Redefining India’s Israel Policy

India should support USA President Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and accordingly shift the Indian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. India should enter into a strategic partnership with Israel - time has come to bury the Nehruvian foreign policy that has been an impediment to our growth and emergence as a global power.

Nehru’s Anti-Israel policy

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru held the same belief as Mahatma Gandhi and followed the line taken by Mahatma Gandhi in saying no to relations with Israel if it was not with the permission of the Arabs of Palestine. He even refused Albert Einstein's appeal to vote in favour of the United Nations General Assembly's (UNGA) resolution on November 29, 1947, an event that later led to the formation of Israel on May 14, 1948. Prime Minister Nehru’s Anti-Israel policy was driven by his stand of solidarity with the Palestinian cause and India's international approach on issues as aligned with its domestic political needs of not alienating the radical Muslims. Nehru had mentioned this in his reply to Einstein. In addition, Emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the 1950s, of which Nehru was a founding member, further drove India into an Anti-Israel stand.

RSS, Savarkar supported the creation of Israel

Hindu nationalist leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar supported the creation of Israel on both moral and political grounds and condemned India's vote at the UN against Israel. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar believed Palestine was the natural territory of the Jewish people, essential to their aspiration for a nationhood. The Indian Communist, Radical Muslims and Secularist are to date, opposed to developing a strategic partnership with Israel.

It interesting to note that the Arab nations have consistently supported Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir and provided military support to Pakistan during its war against India on all the four occasions. Israel was always willing to develop a relationship with India and give strategic support. But India was unwilling to reach out and reciprocate. Israel has been one of the consistent allies of India and stood by us during every crisis. Israel’s strategic help to India over the last seven decades has played a vital role in India’s growth and strategic military success. By 2016 Israel had supplied India $600 million worth of defence equipment making Israel the second-largest source of defence equipment for India, after Russia. Bilateral trade between India and Israel grew from $200 million in 1992 to $4.52 billion in 2014.

Israel always stood by India and extended military assistance

The 1962 India China war was the first occasion when Israel gave active military help to India by providing shipments of arms and ammunition. Nehru had requested Ben Gurion to ship weapons without the Israel flag as it could have adversely affected his standing among Muslim nations and the Indian Muslims. While the Muslim nations and Pakistan sided with China, Israel sent arms shipments to India when India said it would accept them with the Israel flag. And that is when Israel and India started communicating at the diplomatic level.

Israel provided India weapons and instructors during the 1971 India-Pakistan war to India. Even though India had not set up diplomatic relation with Israel and India opposed Israel at international forums, yet Israel stood by India and extended military assistance, despite pressure not to do so. The 1971 war led to the emergence of Bangladesh and India’s decisive victory over Pakistan.

The repression and genocide of Hindu Bengalis in erstwhile East Pakistan forced millions to flee the country and take shelter in India – especially West Bengal and Assam. The genocide of three million Hindus in East Pakistan left India with little option but to act. Research reveals that it was India’s ambassador to France D.N Chatterjee who began the process to get Israel arms with a note to the external affairs ministry on July 6, 1971; saying assistance from Israel for “propaganda, finance and even procurement of armament and oil” would be “invaluable”. India did not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, and P.N Haksar - a senior bureaucrat and adviser to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and many other Indian leaders were cold toward D.N Chatterjee’s proposal for engagement with Isreal, but the strategic compulsions and India’s military leadership prevailed and India took Israel support. It was in July 1971, Golda Meir, Israel's prime minister, got an Israel arms manufacturer Shlomo Zabludowicz to provide India with mortars and ammunition, along with Military instructors. Israel stood by India throughout the war period. Israel also funnelled aid to the Mukti Bahini, the guerrilla force formed by Bengalis in erstwhile East Pakistan after Yahya Khan ordered a crackdown on the Bengali speaking population of East Pakistan. Once again, the very Muslim nations who Nehru stood by against Israel, extended extensive military aid to Pakistan against India.

When the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was founded in September 1968 by Rameshwar Nath Kao, R&AW began cultivating links with Mossad the Israel Secret Service. This was suggested as a counter-measure to the military links between Pakistan and China, as well as with North Korea. RAW had reportedly decided to have closer ties with Mossad, and the subsequent secret operation from 1985-1989 was approved by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Israel has been keen to develop ties with India right from 1947 but It was only in 1985 that the Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had initiated work on diplomatic ties, which were finally established in 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao was the premier.

Congress’ Arab Arafat fetish

It was in 1992 when India finally established full diplomatic relations with Israel but only after taking radical Arab leader Yasser Arafat on board. Finally, the Indian establishment could amass enough courage to forge ties with Israel. What was sought by Golda Meir from Indira Gandhi in 1971 finally became a reality on January 29, 1992, and Indira's foreign minister Narasimha Rao, who was the prime minister in 1992, drove the development

India's second series of nuclear tests by Atal Bihari Vajpai in 1998 saw the US and other western countries imposing sanctions. However, it didn't affect India much as Israel filled the gap effectively delivering the US arms as it had close military ties. Israel once again came to India’s aid and its strategic support turned the tide in India’s favour.

The 1999 Kargil war was a leap in terms of India-Israel military cooperation. Israel provided India with mortar ammunition, surveillance drones and laser guided missiles along with intelligence inputs that helped in winding up the war with a befitting reply to Pakistan. Israel once again proved that it is an all-weather friend of India. Israel stood by India in spite of pressure from the Clinton administration of U.S.

First Israel Prime Minister to visit India

In 2003, Ariel Sharon became the first Israel Prime Minister to visit India. Strengthening the bilateral ties, the Delhi Statement of Friendship and Cooperation was signed. The India – Israel relationship is gradually moving ahead. The Visit by Prime Minister Modi to Israel from 4th July to 6th July 2017 - the first ever visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Israel - was a historic moment in India-Israel relation. The progress in strategic, economic and people-to-people relations that started with the opening-up of Indian economy. The of political change across the world and in India is now irreversible.

The two democracies have the same geopolitical interest and will play a vital role in shaping the world of 21st century. The planned visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to India during on January 13 and 14, 2018, when Prime Minister Modi will host him in his home state of Gujarat during the Uttarayan festival will be another historic moment for India and will take our relationship to greater height.

Palestine envoy ducked

The presence of the Palestinian Ambassador to Pakistan Waleed Abu Ali at a rally organized by the Difah-e-Pakistan Council in Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi at a time when India just last week voted for a UNGA resolution against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israel capital show’s Palestinian is certainly not an entity India should engage with at the cost of its partnership with Israel. Difah-e-Pakistan Council is an umbrella group of 40 religious and extremist groups in Pakistan, headed by the Jama'at-ud-Da'wah chief, Hafiz Saeed, the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Hafiz Saeed is banned as a global terrorist by the UN and is accused as the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Saeed used the rally to call for an "Islamic summit" to defend Jerusalem from Israel and to express solidarity on the Kashmir issue and threatening India.

Why India should support USA President Trump…

India should support USA President Trumps move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and shift the Indian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. India should enter into a strategic partnership with Israel. Time has come to bury the Nehruvian foreign policy that has been an impediment to our growth and emergence as a global power.

It is said that the Arab terrorist organization once sent camel dung to the Israel prime minister as a gift to humiliate him. Netanyahu, when he got the gift, sent a return gift. It was a computer chip with a note written on it “any leader can only gift the best his people produce” - signifying the technology power Israel is today. India by making Israel a strategic partner will not only get rid of its foreign policy that has only prevented its progress but will also pave the way for its future generations to make great progress.