She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence in the face of Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza is ‘deeply disappointing’
Congress parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi has asserted that India must take a “clear and bold” stance in favour of the people of Gaza, she accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of adopting a “shameful silence” on Israel’s military action in the Palestinian territory.
She described Israel’s actions as “barbaric” and a “genocide”.
The PM’s lack of clear stance for Gaza is “a cowardly betrayal of our constitutional values”, she argued in an article published in the Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran on Monday, July 28.
In 1974, under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, India became the first non-Arab country to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1988, India was among the first countries to officially recognise the State of Palestine, she noted.
The Global South is once again looking to India for leadership, Gandhi said. The Rajya Sabha member urged Modi, thus, to speak out “clearly, boldly and forthrightly” on behalf of the legacy that India has long represented.
She noted that nothing could justify Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, or its continued holding of Israeli hostages.
“But as members of the international community — and more so as human beings — it is our responsibility to acknowledge that the Israeli government’s response and reprisals against the civilian population of Gaza have not only been egregious, but downright criminal,” she asserted in her article, headlined ‘Gaza sankat par mookdarshak Modi sarkaar’ (‘Modi govt a mute spectator amid Gaza tragedy’).
More than 55,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, including 17,000 children, since the latest Israeli action began around two years ago, Gandhi said. Most residential buildings in Gaza have been razed to the ground and, she said, “the social fabric of Gaza has been completely shattered”.
“The Israeli Defense Forces have imposed a military blockade on Gaza, deliberately and cruelly blocking the supply of medicines, food and fuel to the population,” the former Congress chief wrote.
“This strategy of forced starvation is undoubtedly a crime against humanity,” Gandhi said, “According to almost all objective assessments by experts on Israel’s ongoing military occupation of Gaza, it is a campaign that amounts to genocide and aims to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip of Palestinians.”
Sonia slams ‘colonial mindset, greedy realty tycoons’
Not naming names, she said the Israeli actions were to serve various objectives “ranging from a colonial mindset to the selfish interests of a few greedy real estate tycoons”.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump — the latter’s family business is real estate — have spoken of clearing out Gaza and building a resort-like city there instead.
She also wrote that the crisis has exposed the international system.
Cites South Africa, Brazil, France
“UN General Assembly resolutions have been completely ignored… The International Court of Justice’s order directing Israel to prevent acts of genocide… has also been completely ignored,” Gandhi said.
The fight to protect the people of Gaza is now left to individual countries, she argued. She cited South Africa as having taken a “bold step” in taking Israel to the International Court of Justice, and Brazil has now joined the effort.
“France has decided to recognise the Palestinian state, and countries like Britain and Canada have imposed sanctions on Israeli leaders,” she said.
‘India must play its role like in the past’
She pointed towards India’s Directive Principles of State Policy that ask the government to “promote international peace and security [and] foster respect for international law and treaty obligations”.
As for long-term steps, she said India has been a supporter of the two-state solution and a “just peace” between the people of Israel and Palestine.
“India has long been a symbol of global justice. We are the country that inspired global movements against colonialism… and led the international struggle against apartheid South Africa.”
At a time when innocent people are being “brutally slaughtered”, she said, “India’s abdication of its values is a blot on our national conscience, a disregard for our historical contributions, and also a cowardly betrayal of our constitutional values.”
Her article comes a month after an unsigned piece in the party mouthpiece ‘Congress Sandesh’ termed the Modi government “a failure on several levels” in the context of Gaza.
Sonia’s daughter, Lok Sabha member Priyanka Gandhi has been a vocal supporter of peace in Gaza.
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