In recent years, growing defence and intelligence cooperation between India and Israel has complicated India's historical support for Palestine. Will sporadic student protests be able to rekindle the discourse for the decolonisation of Palestine?
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ON one hand, the world is witnessing "students Intifada", with students of hundreds of universities, including Oxford, Harvard, Yale and Columbia, establishing solidarity encampments on campuses calling for a complete divestment from Israel as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
On the other hand, Indian universities are deepening their research ties with Israeli universities during its ongoing assault on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and outside their country in Lebanon and Syria, which has reached its 276th day.
“In May this year, a delegation from Israel's premier institution in research and academics, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, visited India.
In May this year, a delegation from Israel's premier institution in research and academics, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, visited India. The delegation has approached esteemed institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), All Institute of Medical Science, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, National Centre for Biological Science and Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, to deepen research and academic ties.
It has signed a memorandum of understanding with certain universities, including IIT-Bombay, in artificial intelligence and robotics.
Early this March, IIT Delhi signed an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries on applied research. In February, IIT Madras collaborated to develop India's first indigenously designed 155 mm smart ammunition with Munitions India Ltd, a public sector enterprise under the Union Ministry of Defence which reportedly has been exporting its product to be used by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) in Gaza.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups carried out attacks in Israel, including the direct targeting of Israeli civilians and other nationals and hostage-taking. More than 1,200 people were killed and at least 8, 730 were injured. The attackers also took 240 people as hostages.
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Following the attack, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, by land, air and sea. On October 9, 2023, the Israeli Minister of Defence Yaov Gallant, declared: "We are declaring a full seizure of Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel- everything is closed. We are fighting human rights and we act accordingly."
As of July 10, 2024, IDF has killed 38,296 Palestinians, of which more than 15,000 are children; injured 88,241; with another 10,000 Palestinians reported missing. In the Occupied West Bank, IDF and settler-Israeli actions have resulted in the death of at least 572 people, including 139 children. More than 5,300 have been injured. These statistics are as per the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“A delegation visiting from Israel has signed a memorandum of understanding with certain universities, including IIT-Bombay, in artificial intelligence and robotics.
As per the latest data from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organisation and the Palestinian government, more than half of Gazan homes have been destroyed or damaged, 80 percent of commercial facilities, and 88 percent of school buildings have been damaged.
Every hour, 42 bombs are dropped in Gaza killing at least 15 people out of which six are children, injuring at least 35 and destroying at least 12 buildings.
In February this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said: "There appear to be no bounds to no words to capture the horrors that are unfolding before our eyes in Gaza."
In a January 26 Order for provisional measures filed by South Africa against Israel, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) remarked that people in Gaza are "facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded" and that "famine was around the corner".
The Order recognises that Palestinians are a protected group under the 1948 Genocide Convention and that there exists a "real and imminent risk" that irreparable prejudice to their rights under the convention is plausible. The genocide is causing serious mental and bodily harm and deliberately inflicting on a protected group conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction as a group.
The Order also acknowledged that "an unprecedented 93 percent of the population in Gaza [was] facing crisis levels of hunger, with insufficient food and high levels of malnutrition".
The ICJ said: "The view of South Africa, based on the facts represented in its application, was that Palestinians in Gaza were at immediate risk of death by starvation, dehydration and disease as a result of the ongoing siege by Israel, the destruction of Palestinian towns, the insufficient aid being allowed through to the Palestinian population and the impossibility of distributing this limited aid while bombs fall."
By March 2024, the Palestinians were no longer at just an "immediate risk of death by starvation"; several Palestinian children, including babies in Gaza, had already died of starvation.
On July 9, 2024, UN experts declared that "Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza".
The Commissioner-General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in a letter to the UN General Assembly President, described the situation in UNRWA shelters on December 7, 2023 as: "Today, as a result of Israel's military operation, nearly 1.2 million civilians are sheltering in UNRWA premises. The agency has become the primary platform for humanitarian assistance to over 2.2 million people in Gaza— a platform on the verge of collapse."
“Following the attack, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, by land, air and sea.
Since the letter, over one million Palestinians have continued to be forced by Israeli military Orders into the Rafah Governorate near the Egyptian border. Rafah has become the "epicentre of displacement", which Israel continues to attack intermittently.
In March, Israel launched an attack on a refugee camp in Rafah killing hundreds of displaced Palestinians and refugees, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a "tragic mistake" and yet Israel continues to bomb hospitals, schools, and any other space supposedly safe for civilian establishment under the guise of targetting Hamas members.
