“India and Israel are natural partners,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said as he described how foreign policy under the Modi-led BJP government changed in the last 10 years.
In an interview with the Economic Times, Jaishankar talked about how relations between the two countries have seen an uptick as compared to the pre-2014 period.
“Israel is a natural partner. But we were afraid to be seen in public. It took us till 1992 to establish an embassy and 2017 for an Indian Prime Minister to go there. So, to me, those are one set of examples,” he said.
‘Oct 7 attack act of terrorism’
Talking about Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, the foreign minister said that while India condemns the strike as an act of terrorism, the Opposition, especially Congress has a problem agreeing with that.
“Let’s look at our Israel position. The October 7 attack, is it terrorism or not? The Congress party has a problem saying it is terrorism. They choke when it comes to that. You saw the waffling which happened. We have no problem. If somebody has been a victim of terrorism, do they have a right to respond?” Jaishankar asked.
The minister, however, said that any country undertaking such actions should be carefully undertaken to minimise civilian casualties.
“I mean, I would say this even to our own forces, if we are ever in that situation, which I know hopefully, we will not. And then, there is the two-state solution. We would support it not for vote bank considerations, but because that is the sensible thing to do for stability in that vital part of the world. This is our geopolitical, geostrategic assessment,” he added.
‘Indian foreign policy has changed’
Under the Modi government, foreign policy has changed in the sense of realism as India today is focused on what is good for the country, Jaishankar said. “This is in contrast to an earlier left-wing liberal belief that there is a bigger cause out there, which causes our national interest to take second place. We are nationalistic,” he added.
The foreign ministry said that every government has a different policy and that it changes with every switch in administration.
“It will change because a different party with a different vichardhara, under a different set of assumptions and priorities, has come to power. Take, for example, the historical Left wing’s reservations about dealing with the United States. I think that changed very sharply after 2014,” Jaishankar said.
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