Modi’s visit to Israel - Significance of history and its ambiguity

During a press conference in Delhi , External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Israel, making him the first Indian Premier to visit the country. Ms. Swaraj also said she would visit Israel, Palestine and Jordan later this year and will travel to Tehran in June for the Non-Aligned Ministerial meet.

Despite the fact that India had set up full relations with the country nearly more than two years ago , no Indian Prime Minister has visited Israel. In 2000, Jaswant Singh became the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Israel and in 2003, Ariel Sharon became the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit India. He was welcomed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance coalition government of India during that point of time.

The bi-lateral and diplomatic tie between India and Israel also has a historical significance attached to it. The two countries now enjoy an extensive economic, military and strategic relationship. India is the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest defense supplier to India after Russia. As per the data and reports of 2013, India is the third largest trade partner of Israel and tenth largest trade partner on an overall global index. According to the recent advancements of the diplomatic and bilateral talks that have been happening, both the nations are negotiating an extensive free trade agreement, focusing on areas such as information technology, biotechnology and agriculture.

Historical and political interpretations

The political and apolitical relations between India and Israel in the context of International relations and politics has its own significance subtly related to the Indian Independence movement and its aftermaths. During the time of Indian Independence, India’s position on the establishment of the State of Israel was nebulously regarded by its own partition on religious lines.

Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi believed the Jews had a good case and a prior claim for Israel, but opposed the creation of Israel on religious or mandated terms. Although India voted against Israel unsubscribing to the Partition of Palestine plan of 1947 in the UN, India did recognize Israel as a nation in 1950. At that point of time, various Hindu nationalist organizations supported the creation of Israel and many of the right winged Hindu nationalist leaders, condemned India’s vote against Israel in the UN.

The reverberations from the past have become a solid ambiguous base for analysts to interpret the relations between the decisions of the government and its attempt to tactically influence the people considering the polarizations that happen under the veil of political prejudices. Despite the strong diplomatic ties between both the nations during the tenure of the UPA government, Congress reluctantly opposed and condemned the acts of Israeli military actions in Palestinian states which indirectly points out to an attempt developed from a desire to get Muslim votes in the nation according to some of the political analysts in the nation.

The notions of the socio-political base that has been pertaining in India and Israel can be perused analogously since the right wing dominancy in the ruling. At times, opposition parties share a radical primitive outlook towards many issues in a global political context though the ruling party of Israel etches the notion of Revisionist Zionism on a national political line. The recent diplomatic developments between both the nations have drawn the attention to a major interrogative line of global relations and International politics considering the inter-relatable instances from the past and significance of its own incidental notions from the history.

-Nadeem Ahmed