Since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with the exception of many Western countries that are in the same boat as Israel, most developing countries have taken a cautious attitude and have not lightly expressed their opinions.

However, what is unexpected is that India, which often shifts its position and cannot afford to benefit early, is ahead of most countries this time and takes the lead in making public its "courtesy": "India unconditionally supports Israel. ”

Indian netizens even drew a few paintings that gave people goosebumps when they looked at them to express their support for Israel.

This is not a big surprise, you must know that India was once a staunch supporter of Palestine, and India and Israel were once enemies.

Ironically, India's hot face was plastered to the cold ass this time, and an Israeli netizen responded in a contemptuous tone: "We don't need the support of people who drink cow urine." Presumably, the Indian netizens who were still "kneeling and licking" in the last second must have been hit by a critical psychological blow.

Having said that, after the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, why did India follow suit, and what does this change in relations mean?

Proud India

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was officially proclaimed, and this result was inseparable from the "efforts" behind the United States and Britain.

India was not yet an independent country at the time, but despite its colonial status, this did not stop India's leaders from looking down on Israel, especially the most influential Mahatma Gandhi and his supporter, Prasad, who later became India's first president.

The core of Gandhi's concept of "non-violent non-cooperation" is precisely to oppose Western colonialism and hegemonism, so Israel, as the "spokesperson" of US interests in the Middle East, is also disliked by India by the way. What's more, after all, this is a country "created" by Europe and the United States in the Middle East, and the political and military purposes behind it can naturally be seen clearly by a discerning person.

On the other hand, India also has objective reasons for having to get close to the Arab countries.

In 1947, after the first self-government, India fell into the first Kashmir dispute because of the "partition of India and Pakistan" left by the British colonialists. As a predominantly Hindu country, what is it most afraid of when it fights a predominantly Muslim country?

Naturally, they are afraid that the Middle East countries, which are also Muslim countries, will "pull the strings".

From this point of view, India could only stand on the standpoint of the Arab countries at that time and resolutely resist the establishment of the state of Israel.

Although it did not prevent the establishment of the state, India was dismissive of Israel for a long time after that. I am afraid that India, like many other countries, did not believe that Israel could survive the siege of the surrounding countries.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, held high the banner of the "Non-Aligned Movement" and single-handedly turned India into an opinion leader in a third world country. India, which is proud of the spring breeze in the circle of developing countries, naturally looks down on Israel as an "artificial country".

India does not look down on Israel, but Israel is very active in India, and it has taken 40 years to "conquer" India.

Why is Israel trying to "lick" India?

A gradual change in attitudes in India

Israel's greatest enemy after the establishment of the state can be seen as the Arab countries of the entire Middle East;

The "big brother" standing behind Israel is a number of Western countries far away from him, although the "big brother" has money and guns, but sometimes it is inevitable that the water is far away and cannot quench the thirst of the near, and if something really happens, the "big brother" may not be able to rush over.

What's more, as an independent country, if it does not have its own diplomacy, then its international influence and international status cannot be talked about. As a result, Israel has set its sights on India, which is in the limelight.

In 1952, Walter Aitan, Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited India to discuss the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. However, India basically did not give the other side any good face, and rejected the proposal to set up an Indian embassy in Israel.

The disgust in the tone is a little more euphemistic than directly issuing an eviction order.

On the one hand, Israeli diplomatic representatives are returning home in disgrace, and on the other side, India is still fighting with Arab countries.

In 1956, when the Second Middle East War broke out, Egypt sprung up and survived the joint attack between Britain and France with the strength of one country, and established the leading position of the Arab world in one fell swoop after the war, and Egypt also became the "leader" of the Arab world.

For Nehru, who was also ambitious and wanted to be a regional leader, how close he was to such a country was the best explanation for "people divided into groups". And as an ally of Egypt, it is only natural to regard Israel, which it hates most, as a mortal enemy.

Interestingly, although India's dislike for Israel is clearly written on its "face", this does not in any way prevent Israel from "paying great respect" to India whenever it has the opportunity.

In August 1965, the Second Indo-Pakistani War broke out, again because Muslim forces in Indian-administered Kashmir opposed Indian rule. Although India has the advantage in military strength, after all, fighting a war burns money, and it will be unbearable sooner or later if it continues to fight like this.

At this time, Israel began to come out to "behave" and specially sent a shipload of munitions from the sea.

But in the end, India failed miserably.

However, the support of the Arab countries, especially the friendly country Egypt, for Pakistan has made India quite annoyed, and although Egypt is able to eat well in the Middle East, it is not relying on the Soviet Union behind it?

