 "Israel-Palestine conflict: Where does India stand? Which countries back Hamas?")
There’s yet another ‘war’ unfolding and it has left the world divided. The Israel-Palestine conflict has escalated after a surprise attack by the terrorist group Hamas. It’s the deadliest strike on the country in 50 years with some calling it Israel’s 9/11. While West and India have expressed solidarity with Tel Aviv and extended support, some countries in West Asia hold it responsible for instability in the region. The support or criticism of Israel comes with geopolitical implications. History has a role to play. As the conflict enters Day 3 with no end to the fighting in sight, we take a look at how nations have responded. What has India said? Which side is the United States on and why? What about the other countries in West Asia, neighbouring Israel? We take a look. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to the Hamas attack within hours. Expressing deep shock, he said India stood in solidarity with Israel. “Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour,” Modi said on X (formerly Twitter), without naming Hamas or Palestine.
Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 7, 2023
Naor Galin, Israel’s ambassador to India, said that New Delhi’s support was significant because of its importance in the world and its long fight against terrorism, reports Hindustan Times. Also read: How many Indians are stranded in Israel and how safe are they? India has to maintain a fine balance between its growing relationship with Israel and its historical ties with Palestine. Over the years, New Delhi’s support for the Palestinian cause has eroded. While India recognised Israel as a state in 1950, the normalisation of ties started decades later. It was in 1992 that New Delhi got an Israeli embassy and Tel Aviv the Indian embassy. In recent years, Modi has invested in the friendship between the two nations. [caption id=“attachment_13222452” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. The India leader has invested in improving ties with Tel Aviv. File photo/PTI[/caption] The United States The US is a long-time ally of Israel and it has offered “rock solid and complete support” to the country. “The United States stands with the people of Israel… This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. My Administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” US president Joe Biden said in a series of posts on X. Biden ordered the
deployment of US ships and warplanes to Israel on Sunday. A US official also confirmed that several American citizens were killed in the Hamas attack but did not divulge the number of casualties or their identities. [caption id=“attachment_13222462” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]
Israeli supporters gather outside of the Consulate of Israel in San Francisco on Sunday. Across the U.S., groups are holding opposing rallies as Israel officially declared war following a surprise attack by Hamas on Saturday. AP[/caption] The US has over the past decades mediated to normalise ties between Israel and other countries in West Asia. The Abraham Accords were signed between Israel, UAE, Sudan, Morocco and Bahrain in 2020. West Asia is critical to America, from the strategic point of view. It sees Israel as a useful ally to contain Russia’s influence in the region. The country is said to have the most pro-Israel foreign policy in the world. Also read: Israel’s ‘war’ with Hamas complicated by hostage situation: What we know so far The UK and Europe UK prime minister Rishi Sunak called the attack on Israel cowardly and Britain has said it is ready to offer security support to Israel. The prime minister said he had spoken to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and offered to send “diplomatic or security support” to the region if requested, reports The Telegraph. Sunak said Britain “for a long time has been one of Israel’s strongest allies and supported its right to self-defence”, including by “providing the kinds of equipment that Israel has used to defend itself from these appalling attacks”, the report says. The head of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, called the Hamas attack “terrorism in its most despicable form”.
Today, Hamas terrorists have struck at the heart of Israel capturing and killing innocent women and children.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 7, 2023
Israel has the right to defend itself - today and in the days to come.
