India Omitted

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a tweet on May 16, thanked 25 countries “for resolutely standing with Israel and supporting our right to self-defence against terrorist attacks.” India was a notable omission. What could be the reason for Israel’s anger and displeasure with India?

Ever since he assumed office in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been meeting, messaging, visiting, hosting, greeting and tweeting Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders. He often refers to Netanyahu as ‘his friend’. For his part, the latter used Prime Minister Modi’s montage during his September 2019 election campaign. Israel has emerged a major player in India’s food security challenges, especially in terms of water management and other modern agricultural methods.

Moreover, in recent weeks tonnes of materials and equipments have arrived from Israel for India’s fight against COVID-19. And when the Indian caregiver was killed in the recent rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, Israel not only repatriated her body immediately and the Israeli Consul General in Jonathan Zadka paid a visit to Soumya Santosh’s family in Idukki in southern Kerala. Hence, when facing the worst crisis in its history, Israel expecting some reciprocity from India is natural and even predictable. This, however, was not to be and Netanyahu felt let down by his friend at this critical moment; when interests are the only drivers, friendship evaporates.

Since the Israel-Hamas crisis began on May 10, there was no official statement in New Delhi. Nor did any Indian leader spoke to their Israeli counterparts. The last occasion when Prime Minister Modi called Netanyahu was on February 1 following the suspicious explosion near the Israeli embassy in the capital the previous day. This was followed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar speaking to his Israeli counterpart assuring all assistance and security for the Israeli missions in the country. None after that.

Even if public expression of sympathy, support or understanding was not possible due to political compulsions or diplomatic calculations, Prime Minister Modi could have called Netanyahu and inquired about rockets falling over different parts of Israel, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He chose not to. Understandably, the Prime Minister was overwhelmed by the second and deadlier wave of COVID pandemic in different parts of the country and apprehensions over a possible third wave. The cancellation of various domestic and foreign engagements in recent weeks has to be seen within this context of the COVID tsunami. Moreover, it is possible that the mandarins of South Block did not wish a direct involvement of Prime Minister Modi when the crisis was getting more intense and deadlier.

More importantly, the public statement of the Indian Ambassador to the United Nations issued on May 16 (incidentally a few hours after Netanyahu’s thanks tweet) outlined issues that contributed to the current cycle of violence. He mentioned that Israeli efforts to evict the Arab families Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan in East Jerusalem led to the present violence. By flagging them in public, India seemed to have angered Israel. Even though India explicitly condemned the “indiscriminate rocket firing from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel”, the damage was considerable. Without going into the details, India could have merely stated its traditional position of urging “all parties to the conflict to maintain the status quo on the ground”. Everyone, including Israel, would have understood the meaning without feeling offended.

Diplomacy is not an academic exercise of facts, truth and enlightenment but furthering the country’s interests under testing times. If the references to East Jerusalem angered Israel, it was too little too late for the Palestinians. Thus, the Indian formulation on the reasons for the current violence satisfied neither Israel nor the Palestinians.

The omission of India from Netanyahu’s friends of Israel is not a great loss, but it is a reminder of possible backsliding of India’s engagements with Israel and the wider Middle East. It has significantly dented New Delhi’s credibility in Israel. Other countries in the Middle East and beyond would be closely watching this misstep closely. Will this be an aberration that can be mended or a sign of things to come? Time is always a good teacher.