Why are right wing nationalists in India cheering for Israel
The subtext of the pro-Israel solidarity, is a playbook that runs parallel in both the countries
The unapologetically disproportionate response by Israel to attacks by Hamas is galvanizing hate against Muslims in India
Over the last fifteen days, the Western world was flummoxed with misinformation and disinformation,a significant part of it, emanating from India on the Palestine Israeli conflict. From disseminating old videos of unrelated atrocities across the world and linking them to Hamas to celebrating the ‘pounding’ of Palestinians, many Twitter handles affiliated with the Indian right wing are in celebratory mode. Some Indian news anchors have called the Palestine conflict, an Islamic Jihad menace that they allege India is grappling with as well. Pro-Israel rallies have taken place across India.
At the rallies ultra-right-wing fundamentalists with track records of hate speech against Muslims told television cameras that they wanted to join Israel in this collective fight against Islamic terrorism.
The subtext of the pro-Israel solidarity is the anti-Muslim hate in India. On the 7th of October when the conflict began, the twitter handle of the ruling party of India, the Bharatiya Janta Party drew a parallel between that attack on Israel and India before the Modi's rule, that is India between 2004 and 2014. There was no second-guessing the intent and dog-whistle in the tweet.
This is not the first time the Indian right-wing and many of its leaders have used international terror attacks to fuel sentiments of anti-Muslim bigotry and generalize an entire population.
For some context, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was then a senior functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party appeared on a talk show ‘The Big Fight’. On the show Modi called out what he believed was the pseudo-secularism of the Indian media for not acknowledging ‘Islamic terror’. In the same show he went on to cherry pick verses from the Quran without context to portray Islam and its alleged radical followers as practitioners of a cult like dangerous ideology.
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Incidentally the following year, in 2002, the state of Gujarat witnessed a communal carnage in which around 1000 Muslims were killed, Narendra Modi was then the Chief Minister of the State.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is escalating at a time when Islamophobic hate in India is at its worst and disinformation and misinformation leading to anti-Muslim rhetoric finds fertile ground in India. A New York Times report published last year, headlined "Tensions that roiled English City have roots in India" pointed out the disinformation stemming from Indian Twitter to have inflamed communal passions in the British city of Leicester. The report said “Experts say it is only the latest example of how the toxic politics that are roiling India — and leading to the persecution of Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities — have migrated to other parts of the globe.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/02/world/europe/leicester-violence-uk.html)
As Israel intensifies its shelling of Gaza and the death toll reached 4000 deaths, the love for Israel through the Indian right wing eco system only gets stronger. It stems from a deep-rooted belief that Israel is the only country that knows how to fix ‘them’. Israel is the only country in the world that can show Muslims ‘their rightful place’, or so the rightwing narrative goes.
When Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant said "We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly", it drew loud cheers in a section of Indian social media. There are no nuances, Hamas, for the Indian far right, is not just every Palestinian, but every bloodthirsty, savage Muslim in the world.
The cheering for Israel on Indian social media, twitter, YouTube is fueled by that projection. What is more the Hindu ultra-right-wing fundamentalists have a long-standing belief that Israel will aid the ultimate Hindu nation. This belief can be traced to past terror attacks.
In the investigation of the Malegaon terror attack of 2008 which killed a dozen Muslims in Western India, the Anti Terrorist Squad and subsequently the National Investigating Agency (NIA) told courts that the accused in the case had made plans for a Hindu nation in exile with its roots in Israel. The terror attacks perpetrated to seek revenge from Muslims were attributed to a Hindu nationalist group called ‘Abhinav Bharat’ involving ex and two serving Indian army officials. Investigating agencies have established that the accused discussed taking revenge of the atrocities committed by Muslims on Hindus, as well as the formation of a central Hindu government in exile in Israel. (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/purohit-wanted-to-set-up-a-govt-in-exile-nia-says/articleshow/52275472.cms)
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has polarised opinions across the globe, democracies are being accused of enabling genocidal tendencies. In this context, Indian ultra-right wing continues to endorse the worst of humanitarian atrocities in the West Bank.
The Palestine conflict is being used to further weaponize the existing prejudice that exists against Muslims in the year leading up to the 2024 general elections.
Controversial BJP leader and Chief Minister of the State of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath has directed the police to act against pro-Palestine statements and posts on social media. Multiple arrests have already been made. The Indian right wing seeks to successfully emulate the Israeli model of collective punishment that aspires to humiliate, persecute, and treat an entire population as second-class citizens. Need I say more