The bonhomie between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accused of killing thousands of Muslims, was on full display this week in Israel. Both leaders committed to supporting the Afghan Taliban regime which is accused of facilitating cross-border terrorist attacks by the TTP in Pakistan. Mr. Modi was warmly welcomed by Mr. Netanyahu as a "brother". “You are a great friend of Israel, … Narendra. You are more than a friend. You are a brother,” Netanyahu told Modi when both leaders addressed the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on Wednesday. In response, Mr. Modi said, “India stands with Israel, firmly, with full conviction, in this moment, and beyond" He was silent on the continuing genocide in Gaza, where the Israeli military has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians since October 2023. Currently, India is Israel’s largest weapons buyer, sending billions of dollars into Israel’s defense industry each year. In 2024 as Israel waged its war on Gaza, Indian weapons firms sold Israel rockets and explosives that killed Palestinians, according to an Al Jazeera investigation.
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| Indian PM Modi Hugs Israeli PM Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Source: AP |
In October 2023, Mr. Modi became the first foreign leader to call Mr. Netanyahu and offer his full support to Israel after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. He tweeted that he was "shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel", adding that "We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour". This tweet was posted immediately after the Hamas militants' unprecedented attack on Israel by air, land and sea. Modi's critics have noted that he has yet to tweet any condemnation of months-long killings of his fellow countrymen in Manipur which are continuing unabated. Nor has he issued any similar condemnation of the long and brutal Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. To those who know Modi, his reaction makes sense given the similarities between Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders are extreme right-wing divisive politicians. Modi is a Hindu Supremacist and Netanyahu is a Jewish Supremacist. Both have a long history of murdering large numbers of Muslims living under their rule. Both are pursuing settler colonial policies; Modi in Kashmir and Netanyahu in Palestine.
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| More Americans Than Indians Have Negative Views Israel. Source: Pew |
Meanwhile, the polls indicate that more Americans (53%) than Indians (29%) have negative view of Israel. Most Indians, particularly Hindu Nationalists, have suffered from what Shashi Tharoor calls "India's Israel Envy". Here's an excerpt of Tharoor's piece published in "Project Syndicate" in January 2009:
"Yet, when Indians watch Israel take the fight to the enemy, killing those who launched rockets against it and dismantling many of the sites from which the rockets flew, some cannot resist wishing that they could do something similar in Pakistan. India understands, though, that the collateral damage would be too high, the price in civilian lives unacceptable, and the risks of the conflict spiraling out of control too acute to contemplate such an option. So Indians place their trust in international diplomacy and watch, with ill-disguised wistfulness, as Israel does what they could never permit themselves to do".
In a piece titled "The Settler Colonial Alliance of India and Israel" published in The Nation, Indian journalist Deeksha Udupa interviewed Azad Essa, author of “Hostile Homelands” – The new alliance between India and Israel". Here's what Essa told Udupa:
"Kashmir is a perfect example of another region being turned into a sort of testing ground (for Israeli weapons and methods). Both India and Israel already share many tactics. They both attack journalists and criminalize civil society. They both exercise collective punishment on Palestinians and Kashmiris. They both maim protesters. In Palestine, protesters are shot in the limbs. In Kashmir, protesters are blinded by lead pellets. Israeli drones, sensors, surveillance, and machine guns are all there, and Israeli methods of controlling the population have long existed in Kashmir—so much so that India is now producing some of these Israeli weapons in factories across India.".
Azad Essa argues that the Israeli occupation of Palestine has served as a model that Indians are replicating in Kashmir. He says that Israeli weapons, developed and field tested on Palestinians, have been used in Kashmir. Here are a couple of excerpts from his book "Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel": :
"So how did India, which once considered Zionism a form of racism, become Israel’s number one weapons trade buyer, accounting for 42% of Israel’s arms exports since Modi came to power in 2014?* How did India, the first non-Arab state to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement that opposed colonialism and apartheid, simultaneously maintain its colonial occupation of Kashmir since 1947 and metamorphose into extolling Israel’s settlements as a model to colonize Kashmir with its own Indian settlers?"
"In the days leading to August 5, 2019 and in the weeks and months to come, Kashmir became a site of unfathomable cruelty. Thousands of Kashmiris were detained; pro-India politicians were placed under house arrest, pro-freedom leaders as well as minors were rounded up and thrown in jail. Young boys were shipped off to Indian prisons 1,500km away in Agra and Varanasi. Foreign journalists and international human rights groups were banned from access to Kashmir. The region was placed under a complete communication blackout. Cellular phones, Internet, landline services, and even the postal services were dismantled. News traveled by word of mouth. Journalists compressed photos and video onto memory cards and smuggled them out with passengers en route to Delhi. Schools, offices, banks, and businesses were closed for months. Life came to a standstill".
