Bharat - Israel through the years

    The ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict seems to have no end as the recent UN brokered humanitarian 72 hour ceasefire was called off by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after Hamas killed 2 Israeli soldiers and abducted 3 immediately after the ceasefire was announced. In the recent vote in UNHRC on the resolution proposed by Pakistan, Egypt & Palestine, Israel was termed to be as the aggressor in the ongoing conflict thereby completely ignoring the attacks by Hamas on Israel. Inspite of the increasing civilian casualty in Gaza, Hamas seems to be showing very less concern for the same.

    Bharat may have voted against Israel in the UNHRC resolution amidst the fears of non-cooperation by the Arab nations in evacuating our citizens from Iraq as well as our dependence on the Middle-East for supply of oil, which forms major part of our imports.

    Though Bharat may have turned down and supported the cause of Palestine, as it has been doing since 1948, Israel have always shown their support in our time of need. Not one, but in many instances Israel has stood by us defying all odds, even when super power like the US took strong position against us. Lets go through some of the instances when Israel stood like a rock with us.

1971 War

In his book, 1971 by Srinath Raghavan, he revealed that Israel provided huge assistance during the war against Pakistan. Bharat may not had diplomatic ties with Israel but New Delhi quietly sought & got arms from Tel Aviv as we prepared to go to war with Pakistan. Raghavan had accessed the papers related to PN Haksar, a diplomat & adviser to PM Indira Gandhi, maintained at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library in New Delhi. Israel was in middle of an arms shortage but prime minister Golda Meir stepped in to divert arms meant for Iran to India. She also sent a note addressed to PM Indira Gandhi in Hebrew with a request for diplomatic ties in return for arms. The arms would eventually land up with the Indian Army and the Mukti Bahini, the guerilla force of Bengalis who would force the Pakistanis to surrender.

1999 War

Israel again sprung to India's aid for providing the desperately-needed imagery about Pakistani positions on the Kargil heights.The terrains where they came from was all stones. The intruders merged in the background and it was not very easy to locate them. Tel Aviv stepped in with unmanned reconnaissance aircraft or drones in the battle zone to assist India direct its war effort. The Israeli Heron and Searcher UAVs were critically useful for target information, as most of Indi.a's aerial surveillance aircraft were either too quick, or vulnerable to enemy missile fire.

Pokhran Nuclear Test - II

Israel was one of the selected few nations, a group that also included France and Russia, that did not condemn India's 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests. With India joining the group of countries possessing nuclear weapons, a new strategic dimension had emerged in Asia, particularly South Asia. Hence China, US & Japan led by UN imposed stricter economic sanctions. It did had impact on our economy as well as technological development which was marginal. But we came out strong, finally forcing the sanctions to be lifted & also the US itself later entering into a civil nuclear deal in 2005.

Arms to Pakistan

The Israeli ambassador in 2013 had made their country’s policy very clear that they will not supply any arms hardware to Pakistan. In 2007 Israel surpassed Russia as the largest arms supplier to Bharat.

    Apart from those mentioned above, there have many bilateral trade agreements, sharing technological know how, nuclear science, cultural bonding etc with the natural ally. Israel stands out to be the lone Jewish nation in the midst of Arab controlled Middle-East. It has been attacked many a times in the past, since its formation in 1948, by Egypt, Syria, Jordan who among others do not wish to recognize the existence of that nation.

    So in such cases when Bharat voted against Israel in recent resolution in UNHRC, it was a bit disappointment for many. Violence may not be the solution but terrorism cannot be allowed to prevail and terrorist must be brought to justice. 

PS: Few days ago, IDF called upon 16000 of the reserve forces to take part in the conflict which takes the count to 86000. While US resupplied the Israeli military with mortar rounds, grenades and other weapons from the war stockpile kept in a classified location in Israel.

SR.

Book War

    The mask is slowly lifting up. The days are being numbered. Former External Minister of UPA-I Natwar Singh in his new autobiography, "One Life Is Not Enough" is about to reveal too much, that the Congress(I) President herself had to come out in defense.

    The party is on it's toes as the forthcoming autobiography of Natwar Singh is set to embarrass the Congress(I) leadership. This is the second book after the media adviser of former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh Sanjay Baru's The Accidental Prime Minister which was released in the final stages of the election campaign which gave the Narendra Modi led BJP full throttle and forced the Congress(I) in the backseat never to recover. Natwar Singh recently gave a TV interview where he discussed some of the many things coverd in his memoirs.

    It starts from the days of Rajiv Gandhi government, where Natwar Singh says that the then PM Rajiv Gandhi had dispatched the army to Sri Lanka without even consulting his own Cabinet. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was sent due to massive protests which had erupted in the island country following the Indo-SL agreement signed in June 1987. The agreement sought to end the Tamil Separatist campaign and restore peace in the island. However the IPKF ended up fighting with LTTE till it's return in 1990, which resulted in the death 1200 soldiers. Natwar Singh said in the recent interview that the IPKF were sent in the island without any briefings. They had no idea about the topography of Jaffna as well the hiding spots of LTTE. He further said that India also provided financial aid to LTTE to make them accept the Indo-SL agreement.

    When Congress(I) led UPA came to power in 2004 and Sonia Gandhi was all but sure to become the next prime minister, certain things as well know, kept her away from the post. She had said in 2004 that it was her inner voice which made her renounce the highest office whereas Natwar Singh says it was Rahul Gandhi who had given her an ultimatum not to become the PM as he feared she will face the same consequence as that of his grandmother & father. So, as she passed on the baton to Dr. Manmohan Singh she also made sure to keep the seat warm for her son. Natwar Singh also said that Sonia Gandhi had access to all government file and that Pulok Chatterjee, IAS officer in PMO use to carry them to 10,Janpath for her approval during the Manmohan Singh's prime ministership. This vindicates the claims made by Sanjay Baru and again contradicts the Congress(I) version which said the party chief never interfered in the functioning of the government. 

    Singh claims that Sonia Gandhi is the most powerful Congress president and has more grip over the party than Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi had in the past. He also made it clear that Sonia Gandhi & Priyanka Gandhi did meet him in the month of May asking not to go ahead with printing of the book. He stressed on the fact that it was for the first time the members of the Gandhi family met him since his exit from the party in 2008.

    Natwar Singh name had surfaced in the Iraq food-for-oil scam which had led to relationship getting spoiled with the Gandhi family. He said that he was falsely implicated and that the documents linking the party's hand in those murky oil deals were suppressed.

    This may be the second book, of the many to come, which further lifted the veil from the Gandhi family. Only time will tell in what depths the book will further reveal things. But the announcement made by Sonia Gandhi herself that she will be writing her own memoirs to reveal her truth itself speaks the gravity of the content in Singh's autobiography. Well, I don't know about One Book, but it seems One life will surely be not enough to know all these back stage tricks.


SR.