Narendra Modi is to become the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. One of the hallmarks of his foreign policy has been a self-confident assertion of Indian interests. His government’s moves vis-à-vis Israel mark a distinct break from past diffidence despite more than two decades of diplomatic ties and working closely on defence, counter-terrorism, agriculture and energy related issues.
How to explain this? Until now, hypocrisy has been the norm. Just last year, Israel’s actions in Gaza were deemed so unacceptable by Indian parliamentarians that there were calls for the suspension of military purchases, a parliamentary resolution condemning the attacks and for India to raise the issue at the United Nations.
But there has been a steady strengthening of bilateral ties since they established full diplomatic relations in 1992. In contrast to the back-channel security ties that existed before then, India has been willing in recent years to carve out a mutually beneficial equation. This includes deepening military ties and countering the terrorist threat.
Over the years, the Indian government has toned down its reaction to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. It has also denounced Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel, which were earlier seen in the light of the Israeli policies against the Palestinians. India is no longer initiating anti-Israel resolutions at the UN and has made serious attempts to moderate the Non-Aligned Movement's anti-Israel resolutions. This re-evaluation has been based on a realisation that India's largely pro-Arab stance in the Middle East has not been adequately rewarded by the Arab world.
India has received little worthwhile backing from the Arab world when it comes to the problems it faces in its neighbourhood, especially Kashmir. There have been no serious attempts by the Arab world to put pressure on Pakistan to rein in the cross-border insurgency in Kashmir. On the contrary, the Arab nations have stood by Pakistan.
If Arab countries such as Jordan have been able to keep their traditional ties with Palestine intact even as they build a new relationship with Israel, there is no reason for India not to take a similar route. New Delhi probably thinks that this might give it more room for diplomatic manoeuvring.
From the early 1990s, successive Indian governments have walked a nuanced line between expressing genuine concern for the Palestinian cause and expanding commercial and defence ties with Israel. India is the world’s largest buyer of Israeli weaponry and in 2013, it was Israel’s third largest trading partner in Asia.
At least some of this may be because at crucial times, when India needed Israeli help, it received it unreservedly. For example, Israel was willing to continue and even step up arms sales to India after other major countries cut back on technological exports following India's May 1998 nuclear tests. Israel provided India much-needed imagery about Pakistani positions during the Kargil war in 1999.
The imagery, obtained using Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles, was instrumental in turning the war around for India. When India was planning to undertake a limited military strike against Pakistan in June 2002 as part of Operation Parakram, Israel supplied hardware through special planes. And both countries see themselves as natural allies against terrorism. The threat they face comes not only from disaffected groups within their territories; it is also aided and abetted by neighbouring states, which are increasingly capable of transferring weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organisations.
And yet previous Indian governments had been reticent in acknowledging the relationship. In diplomacy, public affirmation of friendships at the highest levels is often as important as drawing red lines for adversaries. What the Modi government is doing is publicly acknowledging something that was already known. It was time New Delhi decided to tell it like it is.
Harsh V Pant is a professor of international relations at King’s College London