Here's India's JNU Professor speaking about illegal Indian occupation of Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland:
https://youtu.be/KWp1E8xrY5E
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
South Asia Investor Review
Pakistan's Bilawal Bhutto Lashes Out at India's Jaishankar
Gaza Genocide
India-Pakistan Nuclear Arms Race
Kashmir: 700,000 Indian Soldiers vs 7 Million Kashmiris
Israeli Settler Colonialism
India Promotes Half Truths About UNSC Kashmir Resolutions
Pakistan-China-Russia Vs India-Japan-US
Total, Extended Lockdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir
What is India Hiding From UN Human Rights Team?
Indian JNU Professor on Illegal Indian Occupation of Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland
Riaz Haq Youtube Channel
VPOS Youtube Channel
""So how did India, which once considered Zionism a form of racism, become Israel’s number one weapons trade buyer, accounting for 42% of Israel’s arms exports since Modi came to power in 2014?* How did India, the first non-Arab state to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement that opposed colonialism and apartheid, simultaneously maintain its colonial occupation of Kashmir since 1947 and metamorphose into extolling Israel’s settlements as a model to colonize Kashmir with its own Indian settlers?""
ReplyDelete----
Answer (genius): Politics change. It is childish to expect that everything surrounding world order could change with time -- eg china's rise -- and one could even applaud some of them selectively, while expecting that Indian foreign policy should get stuck at Nehruvian era for eternity.
India should of course be willing to pay its price when it is due. It ceases to become a champion of colonised, or voice of global south or whatever. But it seems like that is a price it is willing to pay for now. Germany's invoice is also due at some point and politicians here tacitly agree that Germany's time as a moral master is gone in post gaza world.
Zen: “India should of course be willing to pay its price when it is due. It ceases to become a champion of colonised, or voice of global south or whatever”
ReplyDeleteYes, you’re right.
India’s alliance with Israel is totally incompatible with its claim to be a leader of “the global south” or leadership role in BRICS. South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice over Gaza genocide. Brazil has formally joined the case in support of South Africa, and China has lauded South Africa for it. Iran has called Modi’s visit to Israel at this time as “unfortunate”.
It is very uncertain how soft power would play a role in the future -- even western alliance (based or shared race and "cultural values") is not relevant anymore as seen by repeated quarrels between Trump and EU. So to get hard stuffs (weapons, trade deals), countries will have to take a side in multi-polar world. India's best hope until now was not becoming anyone's ally while trying to profit from all - but for how long?
DeleteEpstein Received Sensitive Military Intelligence Amid Gates Foundation Polio Campaign in Pakistan
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropsitenews.com/p/epstein-sensitive-military-intelligence-bill-gates-pakistan-polio
Justice Department emails show that Epstein helped the Gates Foundation gain access to the Taliban—and received confidential reports and intelligence on Pakistani military operations.
Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice reveal surprising details about one particular episode: Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts to eradicate polio in Pakistan. Epstein long maintained a close personal relationship with Gates as well as with officials from his charitable foundation, which he used to steer resources toward politically sensitive research projects and technology firms.
The email correspondence in the disclosures about Pakistan came a few years before the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in neighboring Afghanistan. They also suggest that Epstein’s interest in the region was not strictly limited to public health matters. In a series of emails on the polio vaccination campaign from the International Peace Institute (IPI)—a nongovernmental organization that Epstein funded and often used as a vehicle for backchannel diplomatic efforts—Epstein also received confidential reports and on-the-ground military intelligence, including sensitive information about NATO operations at Zhob Airport, a small domestic airport in Balochistan, only an hour’s flight away from the Afghan capital in Kabul.
Epstein leveraged his relationship with Gates and contacts in the region to become a central figure in Pakistan’s anti-polio efforts from 2013 to 2018. By personally orchestrating the partnership between the Gates Foundation and IPI, Epstein positioned himself as the gatekeeper for the Gates-Pakistan relationship for five years. During this time he also explored developing backchannel contacts with the Taliban over polio eradication.
The fallout for Gates from his connection to Epstein continues. This week, he was scheduled to be one of the headline draws at India’s high-profile AI summit—a gathering to showcase the country’s ambitions to become a global artificial intelligence powerhouse—before the Microsoft founder abruptly announced he was dropping out of the event.
