Opinion | Why India's Perceived Israel Tilt Over Iran Is Part Of Its Bold, New Strategic Doctrine

The 'New India' is not morally obligated to pathologically side with any loser the Left prescribes. It is confidently open to warm, stable, and productive long-term alliances

India’s non-aligned policy fizzled out with the fall of the USSR in 1991. It has been 35 years, but given how the nation has placed itself in the ongoing war in West Asia, it seems like a century.

Even in this multi-aligned world, a pattern has begun to emerge. India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi can now seamlessly juggle between phone calls to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy while the Russia-Ukraine war is on, or have Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas on a day Israel’s reprisal strikes are causing quakes in Gaza.

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But India will ultimately work most closely with nations that most closely align with its strategic interests. There are no permanent enemies. There are some steadfast – but just short of permanent – friends.

The ‘New India’ is not morally obligated to pathologically side with any loser the Left prescribes. It is confidently open to warm, stable, and productive long-term alliances.

The ongoing Middle East conflict perfectly exemplifies it.

In spite of its UN votes supporting Palestinian rights, two-nation model, and calls for ceasefire, the timing of Prime Minister Modi’s recent Israel visit hours before the planes and missiles flew, and his unapologetic support for Tel Aviv’s war against terrorism has caused many to ask if the once NAM-by India has finally picked a side.

The truth is perhaps a lot more nuanced.

India’s realities vis-a-vis China and Pakistan-plus-Turkey-plus-Bangladesh axis of Islamic terror dictates a strong alliance with not just Israel but the United States as well. It does not mean cutting off our traditional friendship with Moscow or rocking the mending ties with Beijing.

There are advantages to be weighed. The ideological convergence between Hindu nationalism and Zionism.

An overwhelming majority of BJP voters view Israel as a model for a strong, ethno-religious state combating existential threats from Islamic terror and other anti-national forces. This bond is not just rhetorical; it is embedded in policies of the two nations.

India is also hedging against a weakened Iran after the war. It opens a bigger window for New Delhi to expand ties with Sunni Arab states and secure energy corridors without Iranian dominance. It also preempts disruptions like higher oil prices or Strait of Hormuz blockades affecting a big part of India’s imports.

A new Iranian regime, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now neutralised, will surely be closer to the US and Israel. India will have to navigate through the new realities, especially with Iranian oil and its investment in the Chabahar port at stake.

Then there are strong rumours of Israel offering its Iron Dome and Iron Beam defence systems, not just off the shelf, but with the technology. That would be a first if true. It has apparently not shared it even with the US.

Also, Iran’s alliance with China has grown much stronger than its ties with India. Allying with the US and Israel helps India curb it.

And lastly, Tehran has not really been India’s all-weather ally like Israel or Russia. It provided military aid to Pakistan in the 1965 war; loaned West Pakistan helicopters, artillery, ammunition, spare parts, and other equipment in the 1971 conflict; and Khamenei himself repeatedly pin-pricked India over the fake narrative of “ill-treatment of Muslims". That is not how friends or allies behave. It must not be rewarded even by courtesies.

All that does not mean a lifelong blank cheque to even Israel or the US, or a permanent enmity with Iran. Geopolitics, after all, is a chessboard of choppy waters and fluid kings, queens, knights, and pawns.

(Abhijit Majumder is the author of the book, ‘India’s New Right’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views)

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