News Analysis |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that his country is not an enemy of Pakistan and that the South Asian nation should adopt its attitude to that effect. His statement comes in the backdrop of Indo-Israeli rapprochement and the subsequent Pakistani reaction.
The Israeli PM is currently on a visit to India, where he has been busy signing bilateral military and trade agreements with the Hindu-majority country. People in India have been protesting against his visit in Mumbai, New Delhi and a number of other cities, according to various news reports.
It is recommended that a Muslim alliance be made to speed up efforts for the solution of Palestine and Kashmir disputes as well as an intelligence and military network to counter the militant aspects of the Zionist Hindutva alliance.
Netanyahu has backed India’s double-speak over the situation on the Line of Control (LoC) along the Pakistani border as part of his diplomatic efforts to woo the Modi government. “Pakistan should not behave like an enemy towards us because we do not view them that way,” he said.
Netanyahu also met Bollywood superstars in Mumbai as part of his visit to India. “I love the Indian film industry and want it to collaborate with Israeli actors and directors,” he said. The Israeli Prime Minister also made a visit to PM Modi’s hometown Gujarat and went to the burial place of Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmadabad.
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During his visit, Netanyahu signed bilateral agreements with India on cyber-security, science and technology, air transport, film production, oil and gas, solar and thermal energy, and space technology. Talks for a free-trade deal and the purchase of anti-tank missiles are currently underway.
This is seen as a retreat from the Nehruvin strategic culture prevalent before. From the above point it can be deduced that the Muslim world is most at threat from such an alliance.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif stated on Tuesday that Pakistan can defend itself despite a nexus between India and Israel. Speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Capital Talk’, the minister said that Israel has been occupying a huge area that belongs to Muslims. Similarly, India has occupied Muslim land in Kashmir, he said, adding, “Both India and Israel have [the] same objectives.”
Asif said that Pakistan never recognised Israel and that the India-Israel nexus is based on their enmity with Islam. He said the Pakistani nation has emotional affiliation with Palestinian people, while the issue of Kashmir is in a way related to Pakistan’s survival. “We can defend ourselves despite this nexus between India and Israel,” Asif said.
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The India-Israel relationship is perceived in terms of a natural convergence of ideas between their ruling BJP and Likud parties. India had voted against the partition of Palestine, which had led to the creation of Israel and was also one of the countries that voted against admission of the Israeli regime in the UN.
What that meant was simple: India’s relationship with Israel would stand on its own merits, independent and separate from India’s relationship with the Palestinians.
The reasons behind this were various; the Indian National Congress was largely based on democratic socialism and religion’s entry into politics was hated, as was the case with Zionism. Furthermore, the Congress wanted to retain Muslim votes which it felt would be compromised if it recognized the annexation of Palestinian territory by a European colonial movement and as Zionism was a western imperialist movement it clashed with the envisioned Indian “non aligned” mission of “standing up for the third world” as well as securing interests in the Arab states.
The ethno-nationalist political movements of the BJP’s Hindutva and right-wing Zionism represent exclusivist conceptions of the state based on their majority populations, thereby naturally discriminating against other ethnicities or religions. Both parties have moved rightwards from earlier, more liberal versions of Hindutva and Zionism.
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Identities, including religious and ethnic, are by nature instrumental and malleable. The rise of Hindutva has in parts resulted in a subsequent weakening of an Indian national identity in preference to a Hindu identity, and threatened the secularism of the Indian state.
Speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Capital Talk’, the minister said that Israel has been occupying a huge area that belongs to Muslims. Similarly, India has occupied Muslim land in Kashmir
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, he instituted a policy toward Israel called de-hyphenation. What that meant was simple: India’s relationship with Israel would stand on its own merits, independent and separate from India’s relationship with the Palestinians. It would no longer be India’s relationship with Israel-Palestine, but India’s relationship with Israel, and India’s relationship with the Palestinians.
This is seen as a retreat from the Nehruvin strategic culture prevalent before. From the above point it can be deduced that the Muslim world is most at threat from such an alliance. While the Palestinian and Kashmiris alongside the Indian Muslims (and other minorities) are paying with their blood with each passing moment, the Muslim states remain oblivious to the peril unfurling before their eyes. It is recommended that a Muslim alliance be made to speed up efforts for the solution of Palestine and Kashmir disputes as well as an intelligence and military network to counter the militant aspects of the Zionist Hindutva alliance.