India Swinging Behind Israel Is Good for U.S. Too
India's public backing of Israel in the latest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be a recipe for even stronger ties with the United States, according to long-time observers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced his support for Israel in a social media post on Saturday: "Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour."
"In some ways, the response will help India-U.S. relations as it will be viewed as India's endorsement of U.S. policy in the region. But India is coming at the issue from its own vantage point and its own security challenges," said Harsh Pant, a professor at the King's India Institute at King's College London.
Washington's bet on India is yet to convince all stakeholders in the West, with many citing New Delhi's cautious position on the war in Ukraine. The United States has nonetheless sought to keep India onside as a bulwark against an increasingly assertive China, which has emerged as India's long-term strategic competitor.
In Asia, New Delhi's strategic rationale includes such factors as its long-running territorial dispute with Beijing, whose moves along their shared border have brought India and the United States closer together.
Sympathy for Israel
In the Middle East, however, India's interests align for different reasons. On X, formerly known as Twitter, "India with Israel" was among the trending hashtags in a sign of the outpouring of support on social media.
Over the weekend, Indian X users compared the strikes on Israel, orchestrated by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, to the Mumbai attacks of 2008, when an Islamist organization from Pakistan carried out terror attacks across the Indian city, killing 166 people, including six Americans.
"There is a degree of sympathy in India with what Israel is going through because of India's own experience with terrorism," Pant told Newsweek.
Following a call on Tuesday between Modi and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the Indian leader reiterated his position in an X post: "India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."
The Bharatiya Janata Party, India's ruling party, shared a social media video likening the Mumbai attacks to the ongoing events in Israel.
After a local Jewish synagogue became the target of one of the attacks in Mumbai 15 years ago, it began a series of events that led to closer Israel-India relations. In 2017, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel, a watershed moment.
"India's response is defined by concerns about terrorism New Delhi faces. The challenge, in some ways, is similar to what Israel is experiencing if you have non-state actors that target you with the support of some state actors," said Pant, who is also a senior researcher with the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.
"That's a very potent combination, as the Hamas attack in Israel has underscored. India has faced similar terror activities in the past. Those concerns are driving the sentiment here," he said.
Geopolitical Shift
India's support for Israel might not have been a major breakthrough, but it was a test of New Delhi's resolve—Israel has openly backed India on terror-related activities in the past.
Up until the 1980s, India adopted a pro-Arab stance and was more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause as part of its leadership of the non-aligned movement. It kept its distance with Israel as a result.
India's geopolitical situation—and the sentiments of its domestic politics—have since changed, Manjari Chatterjee Miller, a senior analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote for the think tank on Monday.
"Not only does it have a close relationship with Israel, but India is today a close strategic partner of the United States, a staunch Israeli ally," she said.
To be sure, India's position today may please the United States, but the relationship is not without its complications, according to Pant.
"India will have to carry out some balancing act. But India's close ties with Israel have been out in the open for a very long time, and Saudi Arabia has been engaging with New Delhi while knowing well about India's ties with Israel," Pant said.
"It's early to say how India's long-term equation will pan out, and therefore, I don't see India particularly perturbed at this point, but it will have to balance its engagement with the Arab countries," he said.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jqKlnaGRYsK0ecisqZqdnJ56sa3LnqqtoZ6erq95wqiln6SZmMFufZdsamxsaA%3D%3D