Context

• The recognition of Palestinian statehood by France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, and Australia marks a significant moment in international diplomacy.
• These decisions are more than symbolic gestures: they represent the global community’s growing acknowledgment of the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations for freedom, dignity, and sovereignty.
• India, once a leading voice in this movement, recognised Palestinian statehood as early as 1988, guided by its moral compass and a worldview shaped by its own struggle against colonialism.
• Yet, in the present moment of unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza, India’s silence raises critical questions about whether the nation has abandoned its historic role as a champion of justice in global affairs.

India’s Legacy of Moral Leadership

• Strategic Calculation Along with Ethical Clarity
  • India’s foreign policy has historically been defined not only by strategic calculation but also by ethical clarity.
  • Even before independence, India condemned apartheid in South Africa, severing trade ties with the regime and raising the issue at the United Nations.
  • During the Algerian war of independence, India was a steadfast supporter of anti-colonial struggle.
  • Similarly, in 1971, India intervened to halt atrocities in East Pakistan, contributing to the creation of Bangladesh.
  • When the Vietnamese people were suffering under foreign aggression, India stood firmly for peace and justice.
  • This moral outlook was enshrined in the Constitution, where the promotion of international peace and security is recognised as a directive principle of state policy.
• Principled and Nuanced Position on Israel-Palestine Conflict
  • India was among the first countries to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1974 and has consistently supported a two-state solution that upholds Palestine’s right to self-determination while encouraging peaceful coexistence with Israel.
  • It has consistently backed UN resolutions affirming Palestinian rights and condemning settlement expansion, while simultaneously maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel.
  • India’s contributions to Palestinian development, through scholarships, healthcare aid, and capacity-building, have reflected its commitment to justice.

The Present Crisis and India’s Silence

• The outbreak of hostilities in October 2023 placed the Israel-Palestine conflict back at the centre of global attention.
• Hamas’s brutal attacks on Israeli civilians were followed by an Israeli military response that has devastated Gaza.
• More than 55,000 Palestinians, including 17,000 children, have been killed. Infrastructure has been obliterated, famine looms, and civilians are being shot while seeking food.
• In this humanitarian catastrophe, the world has been slow to act, implicitly legitimising Israel’s actions.
• Against this backdrop, the recognition of Palestine by new countries signals a long-overdue reassertion of international justice.
• Yet India, historically one of the strongest voices for oppressed peoples, has retreated into silence.
• The current government’s approach appears driven less by constitutional values than by personal diplomacy, particularly the Prime Minister’s close relationship with his Israeli counterpart.
• This personalisation of foreign policy is unsustainable, reducing a nation’s historic commitments to the vagaries of individual friendships.

The Way Forward: The Need for Ethical Continuity

• The issue of Palestine cannot be treated merely as a matter of foreign policy.
• It is also a moral and civilisational question, one that resonates with India’s own history of colonial subjugation.
• The Palestinian struggle for sovereignty echoes India’s fight against imperialism, both peoples endured dispossession, exploitation, and denial of fundamental rights.
• For India, to remain silent in the face of Palestinian suffering is not neutrality; it is complicity.
• What is expected of India is not blind partisanship but principled leadership — the ability to stand for human dignity and justice regardless of political convenience.

Conclusion

• India’s past foreign policy was defined by courage, moral clarity, and a sense of global responsibility.
• At a time when much of the world is rediscovering its commitment to Palestinian statehood, India cannot afford to be silent.
• The challenge is not only geopolitical but ethical: whether India remains true to its heritage as a voice for the oppressed or allows personal diplomacy to erode its role as a moral leader in world affairs.