PM Modi's Israel visit a danger? Dear left-liberals, stop harming India's interests

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Israel sometime this year and the news has already created enough repercussion in the country's left-liberal circles.

Some columns have gone to the extent of saying that Modi's visit to Israel as the first Indian prime minister ever will create problems for New Delhi's foreign policy by disrupting its balance vis-a-vis Palestine and the Muslim world.

Such analysis is completely misleading and can create an unnecessary panic among Muslims in India. The pseudo left-liberals of this country have made it a routine to criticise whatever initiative the Modi government has undertaken, sometimes making their foolishness obvious in the process.

If Israel has a strong defence that saves its life, people's lives, it can't be accused

The critics of Modi's Israel visit have problems with Tel Aviv's brutal policy vis-a-vis Palestine. Some say Israel makes disproportionate retaliation against its enemies, taking more lives than what its foes do. This viewpoint is ludicrous.

When a state is in a state of war, making a quantitative difference in casualties doesn't serve any purpose. The Israel-Palestine issue is not as simple as our 'humanitarian' left-liberals try to make it look.

India's policy-makers can't take Israel-Palestine problem simply as a moral question of today

For India's policy-makers, history of Israel-Palestine hasn't started just yesterday and there is no point for them to take a side just on grounds of morality.

Moreover, Israel has a robust defence system in place which ensures that it has less casualty than its enemies. Constantly at war, the Israelis have every right to put up such a mechanism. If that leads to more deaths on the other side of the fence, we can't hold Israel as a murderer.

It's time we get rid of the Nehruvian ideology in foreign policy

It is also futile to stick to the outdated Nehruvian ideology in our foreign policy. This is not more a world of the Non-aligned Movement and if New Delhi can tilt towards Washington today to serve its practical interests, there is no wrong in befriending Israel openly as well.

Arab countries too have focussed on Israel for practical reasons

Arab countries like Aaudi Arabia and Jordan have also focussed on developing relationship with Israel and it doesn't look abnormal for India either to follow a similar pattern, even while pursuing a sympathetic stand on Palestine.

Those who say Modi shouldn't visit Israel, it's their problem, not India's

The logic that India will face a backlash from the Islamic nations if it gets closer to Israel is also flawed. In today's complicated reality of international politics, there is hardly any scope of making the black-and-white distinctions for policy decisions.

It's flawed to say PM Modi's visit to Israel will put Indians in Arab world in danger

PM Modi's visit to Israel can never put Indians working in the Arab countries in a jeopardy for a state's official move has nothing to do with the individuals working in private capacity. The United States have been dealing with India and Pakistan since 1947. How much damage has it suffered from either side for keeping in touch with the two hostile neighbours?

India has not ignored its relation with Arab nations even though PM Modi is yet to set his foot on the soil of any of those states.

India had a diplomatic success in Iraq and Yemen and with Saudi Arabia

The alacrity with which the Modi government has rescued its people from violence-hit states like Iraq and Yemen and has made diplomatic gains via states like Saudi Arabia speaks volumes about its successful back-channel diplomacy. India had sent its vice-president to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to attend its king's funeral, something which indicates at its maturing foreign policy. One visit to Israel by the Indian PM certainly can not make all that look insignificant.

Leaders from both countries have visited each other: No damage has been seen so far

Jaswant Singh had become the first Indian foreign minister to visit Israel in 2000 when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in in power.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Aeriel Sharon had visited India in 2003 while Modi had visited Israel as the chief minister of Gujarat in 2006.

As the prime minister, Modi met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's annual session last year. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also visited Israel in November to discuss counter-terror cooperation.

India and Israel are partners in trade and military businesses

India and Israel are partners in big military and trade businesses. Israel has shown interest in having space programme cooperation with India and also bring development in the state of Bihar. There are considerable cultural connections between the two nations as well.

And when the strategic and security aspects in today's world marked by 'terrorism and anti-terrorism' come into consideration, then cooperation between these two states becomes all the more important.

To continue to see Israel as a military state that slaughters its political and territorial opponents is nothing less than living in the fool's paradise, something that the left-liberals of this country are habituated in doing for years.

India, Israel & Iran

The tale of three Is could be a concern for many. If India gets closer to Israel, then its relation with Iran could get hit. But this is again a baseless apprehension for in international relations, it's the interest that's permanent. India did well in avoiding the Iran question in international relations when it drew the West's ire over its nuclear programme.

New Delhi did a good balancing between Washington and Tehran, both of which are its close allies in international politics. The same goes for Israel.

PM Modi's foreign policy has not remained a prisoner of the past

PM Modi has produced enough examples in the last one year to show that his foreign policy is aim is about asserting India's own interests and not about the friends and enemies. His invitation to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing-in ceremony was a unique foreign policy move and it was appreciated.

We have also seen him taking a dig at China in Japan and then backing India-China relation as the cornerstone of the Asian Century during his visit to China. So for Modi government, foreign policy isn't about the predicted path.

Why Congress is worried? It's their forgotten PM who had opened India's policy towards Israel

And to speak about the Congress's fear about Modi's visit, it was their own prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, the first outside the Nehru-Gandhi family, who had set up diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992. But even Rao faced strong resistance from within his party, as India's former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani had revealed a few years ago.

Advani also tried to convince Rao that India was feeling apprehensive about Muslims' reaction but several Muslim countries had also established diplomatic relations with Israel. Advani praised Rao for setting up a Group of Ministers to look into the matter.

The same Rao's party feels it is "worrisome" today because it has not learnt the new realities of international politics. But that's the left-liberals' problem, not India's.

Israel had stood by India when the latter needed

Israel has stood by India when the latter needed it. During the 1998 nuclear tests and the Kargil War that followed the next year, Israel extended technological and military support to India in unfavourable conditions.

It was during Operation Parakram against Pakistan in 2002 that Israel had supplied India with military hardware through special flights. Both states have been victims of cross-border terrorism but they are yet to publicly cement the partnership, thanks to India's domestic politics of minority appeasement.

The show must go on

Modi has taken a fresh initiative to turn the tide around. It is highly appreciated. India's foreign policy needs to come of age. It is long overdue.