Priyanka Gandhi slams Centre’s ‘silence and inaction’ on Israel’s actions on Palestine; envoy hits back

In a post on X, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that Israel is committing genocide and has murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children.

By: Express News Service

New Delhi | Updated: August 13, 2025 03:42 AM IST

The current crisis has exposed the fundamental contradictions in the international order. (PTI Photo)

Congress MP and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hit out at the BJP-led central government for staying silent as Israel “unleashed…devastation on the people of Palestine”, saying that enabling crimes by “silence and inaction” was a crime in itself. The social media post sparked a strong reaction from Reuven Azar, the Israeli ambassador to India, who said she should not “buy Hamas numbers”.

While the Congress has treaded a careful line on the Palestine issue, mindful of how the BJP projects it, Vadra has been outspoken, calling attacks on Palestine “barbaric” and “genocidal”, and seeking pressure on Israel to end the war.

In a post on X on Tuesday morning, Vadra wrote that the Israeli state is committing genocide and has murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children. “It has starved hundreds to death including many children and is threatening to starve millions. Enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself,” she said.

Targeting the Centre, Vadra said that it is “shameful that the Indian Government stands silent as Israel unleashes this devastation on the people of Palestine”.

Azar replied to her post, saying, “What is shameful is your deceit”.

“Israel killed 25,000 Hamas terrorists. The terrible cost in human lives derives from Hamas’s heinous tactics of hiding behind civilians, their shooting of people trying to evacuate or receive assistance and their rocket fire,” he said.

“Israel facilitated 2 million tonnes of food into Gaza while Hamas tries to sequestrate them, thereby creating hunger. Gaza population has grown 450% in the last 50 years, no genocide there. Don’t buy Hamas numbers,” he added.

In December last year, Vadra had carried a bag with ‘Palestine’ emblazoned on it to Parliament. The bag also had Palestinian emblems, including a watermelon, seen as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. At the time, the BJP had accused her of “appeasement” politics.

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In June last year, Vadra had slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what she had said were the Israeli government’s “genocidal actions” in Gaza, as she accused him and his government of “barbarism”. She had also criticised the Narendra Modi government for abstaining from voting on a resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict at the United Nations General Assembly in October last year.

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