So in 1971, on the eve of the Third Indo-Pakistani War, India and the Soviet Union formally signed the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which specified the political alliance between the two countries and formulated detailed plans for the development of in-depth military cooperation.

India thus became the Soviet Union's largest "hardcore" ally in South Asia.

It is said to be an ally, but India knows that in the eyes of the domineering Soviet Union, it is just a little brother who can be used. And this move of the Soviet Union to form an alliance with itself is undoubtedly to counterbalance Pakistan, which has long been embraced by the United States.

And India's virtue of "no profit can not be early" has been evident since this time.

In the winter of the same year that it was allied with the Soviet Union, India single-handedly provoked the Third Indo-Pakistani War.

With a large amount of military aid from the Soviet Union, India split East Pakistan from Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh, in just 13 days. Pakistan's national power has been greatly weakened, while India has largely dominated the subcontinent.

India has tasted the sweetness of an alliance with the Soviet Union, and during this period, not to mention Israel, the United States will not get a good face in India. And India's diplomatic concept lasted until the mid-80s of the last century.

At that time, the Soviet Union was already going downhill like crazy......

"Hypocrites" and "real villains"

In 1985, then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi met with Israeli Prime Minister Simon at the United Nations General Assembly, a meeting rarely seen in decades, in which the Indian side took the initiative to invite Israeli politicians to talks.

Suddenly, Israel was a little surprised to receive an invitation from India.

What surprised the Israeli envoys even more was that the Indian prime minister was ashamed to say something like "looking forward to it", as if it was not India at all. This move means that relations between India and Israel have eased.

First, at this time, the Soviet Union was exhausted, and this "big brother" was obviously about to lose its own strength; second, the Arab countries in the Middle East were more like chicken ribs that "have no meat to eat and discard" to India's national interests.

So India simply stopped pretending, and was ready for a showdown and a change of door at any time.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a group of younger brothers under its command began to develop on their own, and India, as a member of the younger brothers, was still more optimistic about the United States, which was the dominant power at that time, after weighing the pros and cons.

If India wants to switch to the United States, it is bound to need an insider's recommendation, and who is more suitable than Israel? Therefore, India ostensibly took the initiative to invite the Israeli prime minister to visit, but in fact it can be regarded as a signal that it intends to join the United States.

However, India's hypocritical cover-up is inevitably a bit ridiculous in the eyes of Israel.

The Jew, who was a businessman, hated nothing more than wasting his time. In 1992, before the start of the "multilateral talks on the Middle East issue," Israel wanted to achieve the result of "establishing diplomatic relations between India and Israel" on the condition of being a non-voting member.

India understood that it wanted to take the line of the United States, and it would definitely be useless not to agree to Israel's demands, so it agreed and set up a mission at the ambassadorial level, which also made India fall further into the American camp. In 2000, the exchange of bilateral visits between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of India further confirmed the claim that India had replaced Pakistan as the target of the United States.

Putting aside the geopolitical value of counterbalancing the Soviet Union, Pakistan at that time was far inferior to India in terms of national strength and development potential, and when the Soviet Union disappeared, Pakistan would have no use value in the global strategic chess game of the United States.

At the same time, with the rise of China, India has become an important tool in the eyes of the United States to balance China.

In 2014, India welcomed its 16th Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. During his years in office, the persecution of a small number of Muslims by the country's mainstream Hinduism deepened, thanks to the implicit support of the Indian government and Modi himself.

Perhaps Modi and the BJP aim to better integrate India's state forces so that reforms can proceed smoothly, but in any case, the expulsion and even harming of Islamists is the same as Israel's usual banditry practices.

And this common denominator has also brought India and Israel closer together.

epilogue

If Israel's unscrupulous style allows us to easily see its ambition of "occupation and expansion", then India's seemingly implicit expression undoubtedly shows its characteristics of "being the first to take advantage of the cheap".

From this point of view, I am afraid that both countries know how sincere India's support for Israel is.

However, according to India's habit of playing tricks, it may not be realistic for India to end directly in a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And once the wind of public opinion changes, the first to jump out and accuse Israel may be India.

Resources

India-Israel Security Cooperation since Modi's Rule: Current Status, Causes and Impact on China

The Motivations, Impacts and Challenges of India's Accession to the Middle East Quad - Yang Meng

The Development of India-Israel Relations_India Shifts from "Non-Alignment" to "Pro-Western"_-Zhang Shujian)

India's Current Middle East Policy_Background, Positioning and Diplomatic Practice-Wei Liang

A Study on India-Israel Relations Since Modi's Reign - Huang Fan