Bharat’s decision to abstain from voting on a resolution proposed by Jordan in the UN General Assembly calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict, has already become an internal political issue.
While Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi is reportedly “shocked and ashamed” at Bharat’s abstinence from voting on the resolution, the Left parties of India CPI and CPI-Marxist have also issued a joint statement saying that “India’s abstention on the UN resolution negates India’s long-standing support to the Palestinian cause”’.
With the country scheduled to go for elections next year, it’s only a matter of time before Bharat’s official positioning on the Israel-Gaza conflict will perhaps become an election issue. If this conflict goes on for a while (which it seems like), expect to see attempts at large-scale polarization of Bharat’s Muslim vote bank by the Congress, Left, and various regional parties. Pro-Hamas protests and rallies have already started happening in different parts of Bharat. And the likes of Al Jazeera have already started propagating the narrative that the “Hindu Nationalist BJP” ruling the country now is openly discriminating against Palestine supporters while allowing pro-Israel rallies. So the narrative has started to emerge. Perhaps it will be only a matter of time before something on the scale of anti-CAA protests or farmers’ protests be orchestrated in Bharat in the run up to the general elections.
Now coming to the facts, why did Bharat abstain from voting on the UN General Assembly resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict? Bharat abstained because the resolution did not categorically condemn the October attack of Hamas on Israel and its ruthless butchering of innocent civilians. The resolution didn’t even call Hamas a terrorist organization and with regard to the issue of freeing all Israeli hostages without condition, the resolution wasn’t that clear and assertive. In other words, it was a one-sided resolution that clearly named Israel emphasizing the killings of Palestinians due to Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza strip, but it stood short of telling the other side of the story. The resolution stayed quiet on the Hamas attacks that led to Israel’s retaliation in the first place. It also stayed mum on the issue of Israel’s right to defend itself.
These are broadly the reasons why Bharat abstained from voting on the issue. While the media coverage of the issue might give a layperson the impression that Bharat is the only major country that took this stand, the reality is many western countries including the U.K., Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Australia, Canada, etc abstained from voting. Even Japan abstained. Besides, a couple of European countries categorically voted against the resolution as well. Countries like Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, etc voted against the resolution along with the US and Israel. If you come to think of it, Bharat has adopted quite a moderate position by choosing to abstain from the vote and not categorically rejecting the resolution. Yet, the middle eastern media is propagating the narrative that by rejecting this resolution, Bharat is going against its historical stand vis a vis the Israel-Palestine issue.
Bharat as well as many of these other countries that have abstained from voting have clearly stated that they fully support the necessity of providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, they are not rejecting that, their issue is with the biased stance of the resolution that fails to condemn terrorism of Hamas.
In the context of the current internal politics of Bharat, the Bharatiya government’s decision to abstain from the vote and stick to its position is indeed bold and courageous. In the coming days and weeks, Bharat will face tremendous pressure from various stakeholders and interest groups to leave the side of Israel and lend willy-nilly support to Hamas and its terrorism on the grounds of the supposed right to self-determination of Palestinian people. But Bharat has to resist that pressure and continue doing what is right.
By refusing to support a bigoted resolution that looks the other way around when it comes to condemning terrorism, Bharat has sent out a strong message to separatists and anti-Bharat forces back home as well. Today, if Bharat legitimizes the anti-Semitic hatred and violence of the Islamists in the name of the right to self-determination, tomorrow it will be Kashmir’s turn to bear the brunt of that self-determination then. The Bharatiya government knows that well and that’s why it’s doing what it is.
The left-liberal lobby clearly knows how to whip up emotions and create a frenzy. That’s its standard modus operandi. It’s doing the same thing with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Not just Bharatiya Muslims, but Hindus and other communities as well are getting engulfed into the whole emotional trap set by the leftist deep state overplaying the sufferings of the Palestinians and completely whitewashing the sufferings and concerns of the Jews, one of the most persecuted groups in history.
At this moment, the very act of portraying Israel as the perpetrator smacks of antisemitism. Encouraging the likes of Hamas is an unequivocal clarion call for the genocide of Jews. And Bharat has rightly taken a stand against it.
The BJP government must not forget that even a slight softening of stance against a terrorist organization like Hamas to appease Muslims in Bharat will have dangerous repercussions for Bharat’s internal and external security. It will result in the legitimization of cross-border terrorism and jehad and the next target after Jews in Israel will be Hindus in Bharat.
One can imagine the extent of power politics of the leftist Islamist lobby by the fact that the United Nations, an international organization supposed to help countries combat terror, is steering clear of holding Hamas accountable for the atrocities committed on Israelis on the 7th of October, leave alone designating it as a terrorist organization. Bharat, of course, is walking a tightrope, as it tries to balance its business interests with Gulf countries with the need to unequivocally condemn terrorism in all its forms. The business interests notwithstanding, the Bharatiya government this time has to understand that the stakes this time are too high and it can no longer afford to appease the Islamic countries at the cost of Bharat’s internal security.
