Modi’s Israel Embrace: Strategic Partnership or Moral Surrender?
On February 25, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Israel’s Knesset, receiving a standing ovation and becoming the first foreign leader to receive the Speaker’s Medal. The setting was extraordinary: Modi’s visit occurred while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes, with over 70,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza (including 20,000 children) and Israel effectively barred from 124 countries. What explains this warmth, and what does India gain—or lose—from such close alignment?
The Historical Context: From “Balanced” Policy to OpenAlignment
Pre-2014 stance:
- 1988: First non-Arab country to recognize Palestinian state
- Maintainedembassy-level relations with Israel since 1992 while supporting Palestinian rights
- Abstained from automatic pro-Israel votes at UN, maintained strategic ambiguity
- Balanced arms purchases from Israel with consistent Palestine advocacy at NAM and UN
Post-2014 shift:
- Modi’s 2017 visit: First Indian PM to visit Israel
- Gradual abandonment of Palestine advocacy
- 2023: Abstained on UN Gaza humanitarian truce (120 countries in favor)
- 2024: Abstained on arms embargo resolution
- 2025: Abstained on ceasefire despite 57,000+ deaths
- 2026: Refused to sign UN statement against West Bank settlement expansion
- Now: Addresses Knesset without mentioning Gaza casualties
This represents a complete reversal of five decades of foreign policy tradition.
What Does India Gain?
Arms Trade:
- Israel supplies 13% of India’s defense imports ($20-24 billion in arms exports, 34% of which goes to India, 2020-2024)
- Third-largest arms supplier after Russia and France
- Systems deeply integrated: AWACS (2004), Barak-8 missiles, Spice GPS kits, Hermes 900 drones
- Used in Operation Sindoor: Rampage missiles, Harop kamikaze drones
Strategic Partnership Elevation:
- Post-visit: Relations upgraded to “strategic partnership” level
- Deeper intelligence sharing, defense production collaboration
- MoUs signed on AI, quantum technology, critical minerals
Trade:
- Pre-Gaza war: $10+ billion bilateral trade
- Tourism: 70,000+ annual visitors pre-war
- Negotiating free trade agreement to revive economic ties
Hexagonal Alliance:
- Netanyahu’s proposal: Israel-India-Greece-Cyprus-Arab/African/Asian front against “radical Sunni/Shia axis”
- India has never joined military alliances historically; participation would mark historic shift
- Balances Pakistan-Turkey-Saudi axis but complicates relations with Iran and Arab partners
The Adani Connection: Profit and Suspicion
Every major India-Israel defense deal features Adani Group:
- Adani Elbit Advanced Systems: Manufacturing Hermes 900 drones in Hyderabad
- Haifa Port (2022): 70% stake in Israel’s premier commercial port
- Joint ventures: 51% stake in Israeli Weapon Industries-PLR Systems JV
- Small arms: ₹2,200+ crore contract for 40,000+ Negev NG7 machine guns
Adani currently faces a US investigation that triggered a 126% tariff on solar imports. While no wrongdoing proven in Indian courts, repeated association raises questions whether defense deals serve national interest or concentrated private profit.
Ideological Symbiosis: BJP and Zionism
Beyond economics lies deeper ideological alignment:
- Majoritarianism: Both embrace ethno-religious nationalism
- Minority suspicion: Treat Muslims as permanent security threats
- Security state: Normalize surveillance, suppress dissent
- Democratic backsliding: Maintain electoral democracy while undermining checks
The video notes Israeli tactics in Gaza directly inspire BJP’s Kashmir and “internal security” playbook. Watching how democracies can institutionalize majoritarian violence provides a template. Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel’s NSO Group, was used against Indian journalists, activists, and politicians—yet Modi’s government never cooperated with Supreme Court investigations.
The Moral Cost: Abandoning Palestine
India’s shift represents betrayal of its traditional solidarity:
- 1988 recognition of Palestine was global leadership among Global South
- Balanced stance gave India credibility in Arab world and UN
- Millions of Indian workers in Gulf depend on Arab goodwill
- Moral authority at NAM and UN has evaporated
Modi’s Knesset speech never mentioned Gaza, Palestinian statehood, or civilian casualties. In a parliament where Netanyahu sits—a man charged with war crimes—this silence is conspicuous. As the video asks: “What was the big task that couldn’t be accomplished sitting here?” hugging a pariah leader delivers nothing tangible but costs decades of soft power.
Why Does Modi Risk India’s Reputation?
Several explanations emerge:
Personal popularity pursuit: Netanyahu needed international validation after Gaza atrocities. Modi apparently obliged, trading India’s non-aligned credibility for photo-ops. Both leaders use foreign trips to bolster domestic image rather than pursue state interests.
Trump administration alignment: US-Israeli pressure may have compelled the visit. Modi’s first Trump-era US visit produced mixed results; perhaps Israel intermediary role offers benefits.
Business interests: Adani’s growing Israeli portfolio suggests profit motives may influence policy. Without evidence, the pattern raises suspicion.
Ideological affinity: BJP genuinely identifies with Zionist project. Many BJP leaders unabashedly admire Israel’s refusal to apologize for civilian deaths, its treatment of Palestinians as security threats, its settlement expansion.
The Abandonment of Strategic Autonomy
India’s foreign policy has traditionally prized strategic autonomy—avoiding alliances, balancing great powers, maintaining independence. The Israel pivot, combined with Quad alignment and Russian oil tensions, suggests Modi prefers transactional alignment with US-Israeli axis over principled independence.
The costs include:
- Alienation of Arab and Persian partners
- Loss of UN moral authority
- Domestically: accusations of anti-Palestinian bias
- Internationally: perception as American client state
International Reactions: A Tale of Two Democracies
Democratic world’s view: Most leaders avoid Netanyahu to avoid normalizing war crimes. Even US officials limit engagement. Modi’s embrace stands in sharp contrast to European leaders’ distancing.
Palestinian response: Likely silent but watching. Future Palestinian leadership will remember India’s abandonment.
China/Russia: Watching India’s alignment shift with satisfaction—it validates their narrative of India as American client.
Gulf states: Publicly neutral privately concerned.Indian workers’ safety may be complicated by this tilt.
What Happens Next?
Possible trajectories:
- Full alliance formation: India joins hexagonal alliance, deepens defense integration, Pegasus-type surveillance tools expand domestically
- Backlash and recalibration: Arab partners signal disappointment; India moderates pro-Israel statements while maintaining arms deals
- Escalation: Another Gaza war erupts; Modi must again choose between silence (moral bankruptcy) or criticism (relationship damage)
The Vertigo of Reversal
As the video concludes, Modi’s visit produces a disorienting vertigo—the sense that truth itself has been inverted. India now stands where Pakistan once stood: openly supporting an occupying power against an occupied people. Where once India championed anti-colonialism, now it embraces colonial methods. Where once India insisted on Palestinian rights, now it cannot utter their name.
The visit’s optics were carefully managed—Knesset speeches, standing ovations, selfies with lawmakers. But behind the ceremony lies a simple question: What did ordinary Indians gain? Their government abandoned its moral tradition, damaged relations with Global South, enriched specific corporate interests, and validated a leader credibly accused of war crimes.
The answer may lie in the ideological kinship the video identifies—India’s ruling party sees Israel not merely as arms supplier but as kindred spirit. That is perhaps the most unsettling truth of all.