prabowo Subianto is expected to appoint a minister to head the new ministry soon.

The Indonesian government has stepped up services for pilgrims this year, including the opening of a dedicated terminal for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in May at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.