India's Modi Is Losing Patience With Netanyahu, and With Israel's War in Gaza - Opinion - Haaretz.com
This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had an unexpected visitor from Delhi, Ajit Doval, India's national security advisor and Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi's trusted right-hand on foreign policy and security matters.
Doval's sudden trip to Israel indicates Modi's government's concerns as it watches with dismay Israel's ongoing assault on Hamas in Gaza which is taking a horrific toll on its civilians, who comprise the majority of the 30,000 killed in the war and who are sinking ever deeper into an humanitarian disaster of hunger and homelessness.
India is well aware of the friction between Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden. It's also been alarmed by the death of an Indian worker near Israel's northern border north of Israel in a Hezbollah rocket barrage at a time the government of India has agreed to send a large number of Indian workers to Israel to work in construction.
Doval is Modi's messenger, which is why Netanyahu briefed him himself. He is the first senior government official to visit Israel since October 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza and his visit comes as India has begun shifting its approach to the situation.
Modi had been trying to maintain what he hopes will appear a "balanced" approach to the crisis. One the one hand, India was extremely supportive of Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7 attack and its security concerns. Modi was one of the first global leaders to send his solidarity and support. Since his historic visit in 2017, the first by an Indian prime minister to Israel, he has been known as a firm friend of the Jewish state.
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.Credit: Fatima Shbair,AP
But Modi's government has also been outspoken in calling for a political solution to finally end the conflict through a two-state solution. The tone it is beginning to take suggests India is losing patience with how Israel is conducting the war and the disaster it is wreaking on the people of Gaza.
India's foreign minister, S Jaishankar, summed up the initial Indian position when he said that on the fight against terrorism, India is with Israel and on the two-state solution, it is with the Palestinians.
Last month, he repeated India's stand for the two-state solution and underlined that it is more urgent than before. He also warned that Israel "should have been very mindful of civilian casualties" and has "an obligation to observe international humanitarian law".
His comments signaled a shift to sharper, more critical language than he had previously used.
Doval's visit to Jerusalem should be seen as a warning call that India, despite the dramatically warmed ties in recent years between India and Israel, it is not afraid to speak its concerns out loud.
Indian workers hoping to be hired for jobs in Israel fill their forms during a recruitment drive in Lucknow, India, in January.Credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh,AP
Among them is the issue of safety for the Indian workers in Israel. The government of India is managing the recruitment of workers, 20,000 of whom are set to be arriving soon be in Israel. India's robust national trade and labor unions oppose the decisionto send workers to Israel. They are arguing for solidarity with the Palestinian people over helping Israel in its labor shortage crunch in the aftermath of Israel banning most West Bank laborers from entering Israel in wake of the October 7 attack. They have seized on the recent death of the worker in northern Israel, as yet more reason the Indian government should not send its citizens to a war zone for employment.
The Indian government won't be able to ignore the safety of Indian workers in Israel. The Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv issued an advisory for its citizens to relocate themselves from northern and southern border areas of Israel to "safe areas" in the country.
India also has a major interests in the ambitious "India-Middle East-Europe" economic corridor, announced at the G20 summit in Delhi last year aimed which would establish a rail and shipping project connecting India to the Middle East, specifically the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan, and Europe. But it's been delayed because of the Israel-Gaza War. For it to have any hope of working a more stable situation in the Middle East is essential.
The failure of the so called I2U2 Alliance which includes India, Israel, the UAE and the U.S. to actually launch as planned for joint investments in water, energy, transportation and other areas, is a reminder of great ideas that can flounder.
A possible Israeli quagmire in Gaza and the Netanyahu government's seeming outright dismissal of any political solution to resolve the conflict could well hurt India's interests in the region.
Indian women and girls walk with a banner in support of Palestinians and against Israel at a rally for International Women's Day in Kolkata, India on FridayCredit: Bikas Das,AP
Furthermore the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is of overwhelming concern and India will not be able to maintain its so-called balanced position if things don't change. India is trying to avoid condemning Israel at the United Nations, but that will be more difficult without a change in course by Israel.
How Israel proceeds will have a direct bearing on the domestic debates about Modi's Israel policy, especially as he heads into the national elections this spring.
Doval's visit serves as a reminder Israel cannot take its newly blossoming relationship with India for granted. Israel, increasingly unpopular around the world because of the war in Gaza, needs India more than it ever has before.
Let's hope Netanyahu got the message.
Khinvraj Jangid is Associate Professor and Director of Center for Israel Studies at the OP Jindal Global University in Delhi. He is currently adjunct professor at The Azrieli Center for Israel Studies at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sde Boker Campus.