In June, UNRWA stated that the forced displacement in Gaza has pushed over one million people away from Rafah. It said: "Thousands of families now shelter in damaged and destroyed facilities in Khan Younis, where UNRWA keeps providing essential services despite the increasing challenges. Conditions are unspeakable."
The ongoing assault against Palestine has to be understood in the broader context of Israel's conduct towards Palestinians during its 75-year-long apartheid, including its 56 years of long belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory and its 16-year-long blockade of Gaza, de-facto administered by Hamas since 2006.
Palestine was a small region under the Ottoman Empire, which the British invaded during World War I. Through its 1917 Balfour Declaration, the British promised to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in the region. Thereafter, the region became a subject of a class "A" mandate entrusted by the League of Nations to Great Britain in 1922.
By the end of 1947, when Britain had announced its intention to terminate its mandate, Europe was witnessing a significant rise in Zionist nationalism mainly as a consequence of the Nazi holocaust.
Subsequently, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II), recommending the partitioning of Palestinian territory into two States, one for Arabs and Jews each in 1947, which was later known as the "two-state solution" under the 1993 Oslo Accords.
However, the UN's proposal was rejected by Arab countries leading to a civil war, which also resulted in a war of independence giving rise to the declaration of independence of the State of Israel in May 1948. Since then, many armed conflicts between Arab countries and Israel have taken place resulting in Israel occupying Palestinian territories including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
India's solidarity with the Palestinians has been an "integral part" of its foreign policy since independence; inspired by its freedom struggle against British colonialism and to uphold the principle of self-determination.
“Every hour, 42 bombs are dropped in Gaza killing at least 15 people out of which six are children, injuring at least 35 and destroying at least 12 buildings.
India did not vote in favour of two separate States for Arabs and Jews in Resolution 181 (II). In the UNGA's Resolution 273 for admitting Israel as a full member of the UN, India voted against it.
It was the first non-Arab country to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in 1974. It eventually set up a PLO office in India and by 1980, it had established full diplomatic relations with the PLO.
PLO was the de jure government of the Palestinians. Its legislative wing, the Palestine National Council, passed a declaration of Independence of the State of Palestine, formally and unanimously adopted on November 15, 1988. India was one of the first countries to recognise the State of Palestine. Seven years before recognising the statehood, India had issued a postage stamp in solidarity with Palestine in 1981.
In 1996, it opened its Representative Office to the Palestine Authority in Gaza, which was later shifted to Ramallah in 2003.
However, during this time, Israel had become closer to India in security and defence. Reportedly it provided arms to India during the 1971 Liberation War and the 1999 Kargil War against Pakistan. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were fully established in 1992.
Currently, Israel is the fourth largest exporter of arms to India, which remains unhampered even during the ongoing assault by Israel on Palestine.
Reportedly, India is sending military drones to the Israeli army and has sent hundreds of Indian workers to meet Israeli's growing demands in the construction sector after the Palestinian workers' permit was revoked by Israel after the October 7 attack.
Despite all this, India maintains that its official position on Palestine remains unwavering. It continues to endorse a two-state solution, which also includes respecting the human rights obligations of the Palestinians in the occupied territory and making efforts based on international law for a negotiated solution to the outstanding problems and establishment of a Palestinian State as per the 2004 ICJ Advisory Opinion on Construction of Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
In February 2018, Narendra Modi became the first Prime Minister from India to visit Palestine. In 2015, former President Pranab Mukherjee became the first President of India to visit Palestine.
Last year, India voted in favour of a UNGA Resolution condemning Israeli's "settlement activities" in the Palestinian Occupied Territory. Under international humanitarian law, the occupying power is prohibited from making any changes that may have a permanent effect.
Israel has continuously been criticised for confiscating lands, disrupting the livelihood of people living in occupied territories, and forced transfer of civilians and annexation of land.
“On July 9, 2024, UN experts declared that "Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza".
Significant political interaction and major development assistance projects have taken place by India in Palestine. The first-ever joint commission meeting between the Indian external affairs ministry and the foreign minister of Palestine was held in Ramallah in 2016.
India also continues to provide humanitarian aid to Palestine. Amidst Israel's siege, India sent two batches of humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.
In 2012, India announced a 10 million dollar budgetary support to Palestine and reiterated its stand for Palestine's bid for full membership of the UN. Currently, Palestine is an observer State at the UN while Israel had become a full UN member in 1949.
