Netanyahu, in different phases of changing global politics, is embracing the burning of American milk. s / o, Now you must have learned to drink every buttermilk by blowing. It is a different matter for Narendra Bhai to be a lute on the return of his personal friend. But they too have now learned a lot of the art of roaming the streets and squares of diplomacy. That’s why it seems to me that anything exuberant like Meloni and Orbán do, As the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi will raise the same issues with Netanyahu. So much so that it does not prove to be injurious to the health of the country.
Yesterday I saw only three heads of state of the world clapping so loudly on their balcony to welcome Benjamin Netanyahu, the then-Prime Minister of Israel, lying on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. One, our Prime Minister Narendra Bhai Modi. Second, Giorgia Meloni, the newly elected Prime Minister of Italy. and third, Viktor Orban of Hungary. Everyone else completed the diplomatic formalities of congratulations. Narendra Bhai greeted my friend Netanyahu by saying ‘Mezlatov’ in Hebrew and English and wished to continue the joint efforts to ‘deepen’ the India-Israel ‘Strategic Partnership’.
I do not find anything wrong in this uproar of Narendra Bhai. Netanyahu is his old friend. In July of 2017, Netanyahu received him very warmly in Tel Aviv. This was the first time an Indian Prime Minister had visited Israel in 70 years. No other country in the world with just twenty-two thousand square kilometers and a population of one crore is considered so powerful and mischievous. India may have recognized Israel 72 years ago, but established full diplomatic relations with it only 30 years ago. Even after that, none of the five Prime Ministers of India visited Israel for 25 years. Not even Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In such a situation, Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel was historic in every respect. So, it was natural for Netanyahu-Modi to develop a special warm relationship.
What makes this happen is that Israel’s politics is going through such a volatile phase that there have been five elections in the last four years. It doesn’t matter that Netanyahu’s party got only 32 seats in the latest election in the 120-member parliament. What is significant is that in manipulation with its right-wing allies, their coalition has got three seats more than the majority required to form the government. The departing caretaker Prime Minister Jair Lepid’s group has won 51 seats. So, Netanyahu, who has been prime minister for 15 years, is returning this time to serve Israel’s most extreme-right regime ever.
Clearly nothing happens that this comeback is taking place amidst a dark cloud of corruption hovering over them, which they vehemently deny. These allegations of corruption can be considered serious technically, but they are childish in nature. For example, Netanyahu used to regularly take cigar cans and champagne bottles from a businessman and they cost around 1.5 crore rupees. It would have been better if Israeli agencies had investigated whether the nearly 1.5 trillion rupees arms deal with India also involved the silent supply of mobile phone and computer spy software ‘Pegasus’ ? After all, it is not a trivial matter that the Supreme Court of India had to set up a committee to investigate the Pegasus case, and the Supreme Court, tirelessly, had to say that the government did not cooperate with the investigation.
If Netanyahu’s return serves India’s national interest rather than an individual’s, why should we not welcome his return? After all, who has become such an Indian Prime Minister after independence, who has not been playing hide and seek with Israel, despite all hesitations, before the arrival of Narendra Bhai? The recognition of Israel as an independent nation was given by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1950. There was no opposition from the Left parties at that time, despite all the leanings towards Palestine. In 1955 the heads of government of Burma (now Myanmar), Indonesia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India and Pakistan met in Bandung, Java. In connection with its preparations, in a meeting held in the winter of 1954, Nehru had proposed to invite Israel to the summit. It’s a different matter that it didn’t work out.
Moshe Sharet, then the Foreign Minister of Israel, came to India secretly in 1956. He was not in any position then, but had been Israel’s foreign minister for a full eight years until a few months ago. He was also in the post of Prime Minister for two years from 1953 to 1955. When he came to Delhi, the Suez Canal dispute was in full swing. Egypt had nationalized the canal. The President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was one of Nehru’s main sympathizers in the Non-Aligned Movement. So, when Sharet was in the capital of India on the last Monday of October 1956, would there have been no exchange of messages between him and Nehru?
In 1968, Indira Gandhi had given free rein to RAW chief Ramnath Kao to develop secret ties with Israel’s Mossad. When Pakistan’s saliva was dripping to get the favors of China and North-Korea, Indira ji felt that there was a need for good coordination between the intelligence agencies of India and Israel. In 1977, when the Janata Party government was formed under the leadership of Morarji Desai, Jana Sangh was its most influential partner and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Foreign Minister. At that time, Israel’s Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan was brought to Delhi silently by our government in the dark of night. He reached Bombay secretly and from there an Indian Air Force plane brought him to Delhi quietly. He was accommodated in a secret RAW residence in South Delhi and had a long conversation with Desai. Then in 1992, Pamulparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao even announced the formation of full diplomatic relations with Israel.
In such a situation, if our incumbent Prime Minister is praising Netanyahu’s victory in order to thicken the chemistry of his personal relationship, then there should be no need to shout. Yes, if the strings of this syrup would have thickened between the two, if ever, instead of Indian interests, Narendra Bhai’s personal interests are seen benefiting, then you definitely have the right to raise the sky on your head. But why think in reverse from now on? Netanyahu, at the age of 73, is so childish-intellect that he does not know that relations with a person are only a means of relationship with the country, not a full stop? After all, Netanyahu is in a different era of changing global politics, feeling the burning of American milk. So, now you must have learned to drink every buttermilk by blowing. It is a different matter for Narendra Bhai to be a lute on the return of his personal friend, but he too has now learned a lot in the art of roaming the streets and squares of diplomacy. That’s why it seems to me that whatever exuberant people like Meloni and Orban do, Narendra Modi, being the Prime Minister of India, will raise the stakes with Netanyahu to the extent that it does not prove to be injurious to the health of the country.
(The author is editor of News-views India and Global India Investigator.)
