"We understand your pain, India stands with Israel firmly, with full conviction, in this moment and beyond"; this was the declaration made by Narendra Modi while addressing the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. He said that the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023 was unacceptable, and made it clear that there should be no double standards against terrorism and that India would stand with Israel on issues including Palestine. However, he did not utter a single word condemning the killing of more than 73,000 people in Gaza, including 20,000 children, by the Israeli regime. He did not speak about the children of Gaza, nor about the Indian Army officer Colonel Waibhav Kale, who was killed by the Israeli army while he was carrying out a humanitarian mission for the United Nations there. Instead, he greeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, as though he were meeting a long-lost friend. He was thrilled by the chants of “Modi, Modi” raised by ministers and parliamentarians who described the people of Gaza as “pests” and insulted them as unworthy of living. He accepted the “Medal of the Knesset” from Netanyahu’s loyal Speaker, Amir Ohana, and placed it around his neck. The award, described as the highest honour conferred by the Knesset for contributions to Israel and the Jewish people, was largely unknown to the wider world until Modi’s visit.
Modi’s visit and remarks amount to a clear departure from India’s long-held position on the Palestinian question, a stance maintained since before Independence, and from the international conventions upheld by our far-sighted predecessors. The Modi government, which has on several occasions cast aside the non-aligned policy that India once upheld with pride in international forums, has now officially revised its policy on Palestine as well. The Prime Minister has even set aside the concept of a two-state solution and expressed unequivocal support for Israel.
At a time when foreign leaders are distancing themselves from Netanyahu over allegations of genocide and when Israeli society is critical of him over corruption, it is deeply inappropriate for the Indian Prime Minister to be his guest. His announcements about strengthening arms deals with those accused of organising the world’s largest genocide, strip the words ‘harmony’ and ‘peace’ of their meaning in his speech. India ranks first globally in arms imports from Israel. Beyond diplomatic ties, this relationship is rooted in extensive economic and defence agreements. When drones and missiles are produced in India in collaboration with Israeli defence companies under the banner of the ‘Make in India’ programme, the truth that they originated in laboratories soaked in the blood of babies cannot be forgotten.
Historically, India’s policy of non-alignment and its solidarity with Palestine were not merely diplomatic strategies; they were moral convictions shaped by anti-occupation struggles. Today, those convictions are being sacrificed in the name of arms deals and perceived ideological affinities between Hindutva and Zionism. Modi is the Prime Minister elected by the people of India. He has been entrusted with safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty and values; he does not have the mandate to legitimise genocide. No one in India, except criminal groups who take pleasure in the suffering of fellow human beings, accepts the genocide in Gaza. The hands that embrace Netanyahu cannot represent India’s legacy. For this country has always stood with the oppressed. The Palestinian position of the Indian people, then, now and always, does not figure in Modi’s Knesset address, but lies in the words of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who said, "Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English, or France to the French."