Recently, India voted in favour of a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly determining that Palestine is qualified for full membership of the UN. In 2011, India played a significant role in recognising full and equal membership of Palestine at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Despite these developments, India abstained from voting at the UNGA calling for an "immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce" between Israel and Hamas and unhindered supply of humanitarian aid in Gaza last October. The Resolution was nevertheless adopted.
Many parts of India, especially Southern India, have witnessed pro-Palestinian protests. Recently, far-right Hindutva organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) staged a protest against the "Jai Palestine" (Victory for Palestine) slogan raised by Asaduddin Owaisi while taking his oath as a member of Parliament from Hyderabad.
Owaisi had said: "Jai Bheem, Jai Telegana, Jai Meem and Jai Palestine".
On June 30, VHP, along with its youth wing Bajrang Dal, staged a protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that Owaisi's slogan displayed "allegiance to a foreign nation".
Subsequently, on the same day, Owaisi's official residence was vandalised by unidentified persons who had reportedly put black ink on his nameplate outside the main gate. Posters with slogans "I stand with Israel" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" were pasted outside his residence.
Many have even filed a complaint before the President of India, Draupadi Murmu, under Articles 102 and 103 of the Indian Constitution seeking disqualification of Owaisi as a member of Parliament.
“Rafah has become the "epicentre of displacement", which Israel continues to attack intermittently.
One Vibhor Anand took to X (formally Twitter) and said: "Multiple petitions should be filed seeking disqualification of @asadowaisi [Owaisi] from Lok Sabha as member of Parliament."
He added: "If you are willing to file it then drop a comment. Let's be united and get this terrorist state supporter out of the Parliament. I am looking for at least 50 people who are willing to file a petition."
The template of the petition shared by Anand states: "Thus, by raising the slogan of Jai Palestine during his oath proceedings, Mr Asaduddin Owaisi clearly acknowledged his allegiance and adherence to the State of Palestine as mentioned in Article 102(1)(d) of the Constitution of India."
Article 102(1)(d) states that a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of either House of Parliament "if he is not a citizen of India, or has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State".
Similar petitions were filed by advocate Hari Shankar Jai and his son Vishnu Shankar Jain. Simultaneously, many parts of India saw pro-Israel rallies. However, some of these protests and rallies saw violence and police arrests.
On July 9, the Uttar Pradesh police arrested a 20-year-old Muslim shopkeeper for allegedly waving a Palestinian flag at a Muharram procession. Reportedly, the police has registered a case under Section 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code) in the matter.
On July 18, two persons were booked by the Jharkhand police for waving Palestinian flags during a Muharram procession. Similar arrests have taken place in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Babulal Marandi took to X (formally Twitter) to share the video of people waving the Palestine flag and called it "Talibani mentality".
In Jammu & Kashmir, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 was imposed on eight men for allegedly raising pro-Palestine slogans and waving flags during a Muharram procession.
Member of Parliament from Srinagar, Syed Aga Ruhullah has sought immediate release of those arrested. He told The Hindu: "It's a stated foreign policy of the country to support Palestine. The youth just reiterated the stand on the streets. They were booked under UAPA because they are Muslims. It's a harsh measure and an attempt to turn youth into criminals. This regime should book the government under UAPA too for supporting Palestine."
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Last year, students of the Aligarh Muslim University carried out a protest march to express solidarity with Palestine. However, some students were arrested by police and were charged under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), and 505 (statements inducing public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).
The first information report (FIR) says that the students marched in support of a "terrorist group" (referring to Hamas).
“India also continues to provide humanitarian aid to Palestine. Amidst Israel's siege, India sent two batches of humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.
Subsequently, after the arrest of the students, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, issued a statement directing the police to take strong action against those who oppose the Indian government's stand on the ongoing Israel–Hamas flareup and voicing support for Palestine on social media.
Sections 153A and 153B of the IPC are provisions used against hate speech cases, requiring the existence of two or more groups or communities.
Recently, while quashing an FIR against a journalist, the Supreme Court held that for a case under Section 153A to be made out, the prosecution must provide that words 'spoken' or 'written' are attributed to the accused, which creates enmity or bad blood between two different groups on the ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc, or that the acts so alleged were prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.
It has also been held by the Karnataka High Court that merely inciting the feelings of one community without reference to the other does not attract Section 153A. In this case, police registered an FIR against seven Muslim men based on a complaint by one Roopesh Shetty.
