As the fighting between Israel and Hamas intensifies, the world is bracing for the widening of a conflict that has the potential to escalate quickly and bring in outside powers from the region and beyond.
India’s position in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7th—and the subsequent Israeli military response—has been noteworthy. Unlike many countries in the Global South, which offered qualified support for Israel after the attacks and have positioned themselves with the Palestinian cause, India’s initial response made no mention of Gaza at all.
To make sense of India’s evolving position and the ways in which its Middle East policy has shifted over the decades, Milan is joined on the show this week by the political scientist Nicolas Blarel. Nicolas is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University in The Netherlands and the author of The Evolution of India’s Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and Compromise since 1922.
Milan and Nicolas discuss India’s response to the conflict in Israel-Palestine, its growing embrace of Israel, and the growing bilateral security partnership. Plus, the two discuss the Modi government’s simultaneous outreach to Gulf Arab states and the factors that could shape how India responds to an expanded regional conflict.
Episode notes:
Crystal A. Ennis and Nicolas Blarel, eds., The South Asia to Gulf Migration Governance Complex (Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2022).
Nicolas Blarel, The Evolution of India’s Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and Compromise since 1922 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Sumit Ganguly and Nicolas Blarel, “Modi’s Comments on Israel-Gaza War Signal Shift,” Foreign Policy, October 12, 2023.
Nicolas Blarel, “Navigating Asian Rivalries: Israel’s ties with China and India,” National University of Singapore-Middle East Institute, Singapore Insights No. 300, July 25, 2023.
Sign up to receive Carnegie invitations: https://bit.ly/3Bfsca5
Like and subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/38sljlH
The Carnegie Endowment advances international peace by leveraging its global network to shape debates and provide decisionmakers with independent insights and innovative ideas on the most consequential global threats and opportunities.
Support Carnegie’s work: https://carnegieendowment.org/donate
Visit our website: https://carnegieendowment.org/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carnegieendowment/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarnegieEndow
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carnegieendow/
#foreignpolicy #CarnegieEndowment
source
Israel helped india for high quality weapons when india was fending for its survival on the other hand the treacherous arab countries either supported pakistan or abstained in india pak and india china wars . Diplomacy is based on interest and not on so called human rights values and our geopolitical interest lie with israel .
Except for bankrupt iran and nutcase qatar nobody cares about palestine, Qatar is too small to matter , iran is under sanctions.
Loved the podcast. Illuminating.
Very interesting discussion with Professor Blarel. As he mentioned, since 2014, Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have openly referred to India’s closeness with Israel, particularly after Israel’s vital help to India, with weapons and spare parts for Soviet-made weapons, engineered in Israel, particularly when Russia was going through its own internal turmoil and was unable to supply spare parts to India, during the period of the Kargil War of 1999.
The Congress government-led approach of placating Muslim sentiments in India by not formally establishing diplomatic ties with Israel for the first few decades after 1947-48, seemed feckless, when seen against the backdrop of zero support for India from Muslim countries, during the Kargil War, in which Pakistan was clearly the aggressor.
Historically, India’s ties with Israel, when seen in the context of the long history of peaceful relations (in India) with the Jewish community, going back two millennia when it first sought refuge, was certainly the exception, when viewed globally.
As Prof. Blarel observed, India is watching Israel’s war in Gaza.
The spontaneous expressions of support and empathy, on social media, for Israel, from thousands of Indians including the Indian diaspora, reflect the experience of dealing with the constant reality of jihadi attacks in India, from Pakistan ( notwithstanding decades since the waving of the magic wand of the ‘two-state solution’).
Nevertheless, as noted in the discussion, the Modi government is maintaining a delicate balance between its support for Israel and its friendship with GCC countries, to try to avoid impacting plans for intensifying regional trade relations and economic cooperation. In light of the situation in Israel and Gaza, India’s new policy of self reliance in weapons production is timely.