PM Modi affirms solidarity with Israel, surprise assault chills recent thaw in region

While New Delhi has not yet made a statement officially through the Ministry of External Affairs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made two points in his short post on X: he expressed shock at what he called “terrorist attacks” and conveyed “solidarity with Israel”.

The PM’s statement does not name and blame the Hamas militant group but empathises and focuses on the “innocent victims” and “Israel at this difficult hour.” Its tone, however, marks an unmistakable shift away from the carefully choreographed balancing act that has marked New Delhi’s reaction to earlier stand-offs between Israel and Palestinian militants.

“Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour,” the Prime Minister said via a social media post on X.

The sweeping Hamas assault, that included drones, fighters and even paragliders, comes as the India-Israel relationship has blossomed in the framework of a robust strategic partnership. Indeed, the personal chemistry between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been visible in their bilateral engagements. Israel has been one of India’s most reliable and key defence and security partners in the world.

But India navigates a complicated neighbourhood in west Asia, where it has friends on both, or rather many sides of the aisle — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel and the UAE to name the four major powers in the region.

Now, the US-brokered Abraham Accords between Israel, UAE and Bahrain will be put to test, and the I2U2 (India, Israel, US and UAE) grouping, which is largely economic, will face headwinds. The recently-announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor will confront its first challenge as peace in the region will be shattered with these attacks —visuals of women, children and men being killed are sending shockwaves.

The US has already drawn the hard line with President Joe Biden saying Washington is ready to offer “all appropriate means of support” to Israel and warning “any other party hostile to Israel” not to seek advantage.

Any escalation has immediate impact on the 90 lakh-strong Indian community that lives and works there, mostly breadwinners for their families in India.

The Indian Embassy in Israel Saturday asked all Indian nationals in the country to “remain vigilant” and “observe safety protocols.”

Some are even tagging this as the “third Intifada” — Intifada is an Arabic word that means to “shake off’ and, essentially, means uprising. The first lasted from 1987 to 1993, and the second from 2000-2005.

In the latest conflagration, Hamas militants have fired more than 2,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, according to the Israeli military, while Hamas fighters entered southern Israel by land, sea and air, using paragliders. Hamas says it captured several Israeli soldiers near the border.

The Indian embassy was extremely specific: “All Indian nationals in Israel are requested to remain vigilant and observe safety protocols as advised by local authorities. Please exercise caution, avoid unnecessary movement, and stay close to safety shelters.”

The advisory also provided emergency phone numbers and URLs for Israeli Home Front Command and preparedness brochures.

The advisory was issued in English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

According to the details on the website of the Indian Embassy, there are about 18,000 Indians in Israel: including caregivers employed by Israeli elders, diamond traders, IT professionals and students.

Officials say that about 900 Indian students are studying in Israel, mainly at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels. There are approximately 85,000 Jews of Indian origin in Israel.

Israel’s Ambassador to India Naor Gilon thanked the PMO for extending “moral support to Israel”. “Israel will prevail,” he tweeted.

Said Naor Gilon: “Israel is currently fighting to repel coordinated, large and multi-pronged Palestinian terror attacks. These attacks, which were launched early this morning by Hamas on our civilians, sleeping peacefully in their beds, in cities and villages of the south and central Israel, are war crimes.”

“The cowardly actions of Hamas, targeting and killing women, children and elderly, injuring hundreds of civilians and firing indiscriminately over 2,000 missiles and rockets at our cities, came during the sacred Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Israel will repel this combined assault of rocket fire and ground infiltration of Hamas terrorists and will take any and all actions to protect our citizens. We appreciate the support of the people of India as we stand firm in the face of terrorism,” the Israeli envoy said.

While India will invariably support actions against terrorist attacks, Delhi will also gauge the response of the strategic partners from west Asia — especially Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran — and think through their statements diplomatically.