Israeli Minister Smotrich’s Recent Visit To India Raises Questions

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s controversial far-right finance minister, has just concluded a three-day visit to India. In Delhi, he signed a bilateral investment agreement with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to boost trade and investment flows between the two countries.

“The Agreement marks a historic milestone in the relations of the two countries,’’ a PIB press release noted on September 8.

Smotrich, a hardliner who does not believe in a two-state solution for Palestine, is at the forefront of the move to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He said last month that he will approve thousands of housing units in the West Bank, that “buries the idea of a Palestinian state. ’’Apart from this, he has publicly said that maps were being drawn to annex 82 percent of the West Bank to Israel.

Smotrich under sanctions

His outrageous rhetoric against Palestinians, his constant push for more and more Palestinian land, has led to countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway to slap sanctions against the finance minister. These countries, except for Norway, generally align with the US on major international issues. Yet the dire situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and his pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the Gaza war, have led even these pro-American nations to impose sanctions on Smotrich. Slovenia has declared him persona non grata. The Netherlands has banned his entry, citing his support for ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Spain is the latest country to ban Smotrich’s entry. It also announced an arms embargo against Israel.

Hosting Smotrich

The Indian government’s decision to host Smotrich at a time when the majority of the people of the world, not their governments, are repulsed and shocked at Israel using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, is inexplicable.

The opposition has criticized the government for inviting him to India at this time. The Politburo of the CPM, while condemning the visit of Smotrich, said, "It is shameful that the (Narendra) Modi government has hosted such a person and signed agreements with the Israeli government at a time when the people of Gaza are being massacred every day," it said.

"This episode highlights the deep and entrenched ties that the Modi government has forged with the Netanyahu government, and its complicity in the ongoing horrific genocide in Gaza," it added.

Israel’s finance minister would have been pleased by the warm reception he received in India at a time when he was being ostracised by some Europeans, let alone the Global South. With Israel’s actions in the West Bank and the devastating assault on Gaza drawing widespread international condemnation, India’s decision to host the minister marks a striking departure from the broader Global South consensus. It is well known that both India and China aspire to lead the developing world.

India-Israel Ties

India’s relations with Israel had steadily improved since the Narasimha Rao government restored full diplomatic relations with Israel in January 1992.

However, it was under the NDA government, led by the BJP, when political relations made a significant leap forward. Prime Minister Vajpayee sent both his Home Minister, L.K. Advani, and his Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, to visit Israel in 2000. This was a high-water mark in ties, as earlier Congress governments had kept Israel at arm's length as India was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian struggle.

In 1974, India was the only non -Arab country to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. PLO chief Yasser Arafat was a hero to most Indians, and Indira Gandhi allowed a PLO office to function out of New Delhi. In 1988, India became one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine.

Gradually, however, as the world lost interest in the Palestine issue, India too paid token service to Palestine and the two-state solution that it continues to support to this day.

While the Vajpayee government laid the foundation, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who forged a close friendship with Benjamin Netanyahu and took the India-Israel ties to a new height. He was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel in 2018 and was given a rapturous welcome there. Indian workers have also travelled to Israel to replace Palestinians banned from entering the country after the October 7 Hamas attack.