Gaza and India's Shift Toward Israel Under Modi

New Delhi, India — Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Norway have barred entry to Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister, who has openly endorsed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the annexation of the occupied West Bank.

But in September 2025, as the European Union prepared to impose bloc-wide sanctions targeting Smotrich and his far-right counterpart Itamar Ben-Gvir — a package announced later that month — Smotrich was received with a garland of flowers and toured multiple Indian cities. In New Delhi he signed a trade agreement; in Mumbai he visited the stock exchange; and in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he toured a new investment hub.

At a time when Israel was waging its war in Gaza, with airstrikes and fighting killing dozens of people during the very days Smotrich was in India, New Delhi was more willing than ever to expand its business ties with Israel. For decades, India was one of the world's strongest supporters of Palestine, while Europe was one of Israel's closest backers. India's stance has shifted markedly since 2014, when Modi and his Hindu-majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power.

According to analysts, the reception for Smotrich points to something even more striking: at a moment when even Europe, long seen as a backer of Israel, has turned away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the Gaza war appears to be pushing India closer to Israel.

In February this year, Modi visited Israel as Netanyahu — facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Gaza — became increasingly isolated on the world stage.

"You are a great friend of Israel. You are not just a friend. You are a brother," Netanyahu told Modi as the two addressed Israel's parliament in Jerusalem.

A turning point after the October 7 attack

Three years of Israeli fighting have killed at least 74,000 Palestinians, including at least 21,000 children. That amounts to roughly one in 30 people, or about 3 percent of the pre-war population.

Historically, India has maintained that diplomacy and dialogue are the path to resolving conflict — whether between Russia and Ukraine, the US and Iran, or Israel and Palestine. New Delhi has long held that war solves nothing.

Yet investigations by Al Jazeera and other outlets show that New Delhi has exported weapons to Israel during the Gaza war. At the same time, under Modi, India has become Israel's largest arms buyer.

Just hours after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Modi explicitly condemned the "terrorist attack," saying he was "deeply shocked." On his visit to Israel in February this year, Modi invoked the 2008 Mumbai attack carried out by Pakistani gunmen, which New Delhi blames on the Pakistani government. "Like you, we have a consistent and uncompromising policy against terrorism, with no double standards," Modi said.

Analysts say framing Israel as a country under attack helped Modi justify drawing India closer to Israel. For decades, much of the BJP's politics under Modi has "revolved around Islamic expansionism or Islamic terrorism," according to Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst in New Delhi.

"So that works in its favor [for ties with Israel]," Kidwai said, pointing to the link between Modi's Israel policy and his domestic politics. "Look at this relationship as an extension of the domestic story playing out in India."

Analysts note that the Hindu right has long embraced Zionist ideology. Modi's BJP traces its roots to Hindutva philosophy, which pursues the goal of making India a Hindu nation and a natural homeland for Hindus anywhere in the world — similar to how Israel sees itself as the homeland of the Jews.

According to Kidwai, since the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, "anti-Muslim sentiment fills that space in India." That sentiment comes alongside "pragmatism in New Delhi because Israel is a strong international player."

Navdeep Suri, a former Indian diplomat who served as ambassador to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, told Al Jazeera that people-to-people ties are also a central pillar of India-Israel relations, "especially among a section of Indian society that greatly admires the tough policy Israel applies."

Repeatedly, calls have emerged among Indian right-wing figures for Modi to adopt a more Israel-like policy, from tightening control in Indian-administered Kashmir to striking neighboring Pakistan.

Suri noted that the drift toward Israel predates the Gaza war. "Under Prime Minister Modi, a relationship that was largely kept under wraps or low-profile has become a much more open one," the former Indian diplomat said.

"There is recognition in Delhi that Israel is a very strong defense and intelligence partner," he told Al Jazeera, referring to another pillar of the bilateral relationship. "There is a real convergence in security perceptions."

India 'should take a more principled stand'

Even some of Israel's closest European allies have moved from criticism of the Gaza war and illegal West Bank settlements to concrete measures. At least 11 European countries and Canada have imposed trade measures on products from illegal Israeli settlements. Many have sanctioned settlers and networks accused of carrying out attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as ministers such as Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

For its part, India has avoided any move beyond empty calls and mild objections to the war and attacks in the West Bank.

Diplomatically, New Delhi still supports a two-state solution and calls for aid access and regional peace. Suri, the former Indian diplomat who served in the Middle East, said New Delhi "should be able to take a more principled stand on these issues."

Yet, drawing on his experience in office, Suri added that "there is such a tight bond at the political level between the Israeli and Indian governments that [India] is reluctant to criticize Israel."

"That reluctance shows up in many ways," Suri explained to Al Jazeera. "Refusing to criticize settler attacks; refusing to criticize the brutal use of force in Gaza; refusing to criticize the attack on Iran and to point out the violation of international norms."

Unlike Western countries, India's current leadership "lacks that kind of dynamic thinking and is somewhat more dogmatic," according to political analyst Kidwai.

India's shift and Modi's calculations

Netanyahu's high-casualty assault on Gaza has stirred outrage even in the White House, where Israel has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support. US President Donald Trump previously threatened to cut support for Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon — even as he approved major arms sales to Israel.

Yet nothing has changed Modi's closeness to Netanyahu.

In fact, Modi's February visit, ahead of joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, appeared "almost like a personal favor to Netanyahu, boosting his image as an international statesman just as Israel's election campaign was getting underway," according to Max Rodenbeck, program director for Israel/Palestine at the Washington-based International Crisis Group, speaking to Al Jazeera.

Such a gesture would have been hard to imagine from an Indian leader in earlier decades.

In 1948, India opposed the creation of Israel. Ties with Israel were once considered taboo in New Delhi — a legacy of India's anti-colonial past — even though the two sides had covert relations at least since the 1970s.

India supported the 1975 UN General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism, was the first non-Arab country to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization, and was among the first countries in the world to recognize the state of Palestine. India only established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, and though later governments gradually built ties, Modi in 2016 became the first Indian prime minister to visit the country.

The opposition Congress Party, which governed for most of the post-independence era before Modi, also saw supporting Palestine as beneficial with Muslim voters — only Indonesia and Pakistan have larger Muslim populations than India — according to Kidwai. By contrast, Modi's Hindu-first politics rests on casting Indian Muslims as "the other."

"His party believes it gains nothing from a pro-Palestine stance," Kidwai told Al Jazeera. "Instead, Modi seeks to link the attack on Israel to the so-called era of terrorism and Islamic extremism, then builds an argument against Muslims — and in those areas, that is the justification for everything."