How India moved closer to Israel under the Narendra Modi government

On October 7, 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first leaders to condemn Hamas’s attack on Israel. His tweet, which labelled Hamas as “terrorists”, marked a shift from India’s policy that has not officially designated the Palestinian resistance group as a terrorist organisation.

This tweet reflects a broader change in India’s foreign policy regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. India, once a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, has grown closer to Israel under Modi’s leadership.

During Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, the Indian government was slow to support a ceasefire. India abstained from a United Nations General Assembly vote, which called for an Israeli ceasefire. But it later voted for a resolution demanding the unconditional release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

This has led to questions about whether New Delhi has abandoned its long-standing support for Palestine and shifted towards the Zionist state.

Azad Essa, author of “Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel”, believes that India’s closeness to Israel is deeply connected with the anti-Muslim sentiment entrenched in Modi’s politics and his supporters.

“Many Indians have become major supporters of Israel because the government has managed to create a narrative that the modernising project in India is closely linked with being partners with Israel and that they both face similar enemies in the form of Muslims.”

The past support for Palestine

India’s historical support for Palestine was rooted in its own struggle against the British colonisation. Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister and country’s founder Mahatma Gandhi supported Palestinians during India’s fight for independence.

Gandhi once said, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.”

Nehru also noted the importance of Palestine, stating, “Palestine is essentially an Arab country and must remain so” and “the right of the Jews for a homeland should not come at the expense of a homeland of the Arab population of Palestine.”

Post-colonial India opposed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947 and supported Palestinian independence.

Despite recognising Israel in 1950, India leaned towards its Arab allies during the Cold War. It supported Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956 and recognised the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1974. The PLO was even allowed to open an office in New Delhi in 1975.

Yasser Arafat, the then chairman of the PLO, visited India multiple times and developed a close bond with then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He referred to Indira as his “sister,” underscoring their strong relation.

However, India’s foreign policy changed significantly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. New Delhi began gravitating toward the US, and leaders in India realised that the “Door to Washington opens in Tel Aviv”.

India established formal diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992 under Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s leadership.

But that relationship between the two countries has flourished since Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

Modi, who is vying for a third term in office, has openly embraced engagement with Israel, especially since his landmark visit to Israel in 2017.

At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Modi as a “revolutionary leader in the true sense of the term”, and described India’s relationship with Israel as a “marriage made in heaven”.

Two sides of same coin

The ‘Modi and Bibi’ bromance reflects a deep-seated admiration among generations of Hindutva (an extremist ideology that advocates for the dominance of Hindus and Hinduism within India) supporters for Zionism and Israel.

Early proponents of Hindutva, such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, supported the establishment and recognition of Israel. Savarkar once said, “If the Zionists’ dreams are ever realized, if Palestine becomes a Jewish state, it will gladden us almost as much as our Jewish friends.”

Apoorvanand, a political commentator and a Hindi professor at the University of Delhi, says both are racist ideologies.

“Hindutva advocates for a Hindu-dominant ideology aiming to establish a Hindu nation, while Zionism sought a Jewish state in Palestine. Both ideologies assert the superiority of their respective people and the need for a separate homeland.”

On its part, Modi’s BJP denies similarities between Hindutva and Zionism, saying it supports a two-state solution.

"There is no departure from historical support for Palestine. Any comparisons between Zionism and Hindutva are baseless and politically motivated,” said Shazia Ilmi, BJP’s spokesperson.

"India supports a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict. Our policy is based on reality and facts.”

Brothers in arms

India and Israel have a strong trade link, especially in the arms sector. Over the past decade, India has purchased military equipment from Israel worth $2.9 billion. This includes items such as radars, surveillance and combat drones, and missiles.

India is the world’s largest arms importer and the biggest customer for Israel’s military products. Israel is the second-largest supplier of military equipment to India, after Russia. Around 42.1 percent of all Israeli arms exports went to India.

Despite the war in Gaza, and skirmishes with Iran, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel’s military exports to India have continued without interruption. This is noteworthy, especially considering that Israel has delayed exports worth over $1.5 billion to other countries.

A significant part of this cooperation is the co-production of the Hermes 900 drone. This drone, produced in Hyderabad, India, is set to join the Israeli army’s fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) amidst the current war in Gaza.

Recently, India and Israel conducted a joint security drill. The drill was held against the backdrop of heightened security for the Israeli mission in New Delhi.

A cesspool of hate

India has been a major hub for the widespread dissemination of misinformation and aggressive discourse targeting Palestinians, spanning both mainstream media and social media platforms.

Indian media, including prominent outlets such as Republic TV, NDTV, Times of India, and Times Now, played a significant role in disseminating misinformation campaign of the so-called beheading of 40 babies by Hamas.

Indian social media, especially on platform X, is flooded with false anti-Palestinian content, often shared by far-right/right-wing individuals aligned with India's BJP.

Analysis by Al Jazeera's Narrative Research Lab found a significant bias in favor of Israel among Indian users, with a five-to-one ratio in support, as evidenced by tweets and hashtags like "#IstandwithIsrael."

The lonely Muslim

Under Modi’s government, there's been a noticeable difference in the handling of demonstrations related to Palestine and Israel. Palestine solidarity activists have faced a brutal crackdown, while Israel's allies have had a free hand.

Mir Suneem Gul, a student at Jamia Millia Islamia University, was detained during a pro-Palestine protest.

"We remained silent throughout our detention. Meanwhile, on that same day, demonstrations in support of Israel were permitted to take place outside the Israeli embassy without any hindrance,” she tells TRT World.

Vishnu Gupta, a Hindu nationalist and president of the Hindu Sena, who organised the pro-Israel rally, says both Hindus and Jews have a common enemy.

"The reason for supporting Israel is that all the Hindus feel a sense of brotherhood with our Jewish brothers in Israel because we face a similar problem of Islamic terrorism in our country.”

“Indian Muslims who are supporting Palestine, are directly supporting terrorism in India.”

New Delhi’s actions have created a feeling of alienation among many Indian Muslims.

“It's frustrating because you see the government's visible partiality, supporting one particular side, which is evident through their actions. You feel appalled by these conditions, living among people where trust is eroded due to what has happened,” says Gul.

Despite all this, the Indian government has strived to strike a balance. Diplomatically, they have endorsed the two-state solution and advocated for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN. Furthermore, they have extended aid to Gaza, which includes 6.5 tonnes of medical supplies, 32 tonnes of disaster relief materials, and a $2.5 million contribution to the UNRWA for humanitarian aid.

In navigating its shifting alliances, India faces a delicate task of balancing its act between historic support for the Palestinian cause and growing bonhomie with Israel.