Has India’s Modi chosen Israel over Palestinians?

Indian Prime Minister Modi expressed complete solidarity with his Israeli counterpart after the October 7 Hamas attack and described it as an “act of terrorism”. This must have come as a surprise to a layman but not to those seriously keeping track of India’s foreign policy. In fact, India’s friendship with Israel started flourishing soon after Modi’s BJP won elections in 2014. The layman was surprised as erstwhile Indian leaders like Gandhi and Nehru had been staunch supporters of Palestinian rights. As far back as 1938 when Jews had started immigrating to Palestine after the Balfour Declaration, Gandhi said, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense as England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose Jews on the Arabs”. 

Things have come full circle. But this did not happen overnight as we now know for a fact that Israel sent defense equipment to India in the 1962 Sino-Indian war and the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971. However, the left-of-center governments in New Delhi kept this cooperation under wraps. This was in deference to the sentiments of a significantly large Muslim community in India. The right-wing BJP government, led by Modi, has no such qualms. It had been inspired by the dogma of Hindu supremacy and cared little for the sentiments of Indian Muslims. In fact, it had a lot in common with the Israeli extreme right-wing government. Hindutva (Hindu supremacy) and Zionism have a lot in common. 

However, the shift in Indian policy toward Palestine appears all the more glaring when seen in the background of its initial stance. In October 1947, India voted against the UN General Assembly resolution which called for the partition of Palestine. When Israel was established in 1948, as pragmatic as Indians are, they thought of reconciling with the ground reality, recognized the Jewish state in 1950, and allowed it to open a trade office in Bombay. However, full-fledged diplomatic ties had to wait till 1992 when the Oslo Accords were signed. 

The shift in Indian policy toward Palestine appears all the more glaring when seen in the background of its initial stance. In October 1947, India voted against the UN General Assembly resolution which called for the partition of Palestine. When Israel was established in 1948, as pragmatic as Indians are, they thought of reconciling with the ground reality, recognized the Jewish state in 1950, and allowed it to open a trade office in Bombay. However, full-fledged diplomatic ties had to wait till 1992 when the Oslo Accords were signed.

- Javed Hafeez

Diplomatic ties with Israel notwithstanding, India maintained a façade of neutrality for more than a decade. Indian defense forces chiefs paid visits to Israel but those were kept secret. Foundations of a strategic Indo-Israeli relationship were being laid. A declaration to that effect was made during Prime Minister Modi’s maiden visit to Israel in 2017. Several bilateral agreements were signed during that visit which was also the first official tour of any Indian Prime Minister to Israel. The icing on the cake were defense and security-related agreements which also included the vital area of cybersecurity. The body language of two prime ministers betrayed as if two long lost friends had met again. 

 Subsequent Indian voting patterns at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva also show a change. India had now started ignoring UN resolutions censuring Israel for gross human rights violations. It would appear that India, under Modi, viewed currying favor with Israel and its patrons as far more important than protecting Palestinian rights. We discern similar shifts in Indian policy toward Kashmir over the decades as has happened in the case of Palestine. Some Indian leaders have justified the current Gaza policy to checkmate similar possible resistance in Kashmir. The duplicity of Indian policy is discernible in both cases. 

As compared to Modi, India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, like Gandhi, viewed the Palestinian problem as a denial of the basic human right to their homeland. As a prominent leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, he supported Palestinians. In his opinion, a policy of strengthening Israel was an imperialist design. Subsequent Indian governments also kept opposing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. However, in Modi’s rule, this was done more as a ritual than out of any conviction. In fact, India today is replicating the Israeli policy of demographic change in Kashmir. India is also being guided by Israeli officials on surveillance and control of Kashmiris. 

US President Biden recently remarked that Netanyahu’s government contained “some of the most extreme” members he had ever seen. This is true keeping in view the fact that a known extremist like Itmar Ben-Gvir was Israel’s National Security Adviser. Similarly, Modi’s right-wing government has adopted policies clearly discriminatory to Muslims and Christians. The National Register, introduced some years back, was designed to expel Bangladeshi immigrants who had moved to Assam decades ago. The Modi government’s Ghar Wapsi (return to Hinduism) policy looks medieval in the 21st century. 

India’s current policy on Palestine is diametrically opposed to the ideals of its founding fathers. From secular Labour Party and Congress Party-led governments, Israel and India have now swung far right, and for their leaders, the ends justify the means. Justice and protection of human rights are now faith and ethnicity-based. 

- Javed Hafeez is a former Pakistani diplomat with much experience of the Middle East. He writes weekly columns in Pakistani and Gulf newspapers and appears regularly on satellite TV channels as a defense and political analyst.
Twitter: @JavedHafiz8