REBUFFING ISRAEL, THE FRIEND-IN-NEED
The irony and the absurdity of Nehru’s foreign policy is hard not to notice: India under Nehru was amongst the first nations to recognise PRC (People’s Republic of China) when Communists took over in 1949; but when it came to Israel, Nehru did not recognise it as a nation till September 1950, even though it was established on 14 May 1948, and most nations of the world had recognised it! While Nehru campaigned for admission of China to the UN and even into the UNSC, sacrificing its own chances (Blunder#53); India not only voted against the UN resolution that had the effect of creating Israel, but also voted against Israel’s admission in the UN in 1949! This when China did what it did—annexing Tibet and inflicting 1962 India-China war—while Israel was indeed India’s friend-in-need!
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted on the modified UN Partition Plan of Palestine that effectively included creation of Israel for Jews. 33 nations voted in favour—they included the US, the European countries, the Soviet Union and the East-European countries, and the Latin-American countries—and 13 against. There were 10 abstentions and 1 absent. Abstentions included Republic of China and Yugoslavia.
Those against included 10 Muslim nations, namely Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Yemen, and 3 others, namely Cuba, Greece, and one more country. Guess which? Most regretfully, it was India. This was despite Albert Einstein’s personal appeal to Nehru. Here are extracts from the article “When Nehru Shunned Einstein’s Request To Support The Jewish Cause”:
“On 11 June 1947, Albert Einstein made an extraordinary intervention in global geo-political affairs by writing to then prime minister-designate of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He implored India’s leader to endorse the ‘Zionist effort to recreate a Jewish Homeland in Palestine’. Appealing to Nehru’s moral sensibilities, he focused on the ethical question of whether the Jews should be allowed to have a homeland in the ‘soil of their fathers’. In his letter, Einstein described the historical wrong done to the Jewish people, who had been ‘victimized and hounded’ for centuries. He wrote that millions of Jews had died not only because of the Nazi gas chambers but also because ‘there was no spot on the globe where they could find sanctuary’. Zionism was the means to end this anomaly of history, he wrote, and a solution for this persecuted people to settle in a land to which they had ‘historic ties’.
A nation which got independence only a few months earlier on 15 August 1947 after having suffered foreign domination, ignominy, insult to its culture and religion and back-breaking exploitation for over 1000 years should have valued independence or creation of another nation, especially those for Jews, who richly-deserved it. Jews had suffered for centuries like the Hindus had suffered, though much longer. We should have had empathy for them. But, Nehru? What can one say of his convoluted thinking, defective world-view and faulty approach! India could have at least abstained from voting, rather than voting against.
Nehru could recognise China’s sovereignty over Tibet, which had an adverse impact on India, but not build relations with Israel, with which India had much in common, and relations with whom would have been very helpful in various fields. Indira Gandhi, like her father, and Rajiv Gandhi, like her mother, maintained their distance from Israel. What Nehru-Indira Dynasty did was driven by their self-interest of vote-bank politics (Minority Muslim votes) at the cost of the nation. It was left to the wise non-Dynasty Prime Minister Narsimha Rao to establish formal relations with Israel in 1992.
It is worth noting that despite Nehru-Indira Dynasty’s unjust treatment of Israel, Israel helped India in whatever manner it could in India’s multiple wars with its neighbours. India sought and got arms from Israel both in the 1962 India-China war{Hin1} and in the 1971 Bangladesh war. Israel has been supplying us critical military and security equipments. Its modern and innovative agricultural practices are worth emulating by India. Despite severe lack of natural resources, wars, and enemies on all sides, the new nation of Israel created only in 1948 became a shining first-world nation within a few decades, while India under the Nehru dynasty remained a poor, miserable, third-rate, third-world country.
For details on ‘Israel and the Jews’ please check the blog-series: http://rajnikantp.blogspot.in/2014/10/israel-jews-i-faqs-truths- fascinating.html
