In a country where minority appeasement is a virtue among Sickulars, 'establishment led by Modi' strongly views that Israel always stood by India during its hours of crisis and hence 'solidarity' is must

In a major surprise, Bahrain and UAE slammed Hamas something even Sickularly yours Congress avoided !!   

Oman, Qatar and Kuwait have been critical of Israel.

It's new Bharat and hence a new era. 

The Modi-led regime strongly view that Israel stood by India during its hours of crisis always — be it the 1999 Kargil war or the 26/11 terror attacks -- and hence New Delhi must stand 'shoulder-to-shoulder' with establishment in Israel in its time of crisis.

Thanking Israel counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu “for his phone call and providing an update on the ongoing situation”, OM Narendra Modi, in a post on X said “India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”.

The remarks have been reiterated in a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as well.

But there has been a tactical silence of the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi. The 'silence' has been understandably taken note by the West Asian countries. There are enough reasons for this. Now, the diplomatic challenge is to come up with a 'statement' at a time when cracks are visible in the Arab world, for the first time, over the Hamas attacks on Israel, especially the killing of civilians.

The UAE and Bahrain, which signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords with Israel, have criticised the attacks by Hamas. Well, diplomats, especially from the Arab countries, have noticed the MEA silence — they say. The only tweets so far have been from the PMO/MEA statement expressing "solidarity with Israel", and of course condemning the “terrorist attacks” on Israel.

Can there be more balanced and nuanced statement from the MEA? That's a mild debate !!

“The Indian diplomats just crafted a fantastic (G20) joint communique which was a superb example of a diplomatic balancing act. They have been doing that for the last year-and-a-half on the Russia-Ukraine war. They have the skills, but we haven’t seen those skills in the last four days,” a diplomat from one of the Arab countries told The Indian Express Tuesday.

In West Asia, India has deep strategic ties with Israel on the one hand, and Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Iran and Egypt – to name a few – on the other hand. 'Balancing' is a real tightrope walk. 

There are an estimated 90 lakh Indians living and working in the West Asia region, and India imports more than 50 per cent of crude from the region. It also has high ambitions in terms of connectivity projects, articulated recently during the announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.

The UAE late Sunday issued a statement slamming the Hamas attack as a “serious and grave escalation”. The UAE Foreign Ministry statement said it was “appalled” by reports Israeli civilians were taken as hostages from their homes, but avoided criticism of Israel’s deadly strikes on Gaza. “Civilians on both sides must always have full protection under international humanitarian law and must never be a target of conflict,” the ministry said.

Bahrain also criticised the attacks by Hamas, saying it constituted “a dangerous escalation that threatens the lives of civilians”.  The statement from the Bahrain Foreign Ministry also affirmed “Bahrain’s denunciation of the reported kidnappings of civilians from their homes to be taken as hostages”. It urged de-escalation of the violence that threatens regional security and stability.

As of now, Saudi Arabia has tried to strike a balance, although it did mention “Israeli occupation forces”, and was perceived to be leaning towards Palestine – there was no condemnation of the Hamas attacks. On the other hand, Countries like Qatar, Kuwait and Oman have been critical of Israel. A statement by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was “closely monitoring the unprecedented developments between various Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation forces, resulting in an escalation of violence on several fronts”. Riyadh called for “immediate cessation of the escalation” between both sides and “the protection of civilians”.

It said Saudi Arabia had issued repeated warnings of a possible escalation in light of “the ongoing occupation and the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, as well as the repeated deliberate provocations against their sanctities”.

When the attacks took place on Saturday, the first tweet from Modi came at 4.44 pm: “Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.” Modi’s second post on the issue came on Tuesday at 2.38 pm when he received a phone call from Netanyahu. “People of India stand firmly with Israel in this difficult hour. India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he tweeted.

I thank Prime Minister @netanyahu for his phone call and providing an update on the ongoing situation. People of India stand firmly with Israel in this difficult hour. India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 10, 2023

Arab diplomats said the Indian PM’s statement on the phone call and tweets so far are perceived to be completely loaded towards Israel.

Delhi believes that the attacks were so brazen and brutal — with horrifying images of women, children and elderly being killed and kidnapped — that any attempt to talk about the other side would be seen as pandering to the sentiments of the other side, and would offend the Israelis.

A diplomat said that formulations like “cessation of hostilities”, “refrain from violence” and “exercise restraint” can be used to balance the statement. -- 'Indian Express'