Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to Israel, confirmed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 31 May, may sound like an idea that sounds like the government is 'thinking out of the box', but it's a dangerous foreign policy move.
A solid argument in favour of Modi deciding to become the first-ever Indian PM to pay an official visit to Israel stems from the fact that the Indian foreign policy in favour of the Palestinians in the Israel-Palestine conflict has yielded zilch so far for New Delhi. Moreover, the Arab world has stymied India routinely and over the years repeatedly taken Pakistan's side on the Kashmir issue.
The Arab nations has done this through the platform of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), a body of 56 Islamic states and the argument is that through these periodic anti-India resolutions passed at the OIC platform it has repeatedly cocked a snook at India. Some believe it is time for New Delhi to rework its foreign policy vis-a-vis the Islamic nations and take sides with Israel openly.
But this is not only a flawed way of looking at the complex relations between India and the Muslim world but is also fraught with dangerous diplomatic, economic and strategic consequences that we can ill afford.
Congress leader Anand Sharma on 3 June in Hyderabad has said that PM Modi’s proposed visit to Israel is “worrisome” as it undermines India's position on Palestine and also "destroys balance" in India’s foreign policy. But even Sharma failed to elaborate why such a step would be bad for Indian foreign policy and Indian national interests.
It was the Congress government of PV Narasimha Rao which had dared to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992. Incidentally, China too had established diplomatic relations with Israel in the same year.
Since 1992, both India and China have invested a lot in their diplomatic engagements with Israel, overtly as well as covertly. Both India and China have consistently counter-balanced their relations with Israel and stepped up their outreach to Islamic nations simultaneously.
But by deciding to pay an official visit to Israel, PM Modi has threatened to do away with the traditional diplomatic balance between Israel and the Islamic nations.
The Modi government must not lose sight of the fact that Israel is a trigger-happy state. It has routinely 'punished' the Palestinians and the Arab world for their attacks on Israel. Most often, the retaliatory attacks have been disproportionate. So much so that if one Israeli is killed in a terror attack, reprisals from Tel Aviv often claim far more lives.
Israel has routinely gotten away for its trigger-happy, aggressive foreign policy largely due to two reasons: One, it is a de facto nuclear weapon power . Two, it is not only tolerated but also encouraged by the world’s sole superpower the United States, thanks to the perennially strong Jewish lobby in the US.
The 'exploits' of Israel and the fact that this small Jewish state has survived all these decades may inspire jingoists, but the fact is that an overtly strong relationship with Israel will inevitably trigger a much bigger and costlier backlash for India from Islamic nations.
India continues to rely heavily on oil imports from the Islamic nations. Moreover, more than seven million Indians are living and working in Islamic countries. By becoming the first Indian PM to visit Israel, Modi may unleash an irrevocable damage.
Such a step will also impinge badly on Indian trade with the Islamic nations. For example, India has annual bilateral trade worth $75 billion with a small country like the United Arab Emirates.
India must also consider its relations with two major Islamic powers – Saudi Arabia and Iran – if it were to decide to take its relationship with Israel to another level with a prime ministerial visit. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran will be fuming and India will lose its strategic grip on these important nations which it has carefully developed and nurtured over the past decade.
As for China, one must not forget that China and Israel have a very strong military relationship. Israel is China’s second largest foreign supplier of arms, second only to Russia.
But at the same time, Israel is of utmost strategic importance for India. There are certain relationships which are seldom or never put out in the open – and should not be. The India-Israel relationship falls in this unusual category. It is good to intensify relations with Israel, a country which has helped us immensely in countering Pakistan’s proxy war over the past decades. This relationship needs to be nurtured and strengthened, but covertly.
PM Narendra Modi's plan to visit Israel is just dangerous for India's foreign policy - Firstpost
@doublemaster @jamahir
A solid argument in favour of Modi deciding to become the first-ever Indian PM to pay an official visit to Israel stems from the fact that the Indian foreign policy in favour of the Palestinians in the Israel-Palestine conflict has yielded zilch so far for New Delhi. Moreover, the Arab world has stymied India routinely and over the years repeatedly taken Pakistan's side on the Kashmir issue.
The Arab nations has done this through the platform of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), a body of 56 Islamic states and the argument is that through these periodic anti-India resolutions passed at the OIC platform it has repeatedly cocked a snook at India. Some believe it is time for New Delhi to rework its foreign policy vis-a-vis the Islamic nations and take sides with Israel openly.
But this is not only a flawed way of looking at the complex relations between India and the Muslim world but is also fraught with dangerous diplomatic, economic and strategic consequences that we can ill afford.
Congress leader Anand Sharma on 3 June in Hyderabad has said that PM Modi’s proposed visit to Israel is “worrisome” as it undermines India's position on Palestine and also "destroys balance" in India’s foreign policy. But even Sharma failed to elaborate why such a step would be bad for Indian foreign policy and Indian national interests.
It was the Congress government of PV Narasimha Rao which had dared to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992. Incidentally, China too had established diplomatic relations with Israel in the same year.
Since 1992, both India and China have invested a lot in their diplomatic engagements with Israel, overtly as well as covertly. Both India and China have consistently counter-balanced their relations with Israel and stepped up their outreach to Islamic nations simultaneously.
But by deciding to pay an official visit to Israel, PM Modi has threatened to do away with the traditional diplomatic balance between Israel and the Islamic nations.
The Modi government must not lose sight of the fact that Israel is a trigger-happy state. It has routinely 'punished' the Palestinians and the Arab world for their attacks on Israel. Most often, the retaliatory attacks have been disproportionate. So much so that if one Israeli is killed in a terror attack, reprisals from Tel Aviv often claim far more lives.
Israel has routinely gotten away for its trigger-happy, aggressive foreign policy largely due to two reasons: One, it is a de facto nuclear weapon power . Two, it is not only tolerated but also encouraged by the world’s sole superpower the United States, thanks to the perennially strong Jewish lobby in the US.
The 'exploits' of Israel and the fact that this small Jewish state has survived all these decades may inspire jingoists, but the fact is that an overtly strong relationship with Israel will inevitably trigger a much bigger and costlier backlash for India from Islamic nations.
India continues to rely heavily on oil imports from the Islamic nations. Moreover, more than seven million Indians are living and working in Islamic countries. By becoming the first Indian PM to visit Israel, Modi may unleash an irrevocable damage.
Such a step will also impinge badly on Indian trade with the Islamic nations. For example, India has annual bilateral trade worth $75 billion with a small country like the United Arab Emirates.
India must also consider its relations with two major Islamic powers – Saudi Arabia and Iran – if it were to decide to take its relationship with Israel to another level with a prime ministerial visit. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran will be fuming and India will lose its strategic grip on these important nations which it has carefully developed and nurtured over the past decade.
As for China, one must not forget that China and Israel have a very strong military relationship. Israel is China’s second largest foreign supplier of arms, second only to Russia.
But at the same time, Israel is of utmost strategic importance for India. There are certain relationships which are seldom or never put out in the open – and should not be. The India-Israel relationship falls in this unusual category. It is good to intensify relations with Israel, a country which has helped us immensely in countering Pakistan’s proxy war over the past decades. This relationship needs to be nurtured and strengthened, but covertly.
PM Narendra Modi's plan to visit Israel is just dangerous for India's foreign policy - Firstpost
@doublemaster @jamahir
