‘Unabashed defence of host’: Congress attacks Modi’s Israel stand, revives Nehru’s 1947 view

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Israeli Parliament, the Opposition Congress party on Thursday slammed the speech as an "unabashed defence of his host" premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

The opposition party also recalled India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru's July 1947 reply to Albert Einstein's letter to him on the subject of the creation of Israel.

Addressing the Knesset on Wednesday, Modi described the Gaza Peace Initiative as a path towards "just and durable peace" in the region.

He also delivered a message of solidarity with Israel, asserting that "terrorism anywhere threatens peace everywhere." "I also carry with me the deepest condolences of the people of India for every life lost and for every family whose world was shattered in the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 (2023)," Modi said.

"We feel your pain. We share your grief. India stands with Israel, firmly, with full conviction, in this moment, and beyond. No cause can justify the murder of civilians. Nothing can justify terrorism," he said.

Congress general secretary, in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh, denounced the speech.

"In his address to the Knesset yesterday — which was an unabashed defence of his host — Prime Minister Modi drew attention to the fact that India recognised the new state of Israel on the day he was born," he said.

He then cited Nehru's views on the creation of Israel in his letter to Einstein.

"Here is Nehru's reply to Einstein a month later. On November 5, 1949, the two had met at Einstein's home in Princeton. In November 1952, Einstein was offered the Presidency of Israel which he declined," Ramesh recalled.

"And a short while before he passed away in April 1955, Einstein and Nehru had exchanged letters on the issue of nuclear explosions and weapons," he pointed out.

In his reply to Einstein on July 11, 1947, Nehru wrote, "I confess that while I have a very great deal of sympathy for the Jews, I feel sympathy for the Arabs also in their predicament. In any event, the whole issue has become one of high emotion and deep passion on both sides." India's first prime minister said, "Unless men are big enough on either side, which is just and generally agreeable to the parties concerned, I see no effective solution for the present.

"I have paid a good deal of attention to this problem of Palestine and have read books and pamphlets on the subject issued on either side; yet I cannot say that I know all about it, or that I am competent to pass a final opinion as to what should be done. I know that the Jews have done a wonderful piece of work in Palestine and have raised the standards of the people there, but one question troubles me. After all these remarkable achievements, why have they failed to gain the goodwill of the Arabs? "Why do they want to compel the Arabs to submit against their will to certain demands? The way of approach has been one which does not lead to a settlement, but rather to the continuation of the conflict. I have no doubt that the fault is not confined to one party but that all have erred." The chief difficulty has been the continuation of British rule in Palestine, Nehru said.