Owaisi's 'Jai Palestine' slogan: India's Israel-Palestine policy explained

AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday concluded his oath-taking in the Lok Sabha with 'Jai Palestine' slogan, drawing objections. A look at how India's Palestine policy has changed over the years

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday took his oath in the 18th Lok Sabha, concluding it with the slogan "Jai Bheem, Jai Meem, Jai Telangana, Jai Palestine".

The unexpected inclusion of "Jai Palestine" in Owaisi's oath, which he took in Urdu, drew objections from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Members of Parliament (MPs), with Radha Mohan Singh, who was presiding over the swearing-in ceremony, announcing that Owaisi's slogan would be expunged from the official records. However, the uproar in the Lower House continued for a few minutes, after which the oath-taking resumed.

Defending his choice of words, Owaisi, who has been elected from the Hyderabad seat for his fifth term, questioned the basis of the objections raised by BJP members. He also told reporters there was nothing wrong in him saying "Jai Bheem, Jai Meem, Jai Telangana, Jai Palestine", referring to how he ended his oath by hailing his state Telangana, Bhimrao Ambedkar, his party's slogan for Muslims, and the conflict-hit West Asian (Middle East) region.

 

Asked about his remarks, Owaisi told reporters, "Other members are also saying different things... How is it wrong? Tell me the provision of the Constitution (that I violated)? You should also listen to what others said. I said what I had to. Read what Mahatma Gandhi had said about Palestine." Asked why he mentioned Palestine, Owaisi added, "They are oppressed people."  

How has India's Israel-Palestine stance evolved?  

While India has historically been a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause, its relationship, especially in the defence and security spheres, with Israel has flourished in the past three decades.  

As a result, successive governments have maintained a careful balance between New Delhi's relatively new partnership with Israel and its historical commitment towards Palestine. Nonetheless, questions have arisen, particularly after the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, on whether India is abandoning this balance and tilting towards Israel.  

For its part, as recently as February 2024, in response to a Lok Sabha question, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India's policy towards Palestine "has been long standing and consistent", adding that New Delhi has "supported a negotiated two-state solution, towards establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine within secure and recognised borders, living side by side in peace with Israel".   

The MEA went on to say that India has "strongly condemned the terror attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the loss of civilian lives in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict", adding that New Delhi has "called for restraint and de-escalation and emphasised peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy".   

"We have also called for release of remaining hostages. (The) Prime Minister and external affairs minister have spoken to several leaders, including (the) president, prime minister and foreign minister of Israel and the president and foreign minister of Palestine," said the MEA, adding, "External affairs minister met the foreign minister of Palestine on January 20, 2024, in Kampala (Uganda) and reiterated India's support for a two-state solution. We also reiterated our position in multilateral fora such as the UN, G20, BRICS and Voice of Global South Summit."  

India's voting record on Israel-Palestine at the UN   

After Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, PM Modi, like most world leaders, condemned the horrific actions of Hamas and expressed "solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour".   

In the days that followed, foreign policy experts said that New Delhi's approach to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by the October 7 attack, set India apart from many of its non-Western peers. In particular, they cited India abstaining from an October 27 United Nations (UN) resolution that called for a "humanitarian truce", which 120 countries had voted in favour of.  

However, a March 2024 analysis by Bashir Ali Abbas, a research associate at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research and South Asia Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Center, showed that while India-Israel ties have gone from strength to strength, New Delhi's support for UN resolutions critical of Israel has remained largely unchanged.  

Ali Abbas' analysis, published by the Hindustan Times, highlights that in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, while India abstained from the October UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for a ceasefire, India voted in favour of a ceasefire in December, even though that resolution largely mirrored the October one and did not explicitly condemn Hamas. Later that same month, India voted in favour of a UNGA resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine.  

Standing alone among the Global South in not voting for a ceasefire in October, India had done so because a Canada-led amendment to condemn Hamas in the resolution had failed.   

