During the premiership of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi — which has mostly coincided with the premiership, in Israel, of Benjamin Netanyahu, both of whom lead right-wing, nationalist parties — ties between India and Israel have grown much closer.
This is true not only at the political level, but, more importantly, at the social level. Israelis hold a higher favorability of India than any other country in the world — 71 percent — while a 2009 survey recorded support for Israel in India at 58 percent, higher than in the United States. During the recent war in Gaza, a large number of Indian social media accounts have been amplifying a pro-Israeli narrative.
What is behind this extraordinary support of Israel in India? After all, post-independence India has traditionally taken a pro-Palestinian stance, as part of the left-leaning Congress Party’s belief in post-colonial solidarity. India did not even vote in favor of the United Nations partition plan in 1947 that led to the creation of Israel, though it did recognize Israel in 1950, before fully normalizing relations in 1992. India was also the first non-Arab state to recognize Palestinian statehood in 1988.
In retrospect, however, these decisions were not necessarily driven by national interest, but by ideology, and given the current upswing in close ties between the two countries, it is doubtful if this ideological position was held by the majority of India’s population.
Three factors explain the upsurge in pro-Israel feeling in India over the past three decades. First — and this goes beyond right-wing politics — is the empathy and solidarity felt in India toward Israel on the issue of terrorist attacks. Both countries have suffered heavily from Islamist terrorism, often sponsored by hostile foreign powers — Pakistan in India’s case and Iran in Israel’s case — and have accordingly, developed, for similar reasons, tough stances against terrorism and an emphasis on national security. Indeed, a milestone in contemporary India-Israel relations was Israel’s supplying of weapons to Indian forces fighting Pakistan during the Kargil War of 1999.
This shared security perspective has smoothened the second factor responsible for pro-Israel sentiment in India: better overall people-to-people and trade ties.
Post-Cold War, India and Israel have developed more normal relations, particularly as the political configuration in India no longer incentivizes governments going out of their way to signal solidarity with post-colonial Muslim countries, or to use the Palestinian issue to garner domestic support amongst Muslims.
This story was originally published in thediplomat.com. Read the full story here.
