From pro-Palestine to embracing Tel Aviv, how India-Israel ties have evolved

The war-like situation between Israel and Palestine after the terrorist group, Hamas, launched a surprise attack on Saturday, has entered its third day, claiming thousands of lives on both sides. The unprecedented attacks, which Israel has dubbed as its own “9/11 moment”, has also divided the world into two camps – one side expressing solidarity with Tel Aviv, and the other blaming it for continued violence in the region. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was deeply shocked by the news of “terrorist attacks” in Israel. He also conveyed his solidarity with Tel Aviv through his post on social media platform X.

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

Many have viewed the prime minister’s statement as a siding with Israel, which reflects how India’s ties with Tel Aviv and also with Palestine’s Ramallah have changed over the years. The India-Israel relationship, one could say, has seen it all – from the lows to the highs. It’s important to note that New Delhi has maintained a fine balance between its expanding ties with Israel and its old historical support for Palestine. But in recent times, this has changed; until a few years ago, any visit to Israel by an Indian leader meant a visit to Ramallah too. But that’s not the case anymore. The question that then needs to be asked is: Will this attack further change New Delhi’s equations with Tel Aviv and Ramallah? **Also read: Israel-Palestine conflict: Where does India stand? Which countries back Hamas?** Post 1947 – a pro-Palestine bend Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi vowed to support the Palestinian cause as they rejected the idea of two nations on the basis of religion. Their decision was largely driven by the general consensus in the Arab world, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the United Nations. Mahatma Gandhi, in fact, on two separate occasions had articulated his view on the Palestine-Israel question. In 1938, he wrote in a newsletter, that it was “a very difficult question” and that he was sympathetic to their “age-long persecution” of the Jews. But, he proceeded to see it in the light of the valid claims of the other side. “My sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice,” he wrote. “The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me…Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?… Palestine belongs to the Arab in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.” In 1946, he once again expressed deep anguish about how Jews had been “cruelly wronged by the world”. But stuck to his earlier view that the return of the Jews to Palestine, especially by force, wasn’t the way forward. “In my opinion, they have erred grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain,” he wrote in a newsletter. It was only in 1950, India recognised Israel as a separate nation. But ties were hardly friendly. Even though Tel Aviv was permitted to establish a consulate in Mumbai, no diplomatic presence was granted in New Delhi. In 1962 when war broke out between India and China, the Nehru administration sought Israel’s assistance. In 1975, India also recognised Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and permitted it an independent office at New Delhi. It also shared very close and friendly ties with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. [caption id=“attachment_13223322” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Cuban leader Fidel Castro at the Seventh Non-aligned summit in New Delhi in 1983, along with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and, in the background, OLP leader Yasser Arafat. India shared good ties with Arafat and also recognised his PLO as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. File image/AFP[/caption] The 1990-2000s and thaw in Israeli ties With the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, geopolitics began to change. In 1992, New Delhi established full diplomatic relations with Israel, days after the Chinese established diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. BJP’s rise to the top of India’s politics also changed the way the nation viewed Israel. [caption id=“attachment_13223182” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh signs the guest book during his visit’s to Al-Azhar University in Gaza during his visit in 2000. File image/Reuters[/caption] Seven years later, Israel and India came one step closer during the Kargil War. It is reported that the Indian Air Force was in dire need of precision target bombs. At the time, the IAF reached out to their Israeli counterpart and they immediately shipped weapons to India. In 2000, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent L K Advani and even Jaswant Singh to Israel. That year, the two countries set up a joint anti-terror commission. And in 2003, Ariel Sharon became the first Israeli prime minister to visit India.

The Israel-Palestine conflict _What is the Gaza Strip, which is at the centre of Israel-Palestine conflict?_ _Hamas, Hezbollah & Intifada: A guide to understanding the glossary of Israel-Palestine conflict_ _How Hamas breached Israel’s sophisticated security, hoodwinked its intelligence_ _How many Indians are stranded in Israel and how safe are they?_ _How Hamas compares to Israel in weapons stockpile_ _Israel-Palestine conflict: The big wars fought over 15 years_ _What is Hezbollah? Why has it come to aid of Palestinians in Israel conflict?_

Modi and India-Israel ties Cut to 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi stormed to power, and a friendship blossomed between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project at Brookings Institution in Washington, wrote in 2016, “More bluntly, in private, Israeli officials and commentators have said that India has treated Israel like a ‘mistress’—happy to engage intimately in private, but hesitant to acknowledge the relationship in public.” But that all changed in 2016 when then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Israel. And in July 2017, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit the country. The change has led to bilateral trade between the two nations increasing and diversifying. As per an ORF report, trade went up from $900 million in 2000 to$7.86 billion in 2021. Israel has also become India’s most reliable weapons supplier. Israel is India’s second-largest weapons supplier. An Al Jazeera report in 2021 stated that imports increased by 175 per cent between 2015 and 2019 and current annual sales amount to more than $1 billion. [caption id=“attachment_13223222” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Israeli president Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hug each other after reading their joint statement at Hyderabad House in New Delhi in 2016. In Modi’s tenure, Israel has become a vital partner of India in many sectors, including defence and trade. File image/Reuters[/caption] There’s also been progress in other sectors – from tech to health. There’s also been an uptick in cultural exchange, tourism and people-to-people contact. As geopolitics expert Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center, told Quartz: “In the Modi era, New Delhi’s relations with both the Israelis and the Palestinians have experienced major boosts. What we’ve seen is a clear policy of de-hyphenation, where India has pursued ties with both sides on their own terms.” But India continues to engage in a balancing act when it comes to Israel and Palestine. At the UNHRC’s 46th session in Geneva in 2021, India voted against Israel in three resolutions – one on the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people, a second on Israeli settlement policy, and a third on the human rights situation in the Golan Heights. It also didn’t extend support to Israel when the International Criminal Court claimed jurisdiction in 2021 to investigate human rights abuses in territories, including West Bank and Gaza, and named both Israeli security forces and Hamas as perpetrators. It’s left to be seen if these ongoing attacks lead to a change in ties between Israel, Palestine and India. But as of now, it seems that India’s relationship with Israel is only going from strength to strength. With inputs from agencies