Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s explicit tilt towards Israel and his personal ties with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu will be severely tested in coming weeks because of the Jewish state’s desperate and destructive struggle to defeat its Islamic enemies – South Lebanon, North Yemen, Iraq and Iran – in Gaza. Israel is in the throes of an existential war to survive as a Jewish homeland and has Modi’s support but he may have to step back because of the awful humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Israel’s feared military has been surprisingly ineffective in putting paid to just 30,000-40,000 lightly armed Hamas fighters, despite more than 300 days of all-out invasion with all its might, including some 300,00 soldiers, tanks, cannons, drones, warplanes and hundreds of awfully destructive 500-2,000 pound bombs supplied by the US. Worse, it has still not been able to find and free at least 100 hostages hidden in that 41 km long and 12 km wide strip, which has been reduced to rubble and rendered inhabitable for its over 2 million inhabitants.
Fears of a wider regional war, which America’s Joe Biden has said could be catastrophic, have risen sharply after Israel allegedly assassinated chief Hamas peace negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in his bedroom during an official visit to Tehran on 31 July. Enraged Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered major retaliation against Israel and all local Iran-allied militias could act jointly, including the powerful Hizballah of Lebanon. Israel has killed several of its top leaders in recent days in defiance of American appeals.
In its so far fruitless war in Gaza, Israel is reported to have killed more than 40,000 people, about two-thirds of them women and children, and injured or maimed nearly 100,000. Its hermetic economic blockade against the Gaza strip is causing widespread deaths especially of children because of famine, epidemic diseases, lack of drinking water, non-existent sanitation and near-absence of medical care. Its incessant bombing has destroyed almost all of Gaza’s medical facilities, schools, agricultural lands, administrative buildings and homes. All of this has been carefully documented by the United Nations and international non-governmental entities.
On 31 July, the UN reported alleged abuses carried out against thousands of Palestinians detained by the Israeli authorities. It documented serious violations of almost all rules of war. “Detainees said they were held in cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers. Their testimonies told of prolonged blindfolding, deprivation of food, sleep and water, and being subjected to electric shocks and being burnt with cigarettes…Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence,” the report noted.
In a landmark ruling on 19 July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel’s occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful, along with the associated Jewish settlements, annexation of land and appropriation of natural resources. The ICJ asked Israel to end its occupation, dismantle its settlements, provide full reparations to Palestinian victims and facilitate the return of displaced people.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes, including using starvation as a weapon of war. Separately, the ICJ ordered Israel last January to prevent genocide against Gazans under the 1948 Genocide Convention which Israel has signed.
Modi, who was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel in 2017, continues to be a good friend. Israel has also been a steady friend since the 1999 war with Pakistan, when it willingly supplied much needed arms and ammunition. In recent years, India has purchased about $2 billion worth of weapons annually from Israel, including technology, missiles, drones, bombs, and border-security equipment. It is now the Israeli defence industry’s biggest foreign customer.
This is an important relationship that should be carefully preserved. Netanyahu seems to be acting recklessly in Gaza and against Iran, but Israelis deserve sympathy because no other country truly provides protection to Jews. They have a long and brutal history of oppression, discrimination and genocide against them in European countries.
A quick Israeli victory in Gaza followed by a new governing authority involving the Gulf Arab kingdoms would have been better for Modi, because he wants to build strong bridges with the region. Instead, if Gaza ignites a disastrous wider war, India’s past diplomatic efforts would come to nought. Worse, Hamas success in ousting Israel’s military from Gaza could stimulate Islamic terrorists everywhere, including threats against India.