At a town hall meeting Tuesday with foundation staff, Gates acknowledged having two consensual affairs that were known to Epstein, but denied any involvement in illicit activity or contact with victims of sex trafficking, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Gates said he deeply regretted his relationship with Epstein, claiming that he had been aware of an “18-month thing” that had previously restricted Epstein’s ability to travel—a reference to his conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution—but had failed to properly scrutinize Epstein’s background before associating with him.
This is the latest in Drop Site’s series on Epstein. We are partnering with Jmail, a searchable inbox of Epstein’s emails, to make all the Epstein messages public.
- "Both leaders committed to supporting the Afghan Taliban regime.."
ReplyDeleteDid they? But I thought Pakistan wanted the Afghan Taliban to return to power all along. When the American forces were scouring Afghanistan for OBL and the Talibanis (and the Pakistani "ally" was pocketing dollars for their "support"), OBL was vacationing comfortably at a home in Abottabad and Taliban leaders and commanders were given refuge in Pakistan's border areas. It would seem the Pakistani establishment had mastered the skill of running with the hare and hunting with the hound, hoodwinking even the Americans. And when the Ashraf Ghani regime fell, it was the Pakistani establishment that seemed overjoyed with the turn of events, and India that was deeply worried. Who could forget Lt Gen Faiz Hameed's swagger in Kabul's Serena hotel sipping tea and uttering that famous line "ghabrana nahi", when India was sulking all the while? Why and how this double game unravelled and tables turned so quickly perhaps deserves some study.
- "In the days leading to August 5, 2019 and in the weeks and months to come, Kashmir became a site of unfathomable cruelty.."
I wouldn't consider detaining protesters, placing politicians under house arrest, and enforcing communication blackouts as "unfathomable cruelty" by any stretch. Pakistan has done pretty much the same or more in Balochistan with the "enforced disappearances" of Baloch protesters and activists, and China has done far worse to Uighurs (if you go by the UNHCR report). And compared to Palestinians, Kashmiris aren't being bombed, nor are they being expelled from their lands. Their political rights may have been curtailed, but that's all.
"Pakistan has done pretty much the same or more in Balochistan with the "enforced disappearances" of Baloch protesters and activists, and China has done far worse to Uighurs (if you go by the UNHCR report). "
DeleteIf that is true that means the UNHCR has been compromised. These Uighurs genocide myth has been debunked by numerous people who have looked into the situation. Here is one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-0l_zToN4
Here is someone working in Xinjiang. He speaks Uighur and has Uighur friends. He sure doesn't see anything that even remotely suggests that there is genocide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WP0KSW6CR8
Mantou,
Delete- "If that is true that means the UNHCR has been compromised."
Yeah right. Don't believe a thing that UNHCR says about Kashmir too because they are "compromised". :)
- "These Uighurs genocide myth has been debunked by numerous people who have looked into the situation. Here is one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-0l_zToN4"
For one, that channel is run by a person vlogging from China and Hongkong. Secondly, there are plenty of fringe Western vloggers, journalists and self-styled intellectuals under the payroll of China and Russia. Max Blumenthal highlighted in that video is one such. They have zero credibility in the mainstream.
- "Here is someone working in Xinjiang. He speaks Uighur and has Uighur friends. He sure doesn't see anything that even remotely suggests that there is genocide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WP0KSW6CR8"
That video is currently private. But I'm pretty sure even Pakistanis would agree that it wouldn't be that hard for Indian govt to find Kashmiri collaborators or paid actors to say good words about Indian rule in Kashmir. That wouldn't mean anything, would it?
Narendra #Modi Is Using Brutal Repression to Silence the People of #Kashmir, with the complicity of #Indian intellectuals who seek to toxify the cause of Kashmir. #India #Manipur #Islamophobia #Hindutva
ReplyDeletehttps://jacobin.com/2023/07/narendra-modi-kashmir-military-repression-censorship
BY
SOMDEEP SEN
India-controlled Kashmir is one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world, and any public display of a persistent Kashmiri national struggle meets with swift, violent, and indiscriminate repression. This pattern of silencing extends to the field of discourse as well.
The Indian political mainstream views any reference to Kashmiri rights and aspirations, whether spoken or written, as a manifestation of “fundamentalism,” “radicalism,” or (Pakistani-inspired) “terrorism.” The hard-right, Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi has carried this vilification of Kashmiris to new heights.
A History of Repression
The record of the Indian state’s repressive ways in Kashmir is extensive and well documented, going back decades before Narendra Modi’s rise to power. In 1993, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report titled “Rape in Kashmir: A Crime of War.” It showed that the Indian security forces routinely targeted civilians in the course of their efforts to quell the Kashmiri independence struggle, with rape used as a tool of counterinsurgency.
