UN vote: By voting in favour of Israel, New Delhi shows it’s ready to walk the talk on its ties with Tel Aviv
New Delhi: When India voted in support of Israel at the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny an ‘observer’ status to a Palestinian non-governmental organisation named ‘Shahed’, it showed that New Delhi was finally ready to walk the talk about its bilateral ties with Israel.
While Shahed claims to deal with human rights and humanitarian issues, Israel has declared it a terrorist organisation and sees the group as the Lebanese arm of the militant group Hamas.
In December 2017, India had voted against Israel after the United States tabled a resolution to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. By doing so, India joined 127 countries who had voted against this resolution.
India’s vote came before Prime Minister of Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu’s official trip to India. While the Israeli leadership was disappointed with the vote, Netanyahu called India-Israel relationship a match “made in heaven” and added that one vote will not change the relationship with New Delhi.
Countries such as US, France, Germany, Japan, UK, South Korea and Canada also polled in favour of Israel, while China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and some others voted in favour of the Palestine body, when the vote took place on 6 June at the UN.
Even as New Delhi views Palestine as an independent country, this vote in favour of Israel is the next big leap in ties between the two nations.
Taking to her Twitter handle Maya Kadosh, deputy chief of mission at the Israel embassy in India, said: “Thank you #India for standing with @IsraelinUN and rejecting the request of terrorist organisation “Shahed” to obtain the status of an observer in #UN. Together we will continue to act against terrorist organizations that intend to harm.”
According to a statement released by the Israeli Foreign Ministry “Shahed is a Palestinian organization based in Lebanon that claims to deal with human rights and humanitarian issues, but in practice is an organization that Israel has declared a terrorist organization and in fact, operates as the Lebanese arm of Hamas.”
