India-Israel Alliance

Today, India and Israel have forged an alliance. It wasn’t always that way. India became independent in 1947. Its first prime minister, Nehru, positioned his country as a champion of the Palestinian cause. As the leader of the non-aligned movement, India’s stance on Palestine had great influence among other post-colonial nations. In the 1990s, that shifted. India moved into the U.S. orbit and embraced neoliberalism. And at the same time, it moved closer to Israel. It was said if India wanted to be close to the U.S., it had to reshape its critical policy towards Israel. And that they did. The two countries have something in common: India’s military occupation and domination of Kashmiris and Israel’s military occupation and domination of Palestinians. And India, under the Modi Hindutva, Hindu nationalist regime, is the world’s largest buyer of Israeli weapons. Israel, in return, buys weapons from India.

Recorded at Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre, Vancouver, BC