Why Indians support Israel

“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” in one of his articles this author has written about the history of Israeli support to India in times of need, here the author is referring to several wars India has fought in the past for protecting itself from military aggression of our enemies. Israel supported India inspite of the pro-Palestinian foreign policy of late Mrs. Indira Gandhi (Former Prime Minister of India) a Nehruvian legacy and statements given in support of Palestine by late Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Former Prime Minister of India) in a 1977 Janta Party rally, both Mrs Gandhi and Mr. Vajpayee were from rival Indian national political parties, Indian National Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party respectively. Inspite of historical Indian support to Palestine, Israel supported India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweets in support of Israel. Image Credits: Prime Minister of India Dhri Narendra Modi.

India has two hostile neighbours with their expansionist dispensations, one suffering from “Ghazwa-e-Hind” syndrome and other from “Middle Kingdom” syndrome, lobbying in world capitals against Indian national interests. Irrespective of our enemies’ nefarious intentions India has been bravely protected by it’s mighty defence forces, guarding our borders under the able and decisive leadership of a strong government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi’s Indian government is very different from the past, now the Indian government doesn’t hesitate from supporting Israel openly or our other friends including Armenia and Greece, whenever needed, because the Indian government has decided now, that as a big military power with a huge global economic clout, India has to start supporting it’s friends more actively, and if any country wants Indian support they have to reciprocate and support India on it’s national interests. The period of one sided idealistic support of India for certain ethnic groups and countries is long over, Modi’s India is more pragmatic and realist in it’s foreign policy.

India is the world’s most populous country and world’s largest democracy, in 2022 the total population of the Arab world was 464.68 million while population of India alone was 1.42 billion. Any country would cherish support from a large number of Indian people, especially when social media has become very important. Israel is fortunate that a large number of Indians primarily Hindus and supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are openly supporting Israel when terrorist group Hamas has launched deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. Some Indians are even expressing their willingness to volunteer in the Israeli Defence Forces to fight Hamas, this is a result of the accumulated sorrow and resultant anger of Indians, who have experienced similar terrorist attacks by similar organisations in the past. Today certain western countries are helping anti-India secessionists and those who advocate violence against Hindus, the same countries also allow pro-Palestinian protestors take out rallies with slogans like “From river to the sea Palestine will be free” actively supporting violence against Jews.  India and Israel have to come together as friends to tell these countries to stop supporting anti-Semitism and Hinduphobia within their borders.

As per Article 57.1, of Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977, “In the conduct of military operations, constant care shall be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects,” and Article 57.5 of the same Protocol mentions “No provision of this Article may be construed as authorizing any attacks against the civilian population, civilians or civilian objects.” But Hamas is doing this and still supporters of Palestine, who use International Law to attack Israeli regime as a so called “Apartheid State” are ignoring it today, but why? The answer is simple because they use the argument of International Law to serve their narrow self interest of pro Palestinian advocacy, without any actual interest in upholding International Law.

A tweet by Israel in India. Image Credits: Israel in India.

India has been a victim of terrorism, and understands the plight of Israelis. During the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai India, which were planned and executed by Pakistanis, Nariman House, a Chabad Lubavitch Jewish centre in Mumbai known as the Chabad House, was taken over by two attackers and several residents were held hostage. The Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai in India is under heavy protection because of possible threat from anti Jewish groups. Pakistani government has openly taken an anti-Israeli stance and the common Pakistani people actively spread hatred against Jewish people. The Taliban that is now ruling Afghanistan, has reportedly asked Iran, Iraq and Jordan to grant them passage to Israel so that they can “conquer Jerusalem”. India is an exception to the hatred towards Israel in the larger South Asian region.

AFTER THE OPENING OF THE TEL AVIV NATHANIA HIGHWAY, MRS. GOLDA MEIR POSES FOR A PICTURE WITH THE CHILDREN OF KIBBUTZ SHEFAIM.

A friendly advice to the Israeli government from the author is that Israel needs more friends, and should understand the plight of ethnic Armenians of Artsakh being forced to mass migrate to Armenia, because of Azerbaijani invasion of Artsakh also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, the past something similar happened with Jews in Spain, Portugal and other parts of the world except some areas of tolerance like India. The conditions of Israelis and Armenians today are not very different, both of them have threat of attack on their very existence. Erdogan’s Türkiye where Neo-Ottomanism is the guiding ideology, is not a friend of Israel even if it may claim to be so in-front of the media, Neo-Ottomanism is against Zionism and very existence of Israel. Israel should understand that helping the three brothers alliance of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Pakistan against Armenia will not help Israeli national interests. India is one of the biggest and hugely powerful supporters that Israel has, but it actively needs to strengthen it’s ties with countries like Cyprus, Greece, Armenia and others. Israel is a brave nation and the author  prays to  God for the protection of Israel from the Hamas terrorists, stay strong and safe friends!