As per the complaint, Shetty was standing by the road when a procession of about 200–250 men passed by, and some members of the procession abused and threatened him to not cross the road. He alleged that the procession was marching in a manner to frighten Hindus.
In Mohammed Ataulla A & Ors versus The State of Karnataka, the court said: "This is the imagination or mere assumption of the complainant and not the actual commission of act by any of the petitioners. As a result, even the basic ingredients of the offence under Section 153A IPC is not satisfied so as to proceed with the investigation against the petitioners."
As per the 2022 Crimes in India report of the National Crime Records Bureau, the total number of cases registered under Section 153A in 2020 is 1804, in 2021 is 1047 and in 2022 is 1491 respectively.
The number of cases reported under Section 153A is six times higher than in 2014 whereas, the conviction remains an abysmal low of 20.2 percent. Whereas as compared to other crimes, the pendency rate of cases under Section 153A remains second highest (64.4 percent) after the offences committed against State (88.4 percent).
“On June 30, VHP, along with its youth wing Bajrang Dal, staged a protest at Jantar Mantar, stating that Owaisi's slogan displayed "allegiance to a foreign nation".
It should be noted that the chargesheeting rate is as low as 27 percent, which means that in most cases the accused remains incarcerated for years, based on absolutely no grounds, since no evidence has been ascertained.
Section 153A cannot be invoked mechanically so as to deprive people of exercising free speech because Article 19(1) not only protects free speech but also the right to protest.
India's deepening ties with Israeli institutions
The supporters of those boycotting Israeli academics have long argued institutional complicity and how the Israeli universities have been established to support the State's settler agenda and apartheid. Many scholars argue that "scholasticide" is central to Israel's genocide in Palestine.
The BDS movement, inspired by the South African movement against Apartheid, was initiated in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil society groups including trade unions, refugee rights associations, women's organisations, etc. The movement called for Israel to end its colonisation, recognise the full rights of Palestinians and recognise the right of repatriation of Palestinian refugees.
The PACBI is a part of BDS, which was launched in 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics in the West Bank. They call for a boycott of Israeli academics as being complicit in the Occupation.
Indian universities such as Ashoka University and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) have shown support for the BDS and PACBI movements.
In India, students at universities such as Ashoka University have called for the vice chancellor to cut its ties with Tel Aviv University.
Similarly, the students at the NALSAR called upon its administration to cut all ties with Israeli institutes, the Buchmann School of Law, Tel Aviv University and the Radzyner School of Law, Reichman University pertaining to the international exchange programmes, as part of complete academic and economic disassociation with Israel.
A statement by the students stated: "The resounding silence of Israeli universities in defending Palestine people's basic right to education, let alone 'academic freedom', and failure to strike a strong note against the Israeli government's onslaught on Palestine's universities is very telling of the legitimacy of their claim to 'academic freedom'."
“Israel is the fourth largest exporter of arms to India, which remains unhampered even during the ongoing assault by Israel on Palestine.
In the letter signed by 362 signatories including students of the 2024–28 batch, alumni and faculty members, NALSAR students have unequivocally condemned the past and ongoing aggression of Israel against Palestine, which they reiterate is genocidal and violates the May 24 Order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Students at Ashoka and NALSAR have said that Tel Aviv University has, directly and indirectly, contributed to the ongoing onslaught in Gaza.
The letter written by NALSAR students states: "It has played a crucial role in collaborating with defence-tech companies such as RAFAEL, Bet Shemesh Engines, IAI and Elbit Systems, whose products today are actively deployed by the IDF against Palestinians."
Students at Ashoka University have said: "This includes Tel Aviv's ties with Israeli weapons manufacturers like Elbit Systems. Professors from Tel Aviv University have been involved in drafting the IOF's code of ethics, providing legal defense to IOF members for war crimes and drafting doctrines that dictate military operations."
Whereas, the NALSAR students have alleged that the "Radzyner School of Law houses international scholar Prof. Aharon Barak, who has actively and publicly endorsed the actions of the Israeli Government, with multiple publications in defence of the Israeli State's actions in Gaza".
“In India, students at universities such as Ashoka University have called for the vice chancellor to cut its ties with Tel Aviv University.
Despite the protests, Indian students continue to be the highest number of foreign students studying in Israel, even surpassing Chinese students. In 2022, 47.9 percent of foreign post-doctoral fellows in India were from India and the numbers have not changed much despite the ongoing genocide.
India has chosen to maintain a "de-hyphenated" foreign policy with Israel and Palestine. But does it align with its history of non-imperialist struggle and non-aligned movement?