The ad hoc UN expert is currently appearing in professional engagements across Jakarta and Bali, just days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered praise to Indonesia’s peacekeepers on an official visit and amid a lull on Gaza reconstruction in the lead-up to key elections in Israel.

"There is no way, even by dreaming, that you could hear me saying anything positive on the Board of Peace," Albanese said during a discussion hosted by Amnesty International Indonesia at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts complex in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The board was established in January following the Gaza ceasefire of October 2025, which formally ended the war that began with Hamas' attack in 2023. Several Muslim-majority countries are among its founding members, including Indonesia and Jordan.

Indonesia's entry into the board has drawn criticism, considering the absence of a Palestinian mandate and what critics describe as US dominance over its decisions. Concerns have also been raised over a plan to deploy Indonesian troops to Gaza under the board framework, as well as a reported US$1 billion membership fee that Jakarta denies it will pay.

Albanese said that while she had not spoken directly with the Indonesian government, countries in a similar position within the Board of Peace, such as Jordan, had argued that someone needed to be present inside the body to fairly gauge the situation, and that these nations could still withdraw if the board was not serving Palestinian interests.

Despite whatever good intentions some members may have had, the board was "wrong from the very beginning," Albanese said, because it allowed Israel to continue making excuses for its unlawful conduct in the Gaza Strip.

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