India-Israel growing relationship: need for political inclusiveness

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to make an official visit to India in January next year- 2018. There is a high possibility that his visit coincides with India’s Republic Day celebration. Netanyahu will then become the first ever Israeli premier to attend this epic annual event of India as a chief guest.

Western media is abuzz with speculations surrounding Netanyahu‘s upcoming visit to India. Many strategic experts and academicians have described that this would be a reciprocal visit to the one undertaken by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July this year- when for the first time in history an Indian Prime Minister visited Israel.

However, not all sections of people in India, Israel and worldwide are happy with this growing intimacy between the two countries. Left-leaning advocates are expressing scorn over India’s present foreign policy stance of openly embracing Israel, which marks a deviation from its traditional position of supporting the cause of Palestinian statehood. They view this partnership as an ‘unholy alliance’ targeted against Muslims in the Middle East to deceitfully engage them in continued gory wrangling.

It needs to be understood India-Israel relationship is not a recent development; rather this has been in existence since time immemorial, save for a short duration of the Cold War period. The Bible and Talmud say that the Kingdom of Israel of the First Temple period and the Jews of Babylon had trade links with India. The High Middle Ages, the 11th and 12th centuries, were a turning point in Indo-Jewish relations. Documented records from this time, such as letters, printed maps and private papers, show a steady stream of long-distance Jewish traders travelling to India. They established extensive links with native societies in India, including marriages, exchange of traditions and cultural values and so on. Subsequently, person-to-person contacts between visiting Jews and Indians continued uninterrupted, and increased with time.

India initially granted de jure recognition to Israel on September 18, 1950. However, India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s sympathetic stance towards the Arabs and his adamant refusal to Ben Gurion’s bids for political and diplomatic support led to freezing of relationship between the two countries. Despite the political deadlock, the two countries maintained certain clandestine military and intelligence contacts throughout the Cold War era. India for the first time initiated diplomatic links with Tel Aviv in the early 1990s under the leadership of P V Narasimha Rao – a veteran of the centrist Indian National Congress party. Thereafter, the bilateral relationship has blossomed to where it stands today. This relationship has got a boost under the ruling stints of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a nationalist Indian political party that openly states in its manifesto to establish closer ties with Israel as an objective.

Today India is facing security threats from its neighbouring countries- China and Pakistan- and from terror elements within its territories. However, it is not at a position to either pursue Israel’s constant on-the-frontline posture against its hostile Arab neighbours or replicate the strict Israeli security model at the home front. The formidable standing of India’s nuclear powered neighbours, huge domestic population (including approximately 15 % Muslims) and low-tech service providing nature of its economy makes it difficult for India to act like a Westphalia based sovereign state prioritizing the interests of one nation. Moreover, the Islam found in India is different from the rest of the world. The Muslims there have made significant contributions as citizens in arts, sciences and public life, and not specifically as members of a community. In essence, India and Israel can be allies; but India’s security problems, political dilemmas and social dynamics are remarkably different from Israel.

With the BJP coming to power in India in 2014 with an absolute majority, there has been a spurt in the level of activities between India and Israel, such as military sales and purchases, scientific and technological collaborations, academic research and scholarships, private sector business partnerships, religious discussions, and so on. For now, an ideal bonhomie seems to exist between the two ‘civilization-states’. However, things are not as good as it looks from outside. The far-right political parties from both countries, like Shiv Sena, Lehava, and their likes, are trying to hijack this mutually complimenting relationship for securing their vested interests. They are airing hatred and grievances against other communities, both religious and socio-political, by branding India and Israel as crusaders against Muslims. Whereas, in reality India-Israel relationship is a timely partnership between two countries, which maintained friendly relations in the past, and currently adjusting their friendship in tune with changing global geopolitical realities.

Both India and Israel need to accommodate concerns and interests of all sections of the political spectrum. The inclusion of the political left and the center forces in the policy-making process will ensure that the political right is not able to secure vested interests under the pretext of substantiating national interests. For now, Modi and Netanyahu are all set to elevate India-Israel relationship to the level of a ‘strategic alliance’- which ought to benefit both countries equally.

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  1. SAMIR SARDANA

    What does Israel see in India ? Do the Jews REALLY believe that 1 of the lost tribes of Israel born of Leah and Jacob came to India and are now in the ruling elite ?

    Can the Jews gain redemption by allying with Right Wing Hindoos ? Can the Jews use the Hindoos against the Crescent and the Sickle ?

    It is the Nazis who were INSPIRED by the Gita – and Rommel,Goebbel,Himmler (The Posener Speech) and other Nuremberg convicts, claimed that they were akin to Arjuna,following THEIR DUTY to the Fuhrer. Hence,they killed,W/O discrimination as it was their divine duty to their NATION and the FUHRER (as stated in the Gita) !

    These are the verses in the diaries of the Nazis,and these verses were ALSO QUOTED in the Nuremberg Trials by the Nazis ! THE THEOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION OF GENOCIDE AND POGROMS !

    I present Chapter 18 of the Bhagwad Gita !