The report concluded that the security forces were “attempting to punish and humiliate the entire community” through systematic sexual violence against women. Another HRW report published the same year documented the routine torture of Kashmiri detainees as well as harassment and assault of health workers who were providing care. According to the report’s authors, the Indian authorities even “prevented ambulance drivers from transporting injured persons to hospitals for emergency care.”
The impunity with which the Indian armed forces have operated in the Kashmir Valley receives legal sanction from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. This piece of legislation gives them emergency powers to maintain public order in so-called disturbed areas — all of which, civil society organizations argue, violate international human rights law.
There is ample evidence of this. Along with the acknowledged civilian death toll, there is the practice of enforced disappearances of Kashmiri men. Human rights activists estimated that between eight thousand and ten thousand people were “disappeared” between 1988 and 2007, approximately 60 percent of whom were civilians. People refer to the wives of the disappeared, who have often been missing for decades without being officially declared dead, as “half widows.”
There have also been several discoveries of unmarked mass graves in Kashmir. Eyewitnesses claim that those graves were dug under instruction from the Indian security forces, and that they contain the bodies of the missing Kashmiri men.
Blinding and Silencing
Since Modi took office, repression in Kashmir has been even more severe. Since 2010, the security forces have been using pellet guns as a supposedly “nonlethal” weapon for crowd control. In 2016 alone, they fired 1.2 million metal pellets in response to protests in the valley. The pellets left six thousand people injured, with 782 suffering eye injuries. Writing in the Guardian, journalist Mirza Waheed described it as an exercise in “mass blinding.”
A young Kashmiri student I spoke to in Mumbai describes the conditions in the state:
Stone pelting doesn’t happen that much anymore. But if anything does happen, the Indian soldiers quickly pick up anyone in sight. They will arrest you, take your paperwork, take your passport. In fact, in some cases, they will seize your property. (House demolition are quite common). This is normal in Kashmir.
True, but isn't this the same that Pakistan has been doing all along in Balochistan as well? Is the Pakistani state's repression of the Baloch activists and protestors and their "enforced disappearances" any better than what the Indian governments are accused of doing in Kashmir?
DeleteVineeth: “True, but isn't this the same that Pakistan has been doing all along in Balochistan as well?”
ReplyDeleteThere’s absolutely no comparison between the two.
1. Balochistan is recognized by the world as an integral part of Pakistan while Kashmir is not recognized as part of India.
2. Indian occupied Kashmir has 700,000 Indian troops, making it the world’s most militarized region.
3. There’s no evidence of mass graves in Balochistan but several mass graves have been found in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
https://youtu.be/FiJB7F4JEEE?si=Rd6w1oNxrD0GgFf0
Whatever the reason for the visit, Prime Minister Modi humiliated both himself and India. He acted and spoke like the leader of a minor state visiting a global power, desperate to curry favour.
ReplyDeletehttps://thewire.in/diplomacy/prime-minister-modi-humiliated-india-during-his-visit-to-israel
From the outset, the visit to Israel by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was questionable in its timing – months ahead of elections and at a moment when most world leaders are avoiding visits to the country or meetings with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, widely regarded as politically toxic to their public image. This is so even as, despite condemnations of the brutality of Israel’s war in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, many of those same leaders continue to do business with Israel as usual.
Yet the first day of the visit exceeded anything one might have imagined from a trip by the leader of one of the world’s largest and most important countries. In fact, it stands out as one of the most baffling – and embarrassing – visits by a foreign leader to Israel in recent memory.
Prime minister Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are not merely spouses but political partners, currently in the midst of an election campaign in which Modi served largely as a prop. When Modi’s plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport, he was greeted by Netanyahu – heavily made up, like a theatrical actor – and by Sara, who wore an orange-saffron suit, a color symbolising holiness in Hinduism. In a photograph Netanyahu posted on X, he can be seen pointing to his wife’s outfit; both of them also shared an image and a video of Modi warmly embracing Netanyahu.
On the morning of the visit, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement that effectively presented Modi not as an official guest of the State of Israel but rather as a private guest of the Netanyahu family. The statement said Modi had arrived at Netanyahu’s invitation, noting that the two leaders “maintain a close personal relationship, and that the deep and long-standing friendship between them powerfully radiates onto relations between the two countries.” It also announced that a “personal meeting” would take place, followed by a joint dinner hosted by the Netanyahu couple. The language fits neatly with the authoritarian trajectory Netanyahu has taken in recent years, one in which no distinction exists between him and the state. The State of Israel is him – and without him, there is nothing.
