By Press TV Website Staff
Speaking to the Press TV website, Sanjay Kapoor, a senior journalist and president of the Editors Guild of India, said it was “truly baffling” why the Indian prime minister chose to visit the Israeli-occupied territories at a time like that.
“Though Israel enjoys support amongst voters of the Bharatiya Janata Party [the country's ruling party], there is no election where it can yield dividends,” he stated.
Modi embraced Israeli regime leaders in occupied al-Quds, voiced India's commitment to enhancing ties with the occupying regime, and addressed the Knesset to a standing ovation.l
During the visit, he, however, chose not to mention the death and devastation faced by Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israeli genocidal war launched in October 2023.
The visit unfolded against the backdrop of widespread international outrage over the genocide, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, devastated civilian infrastructure, and displaced much of the coastal territory's population.
“In the name of strategic autonomy, India has jettisoned its traditional commitment to non-aligned policies,” Kapoor told the Press TV website.
“This allows New Delhi to be both with Palestine and Israel. Now, morality doesn’t guide foreign policy, but India’s self-interest. This allows India to overlook the dark happenings in Gaza and also the genocide of Palestinians and sup with Israel.”
Modi was received personally by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and spoke repeatedly of shared “civilizational values.”
He expressed solidarity with the regime over the October 7 Hamas operation, but avoided any reference to the scale of Palestinian civilian suffering or Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
The warmth of the reception underscored how far India-Israel ties have advanced under the Modi government, particularly in defense and security cooperation.
India is now Israel’s largest weapons buyer, and the two sides have deepened collaboration in surveillance technology, drones, and cyber capabilities.
Kapoor linked Modi’s silence on Gaza to a deeper ideological framing at home, referring to the prime minister’s past remarks portraying West Asia as a hub of “radical Islam” as indicative of how the current government views the region and its people.
“PM Modi’s remarks that the Middle East is the centre of radical Islam make it clear what his government thinks of the Muslim world,” Kapoor said.
That worldview, analysts note, resonates strongly with Modi’s core political base. The ruling party is rooted in the Hindutva ideology, which envisions India primarily as a Hindu nation.
In recent years, India has seen a sharp rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric, discriminatory legislation, and episodes of communal violence, alongside crackdowns on dissent and protests.
“His supporters back home admire Israel for standing up to the Muslim world. They have no appreciation of history and the circumstances of the struggle of Palestinians,” Kapoor said.
“It is a travesty of our times that many Indians see the world through the prism of partition between India and Pakistan and subsequent terrorist violence in India.”
While critics have accused Modi of betraying India’s anti-colonial legacy and its long-standing support for the Palestinian cause, Kapoor is pessimistic about the prospects for a significant domestic backlash. He believes public support for Palestine inside India has steadily eroded.
“I don’t think there’s enough support for the Palestinian cause now,” Kapoor said. “It also has something to do with who is in power. Any demonstration against the Gaza happenings in India has been snuffed out.”
According to Kapoor, this suppression reflects a broader breakdown of social and political restraints that once moderated India’s public discourse.
“Its apparent that traditional values of Hindu-Muslim sanity don’t work,” he added. “So don’t think there’s enough support, will be a backlash against Modi’s trip to Tel Aviv.”
As India deepens its defence, technology, and security ties with Israel, at a time of mounting tensions across West Asia, questions are increasingly being raised about whether New Delhi has forfeited any claim to neutrality or mediation in the region.
“Indians have never mediated in recent years,” Kapoor said. “Now no one would want India as mediator as it is seen to be too close to Israel and the US.”
He attributed this diplomatic imbalance not only to ideology but also to external pressure.
“The truth is recent months of pressure from the US on tariffs and allegations against some Indian worthies have resulted in India losing its balance in foreign policy,” Kapoor said.
For observers, Modi’s visit and his silence on Gaza symbolize a deeper shift: from moral positioning and anti-colonial solidarity to transactional alignment, with history ultimately judging this silence.
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