    When Krishna the Bhagvat was fed up trying to explain to “Arjuna the – why he “needed to exterminate his foes” – this was the “last attempt” in the 18th Chapter of the Gita – the logic is as under :

    Lumen Naturale 1 – There are “5 precedents to sense-perception and action”

    अधिष्ठानं तथा कर्ता करणं च पृथग्विधम्।

    विविधाश्च पृथक्चेष्टा दैवं चैवात्र पञ्चमम्।।18.14।।

    18.14 The locus as also the agent, the different kinds of organs, the many and distinct activities, and, the “divine is here the fifth”.

    EXPLANATION – THE POINT IS THAT UNLIKE ISLAM WHERE A MAN IS LIABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS – HERE – THE GITA STATES THAT THERE IS NO CONCEPT OF VOLITION OR CHOICE – AS ALL THAT,A SO CALLED HUMAN DOES,IS BASED ON THE EXTERNAL IMPULSE OF PERCEPTION,OR A DIVINE INSTRUCTION. Hence, there is no such thing as SENTIENCE,and HUMANS are no more than ROBOTS.

    Lumen Naturale 2 – There “5 are causes of all action” and are “independent of the mind and body dualism” of Descartes and “also the Soul “!

    मूल श्लोकः शरीरवाङ्मनोभिर्यत्कर्म प्रारभते नरः। न्याय्यं वा विपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हेतवः।।18.15।।

    18.15 For whatever action a man undertakes by his body, speech and mind, whether right or wrong,i.e., enjoined or forbidden by the Sastras, “the following five”, are its causes:

    EXPLANATION – HERE THE POINT TO NOTE IS THAT,EVERY ACTION HAS A CAUSE.EVERY GENOCIDE HAD ITS WARRANT WRITTEN,IN A PRIOR OR A PRIOI CAUSE.ALSO,EVEN A THJOUGHT IN THE MIND HAS ITS ORIGIN IN 5 CAUSES ! HENCE,THERE IS NO ORIGINAL THOUGHT OR FREE ACTION – AND THE SAME APPLIES TO THE NAZI GENOCIDE

    Lumen Naturale 3 – 18.16 But the fool who supposes, because of his immature judgment, that it is his own Self alone that acts, he perverts the truth and does not see rightly.

    तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यः।

    पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः।।18.16।।

    EXPLANATION – TO EVEN THINK (LET ALONE REPENT) THAT A MAN IS THE “CAUSE” OF HIS ACTIONS OR IS “RESPONSIBLE” FOR THE SAME – IS FOOLISH.This RHYMES with the Jesus Complex – that Jesus died for the SINS OF HUMANITY – as the SINS of HUMANITY were the actions of GOD,and so,GOD SACRIFICED HIS SON,for the SINS OF HUMANIY (and the suffering of HUMANITY).BUT THE SINS AND SUFFERINGS CONTINUE ! It is a fact that EITHER Jesus came to India or Hindoo Godmen were in Babylon and Jerusalem – at the time of Jesus !

    In essence,the Nazi theory is that the Jew Genocide was ordained,and is reposited in the Book of Isaiah,and the Curse on the lineage of Solomon.So Himmler posited that HIS ACTIONS were the actions of the 5TH ELEMENT – WHICH IS THE DIVINE.

    Lumen Naturale 4– Hence,you can “kill,murder and rape” – provided it is done with “no ego and no feelings “- for it is the “Act of the Divine” ! Just like the Nazis ! “Heil Krishna,the Bhagwat “!

    यस्य नाहंकृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते।

    हत्वापि स इमाँल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते।।18.17।।

    18.17 He who has not the “feeling of egoism”, whose intellect is not tainted, he does not kill, nor does he become bound-“even by killing these creatures” !

    EXPLANATION – KILL WITHOUT MERCY,WITHOUT REMORSE,WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION,WITHOUT EMOTION, WITHOUT EGO,WITHOUT INTELLECTUAL TAINT (means that there is no need to defend the actions) …

    IF YOU FOLLOW THE ABOVE SOP, YOU ARE KILLING – BUT YOU ARE “NOT” AND YOU ARE “NOT BOUND”, WHICH MEANS THAT,YOU ARE “NOT LIABLE”,AS THE ACTIONS ARE DUE TO,THE “5TH ELEMENT”.

    LASTLY,YOU ARE NOT KILLING HUMANS – BUT “CREATURES” AS THEY HAVE NO SOUL OR CONSCIENCE – AS THEIR THOUGHT,SPEECH AND ACTIONS,ARE DUE TO THE 5TH ELEMENT – AND IT IS THE 5TH ELEMENT, WHICH WILL DECIDE,WHEN AND HOW THESE CREATURES,WILL DIE OR BE KILLED !

    IS THIS A MANUAL FOR GENOCIDE ? DO THESE VERSES EXIST IN THE TORAH OR THE TALMUD OR NUMBERS or DEUTERONOMY ? dindooohindoo

    WHAT ARE THE JEWS THINKING ? IS THERE A WORD ABOUT ON THE VIRTUES OF HINDOOSTHAN BY MAIMONIDES OR ANY OTHER RABBI ?

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