Prime minister Modi sought to address the Knesset, despite the fact that it no longer functions as a democratic institution but rather as a rubber stamp for Netanyahu. Opposition parties announced in advance that they would boycott the event after the speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana – widely regarded as Netanyahu’s puppet – violated protocol by refusing to invite the president of the Supreme Court, whom the government has been boycotting while conducting an incitement campaign against him.
To prevent the plenary hall from appearing empty, Speaker Ohana invited former members of Knesset to fill the opposition benches. Among them was Oren Hazan, who was exposed by the Israeli media as having run a casino in Bulgaria that also provided escort services, while he was using hard drugs, and who later confessed in a plea deal to assaulting a mayor after his mother’s bank account was frozen. He was joined by Pnina Rosenblum, a cosmetics businesswoman who occasionally records and releases war-themed songs drenched in heavy Auto-Tune – this time, at least, she limited herself to a selfie with Modi and did not break into song.
https://youtu.be/eZ8xhuvv7js?si=ttFg-DHn_vj508by
"Pakistan UN ambassador condemns killing of citizen in UAE
ReplyDeleteAsim Iftikhar Ahmad has been speaking at the Security Council meeting, decrying Iran’s strikes as “blatant violations of the sovereignty of the brotherly Gulf States”.
He also condemned the killing of a Pakistani national in the UAE. Authorities have said the individual was killed by falling debris in connection with a missile strike."
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this is the fate of Pakistan, when it is on the payroll of Saudis and Emiratis
Zen: “ this is the fate of Pakistan, when it is on the payroll of Saudis and Emiratis“
ReplyDeleteAmbassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed also condemned the US-Israel joint attack on Iran. He said, “Pakistan condemns the initiation of unwarranted attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of international law”.
The ambassador reminded the Council that “the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter are inviolable and sacrosanct,” stressing that the Charter “prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of states.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1976902/pakistan-maintains-delicate-balancing-act-in-unsc-meeting-on-iran
"When X briefly made users’ countries of origin public, several prominent pro-Israel accounts were found to be run from India. It was an unfortunate testament to the success of Hindutva forces in cultivating Islamophobia by presenting Palestine as supposedly anti-Hindu. "
Delete---
source: france24
Riaz sb.,
ReplyDelete1: The heading of this topic is wrong, it is not the axis that is a threat to peace in South Asia but the existence of India that is a threat to peace in S. Asia. Peace will remain a pipe dream as long as it exists, it will keep meddling in the internal affairs of the neighbors, picking fights and will keep promoting terrorism in the neighborhood.
2: Please stop making a villain out of Modi. He has done more for Pakistan than ISI could have done in a 100 years. As they say never interrupt an enemy who is on his way to commit suicide. I only feel sorry for Indian Muslims and other minorities (not to mention lower caste).
3: Never understood the obsession our eastern neighbors have with Balochistan.
G. Ali
G Ali,
ReplyDelete- "...picking fights and will keep promoting terrorism in the neighborhood."
Of course, it was never Pakistan that started the Indo-Pak wars, it wasn't Pakistan that hosted OBL in Abottabad, and it wasn't Pakistan that created the LeT, JeM etc etc.. C'mon, at the very least we can agree that two can play this game.
- "Never understood the obsession our eastern neighbors have with Balochistan."
Somebody mentioned Kashmir here, so someone else mentioned Balochistan. That's fair enough, I guess.
In any case, the mess that Pakistan is dealing with on its western border is clearly of its own making.
Regards. :)
Riaz Sb,
ReplyDelete- "1. Balochistan is recognized by the world as an integral part of Pakistan while Kashmir is not recognized as part of India."
That wouldn't make "enforced disappearances" of Baloch activists and protestors any more acceptable than those of Kashmiris, does it?
- "2. Indian occupied Kashmir has 700,000 Indian troops, making it the world’s most militarized region."
Keeping in mind the history of Indo-Pak wars, India needs to be ready if Pakistan makes a repeat of the 1965 attempt to take Kashmir by force. Or another Kargil-type military adventure.
- "3. There’s no evidence of mass graves in Balochistan but several mass graves have been found in Indian Occupied Kashmir."
Give Pakistani media outlets the freedom to investigate, and probably the remains of many of the missing Baloch just might show up in mass graves too.
Not saying that there is a flowering of Indian media freedom under Modi, but as for the chokehold that Pakistan's establishment has on the country's media outlets, read this:
"Imran Khan not the only one silenced as Pakistan military stifles dissent"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy82yp8xnno