The European Union stands with Israel. pic.twitter.com/qTngixfu78
A statement issued by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union called for an immediate cessation of the “senseless attacks” which it said “will only further increase tensions on the ground and seriously undermine Palestinian people’s aspirations for peace”. In line with the US, the EU stated that Israel “has the right to defend itself in line with international law, in the face of such violent and indiscriminate attacks”. Also read: Israel-Palestine conflict: The big wars fought over 15 years “France stands in solidarity with Israel and the Israelis, committed to their security and their right to defend themselves,” President Emmanuel Macron said. He discussed the situation with Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. He also held talks with other leaders from the region, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati. German president Olaf Scholz tweeted that he was “deeply shocked” at the violence. “Germany condemns these attacks by Hamas and stands by Israel,” he wrote on X. [caption id=“attachment_13222492” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The flag of Israel is projected onto the front of 10 Downing Street in London, on Sunday to show solidarity with Israel. AP[/caption] West Asia Egypt: The Egyptian foreign ministry appealed to “both the Palestinian and Israeli sides to exercise the utmost restraint”. Egypt has played the role of the key mediator in the conflict between the two sides. It has intervened during recent flare-ups, however, without any long-term success. Cairo is also an important ally of the US in West Asia. Jordan: Jordan foreign minister Ayman Safadi warned of the “volatility” of the situation, flagging “Israeli attacks and violations against the Palestinian people” in West Bank, according to a report by the news agency AFP. Jordan was among the first countries in the region to ink a peace treaty with Israel. [caption id=“attachment_13222502” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]
Hezbollah supporters ride their motorcycles with a flag that shows the portrait of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, as they pass on a hill that overlooks the Israeli town of Metula, in Lebanon, Sunday. Israeli soldiers exchanged strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group in the north. AP[/caption] Iran: Iran has come out in support of Palestine. Presdient Ebrahim Raisi said on Sunday that Iran supports the Palestinians’ right to self-defence and warned Israel must be held accountable for endangering the region. “Iran supports the legitimate defence of the Palestinian nation,” Raisi said, quoted by state television. Iran has long backed Hamas. The Biden administration has said it doesn’t have evidence at this point that Iran was directly involved in Hamas’s latest assault, though US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted, “Iran and Hamas have a long relationship. Hamas wouldn’t be Hamas without the support it’s had for many years from Iran”, according to a report on Foreign Policy. A spokesperson for Hamas told the BBC that it had received support from Iran and other sources.
The timing of the attack has led to speculation that Iran and Hamas were rattled by the progress made on the normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Just a few days ago, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said Muslim countries normalising ties “will be eradicated by the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region”, reports Politico. [caption id=“attachment_13222522” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Cars burn after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a parking lot and a residential building in Ashkelon, southern Israel. AP[/caption] Lebanon: Israel fired barrages of artillery in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah targeted Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms. Hezbollah is a powerful army party backed by Iran and said it launched strikes “in solidarity” with the Palestinians. Shebaa Farms, which is claimed by Lebanon, was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. There have been no remarks from Lebanese authorities. Saudi Arabia: After the attack. Saudi Arabia said the “Kingdom calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, protection of civilians, and self-control”. It echoed statements that the attack was a result of “continued occupation and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights”, reports NDTV. The US has pushed to improve ties between Saudia Arabia and Israel and the progress has angered Hamas. Now the Biden Administration is reaffirming the commitment to the idea of possible normalisation of the diplomatic relationship between the kingdom and Tel Aviv. Blinken said normalisation was a choice between regional peace and terrorism by Hamas, reports The New York Times. Syria: The Syrian foreign ministry backed the Hamas attacks, calling it an “honourable achievement” and expressing “support” for forces “fighting against Zionist terrorism. [caption id=“attachment_13222532” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]
People chant anti-Israel slogans while waving Palestinian flags during a rally celebrating the attacks that the militant Hamas group carried out against Israel, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday. AP[/caption] Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey was determined to ramp up diplomatic efforts to achieve calm in the fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces, but added that a two-state solution was the only way to achieve regional peace. Turkey said it was ready to help de-escalate tensions. It has in the past supported Palestinians and hosted Hamas members. Speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan said that the formation of an independent Palestinian state, in line with the borders set out in 1967, with its territorial integrity intact, and with Jerusalem as its capital was now “a necessity that cannot be delayed”. The fighting comes as Ankara was working to repair ties with Israel after years of acrimony over the status of Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Russia Russia called for an “immediate ceasefire” between the two sides. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “We call on the Palestinian and Israeli sides to implement an immediate ceasefire, renounce violence, exercise the necessary restraint and establish, with the assistance of the international community, a negotiation process aimed at establishing a comprehensive, lasting and long-awaited peace in the Middle East.” [caption id=“attachment_13222552” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]
A woman lays flowers in memory of victims after the surprise attack from Gaza, in front of the Israeli embassy in Moscow, Russia, Sunday. AP[/caption] An American think tank said that Russia is likely to use the crisis to its advantage in Ukraine. The Kremlin “is already and will likely continue to exploit the Hamas attacks on Israel” to hype its rhetoric against Western interference in Ukraine, demoralize Ukrainians and reassure Russians that the focus of the West on the Israeli crisis will deflect its attention from the war in Ukraine, Voice of America reports quoting the Institute for the Study of War. China China has said it was “deeply concerned” by the “escalation of tension and violence” between the two sides. Beijing said “repeated clashes between Palestine and Israel fully demonstrate that the long-term stagnation of the peace process is unsustainable”, the news agency AFP reported. “The fundamental way out of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in the implementation of the ‘two-state solution’ and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” it added. The situation is volatile and one can only hope that the conflict does not escalate and spread to other regions. With inputs from agencies
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