Overview
India has shown its support for Israel in the wake of the recent terror attack by Hamas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed solidarity with Israel and condemned the attacks as “terrorist attacks”. He stated, "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". Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon has acknowledged India’s deep understanding of terrorism and its global influence, and underscored the significance of support pouring in from across the country. He noted that India's unique perspective, born from its own experience with terrorism, adds to the value of this support.
 |  |
Rationale Behind India’s Stand
India has maintained a fine balance between its growing relationship with Israel and its historical ties with Palestine. While India recognised Israel as a state in 1950, the normalisation of ties started decades later. It was in 1992 that New Delhi got an Israeli embassy and Tel Aviv the Indian embassy. In recent years, PM Modi has invested in the friendship between the two nations. In 2020 Indian PM Narendra Modi wrote a letter on the occasion
of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, reaffirming India’s support to the Palestinian cause and expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian people. So, India follows a much nuanced policy, maintaining cordial relation with both the states and supporting a humanitarian two state solution as proposed by UN.
In the wake of latest terrorist attack, India’s support for Israel does not reflect departure from its belief in the two-state solution. Rather, India’s support for Israel is rooted in its deep understanding of terrorism. India has been a victim of terrorism for many years and understands the devastating impact it can have on a nation and its people. This shared experience has fostered a strong bond between India and Israel.
India recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks and has expressed solidarity with the country during these difficult times. The Indian government has condemned the attacks and expressed its concern for the innocent victims and their families.
India supports strict global implementation of anti-terrorism mechanisms established by UN Security Council Resolutions, including Resolutions 1267/1989 (related to sanctions against ISIS (Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda) and 1988 (related to sanctions against Taliban), 1373 (related to Counter-Terrorism Committee), and 1540 (pertaining to non-proliferation of WMDs), and other international mechanisms such as Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
India has been actively involved in diplomatic efforts at the United Nations also to combat terrorism. India has consistently pushed for the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), which aims to provide a universal legal framework for the fight against terrorism.
The latest attack on Israel is the deadliest strike on the country in 50 years with some calling it Israel’s 9/11. It has led to over 700 deaths and 100 hostages. No sane country would support such a heinous terrorist attack.
Even Arab countries including Saudi Arabia has denounced the Hamas attack as a “flagrant violation of international norms, Egypt has condemned it as a "heinous act of terrorism,” Jordan has called it a “cowardly act of aggression," the UAE has condemned the “provocative attack.”
Fake Propaganda in wake of Hamas attack
Some media factions have touted it as India’s departure from its age old policy of Middle-East, its support for the Palestinian cause and the two state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, while no such official stance has been declared by India. India’s support to Israel is based on its unequivocal stance against terrorism.
 |  |
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A Baby has also criticized the government’s support to Israel in the wake of terror attack by Hamas.
Also, within India on Oct 8 and 9, hashtag #नरेंद्र_मोदी_इस्तीफा_दो was trending, asking PM Modi to resign. The hashtag prominently targeted PM Modi on his support and concern towards Israel while wrongfully claiming that he was indifferent towards situation at home, especially on Manipur crisis. Hansraj Meena (@HansrajMeena) and his group named Tribal Army (@TribalArmy) are at the forefront of this twitter trend.
 |  |  |
Almost 10 percent of the tweets have been done from outside India as per the area analysis, mainly form USA, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The major influencers who tweeted with this hashtag are as follows:
 |  |
Sentiment Analysis of this twitter trend revealed that it had highly negative sentiment, reaching 100% during most of the interval it was trending. The hashtag has received over 87 thousand engagements in past 24 hours.
 |  |
Comments