Kiran Sharma
Nikkei Asia, Nov. 4, 2023
“While New Delhi maintains ties with the Palestinian Authority, he said its policy was becoming “more publicly balanced, and even somewhat supportive of Israel on the issue of terrorism, where there are converging concerns.””
India’s response to the war in the Middle East is proving contentious at home, as New Delhi calibrates its position between Israel and the Palestinians while daily images of death and devastation emerge from Gaza.
India has a lengthy tradition of supporting Palestinian rights, including with its vote at the United Nations. So New Delhi’s quick condemnation of the Hamas attack on Israel and decision to abstain from a General Assembly resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza have raised eyebrows around the world, and sparked outrage among the Indian opposition.
The reaction follows a warming of India’s ties with Israel and the U.S., gains Modi likely aims to protect. Experts and diplomatic insiders also say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants to take a consistent stand against “terrorism,” but that the debate raises fundamental questions about how to reconcile interests and principles.
India was one of 44 countries that did not vote on Oct. 27, when a U.N. cease-fire resolution proposed by Jordan was overwhelmingly adopted. New Delhi favored an amendment proposed by Canada — with which it is separately embroiled in a diplomatic row over the killing of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia — that sought to include a condemnation of Hamas. The amendment, however, failed to win the necessary two-thirds support.
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