Prime Minister Modi’s statement hewed closely to the position of the US and other G7 countries which have condemned the attacks by Hamas and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
“India’s stance is clearly out of step with countries in the Global South,” Rajesh Rajagopalan, Professor of International Politics at JNU, tells ThePrint.
This, according to him, can be attributed to three reasons: “First, we’ve been harping on counter-terrorism in Quad, SCO, BRICS and so many other forums so we couldn’t ignore the seriousness of these attacks. Second, our bilateral compulsions with Israel, when it comes to technology transfer, could have played a role. Also, Israel is a strategic partner for India in I2U2 and the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.”
New Delhi’s reaction reflects deep strategic and military ties between the two countries, which are partners with the US and the UAE in the so-called I2U2 infrastructure and strategic alliance. India is also the largest single customer for Israeli weapons systems.
Though Prime Minister Modi said in September that India is “becoming the voice of the Global South”, prominent members of the group, like Indonesia, Nigeria and Brazil were muted in their condemnation of Hamas, while critical of Israel for its retaliatory attacks on Gaza.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X: “The root of the conflict, namely the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel, must be resolved, in accordance with the parameters agreed upon by the UN.