Every year, the UNGA votes on updated resolutions under recurring titles, including five key resolutions that pertain to Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem; the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine; Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory; the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people; and assistance to Palestinian refugees.  

Crucially, as Ali Abbas points out, these resolutions explicitly call on Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it has occupied since 1967. His analysis shows that while they have been consistently opposed by Israel, India's vote for almost all of these resolutions, between 2014 and 2023, has been in favour.  

In fact, the only abstention from India was observed during the 77th UNGA Session in 2022, for a resolution on Israeli practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with Ali Abbas pointing out that the abstention did not indicate a change in New Delhi's policy. Instead, it reflected New Delhi's reservations with the UNGA's decision to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israeli actions in the occupied territory, given that India has in principle opposed using such legal methods to resolve political problems. In fact, New Delhi continued to vote against Israel in the recurring resolutions in the 78th UNGA session in December 2023.    

According to Ali Abbas, its stance in these recurring resolutions shows that the Modi government has exhibited considerable continuity in the Palestine policy with previous governments.  

Overall, the analysis says that New Delhi's voting pattern clearly reflects continuity, but with breaks occurring often in particular resolutions in a deviation from the pattern.  

Trajectory of India-Israel ties  

However, India's stance on Palestine cannot be examined without looking at the change in its relations with Israel. 

There can be no denying that India's ties with Israel have gone from strength to strength over time. Foreign policy analysts believe that while the changes in India's approach towards Israel began during the tenures of the previous Congress-led governments, they have become more visible after Narendra Modi was elected as the Prime Minister in 2014.  

In part due to its experience during India's struggle for independence from the British, New Delhi proposed a plan in 1947 to create an independent federal state of Palestine, which would have constitutional safeguards for the Jewish minority.  

When the UNGA passed a resolution in 1947, recommending the establishment of the State of Israel alongside a Palestinian one, a newly-independent India was one of the few non-Arab countries that voted against the measure.  

In 1948, India even opposed Israel's admission into the UN. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru also believed that the Palestinians and Arabs were fighting British colonial wrongdoings and that India should stand with them.  

However, partly driven by the Arab countries' pro-Pakistani position, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru recognised Israel in September 1950. The recognition was not immediately followed by the establishment of diplomatic relations, leading to what experts have called a recognition-without-relations policy, which continued for over four decades, on India's part.  

However, the early 1990s witnessed a significant revision in India's foreign policy as the Cold War ended. One of the examples of this shift was the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel in 1992, including the opening of the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi.  

In the three decades since then, India has forged significant strategic, defence, and even political relations with Israel.  

For example, Israel is part of India's multilateral alliance in the region in the form of the I2U2 with the United States and the United Arab Emirates.  

Israel will also be an essential link in the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which was declared at the G20 Summit in New Delhi.  

Foreign policy observers state that while much of the diplomatic normalisation with Israel after 1992 occurred under Congress rule, its leaders preferred to keep New Delhi's dealings with Israel out of the limelight.  

On the other hand, the BJP, particularly after 2014, went public with India's close ties with Israel, acknowledging Israel as a strategic partner and with India's first Prime Minister to visit Israel being Modi in 2017. However, in 2018, Modi also became the first Indian PM to visit Palestine.  

According to information provided by the Embassy of India in Tel Aviv, since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, India-Israel bilateral trade and economic relations have progressed rapidly.  

From $200 million in 1992, merchandise trade had diversified and reached $10.77 billion, excluding defence, in FY23, with Indian merchandise exports to Israel standing at $8.45 billion and Israeli merchandise exports to India at $2.32 billion.    

In April-October FY24, the bilateral trade stood at $4.42 billion, excluding defence.   

India is Israel's second-largest trading partner in Asia and the seventh-largest globally.  

Meanwhile, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, annual Israeli defence purchases by India are estimated at $1.5 billion to $2 billion, with India being the largest buyer of Israeli defence equipment. 

What is clear, according to foreign policy watchers, is that for India, its stand on Palestine is now distinct, and mostly decoupled from its relationship with Israel.