India defends arms supplies to Israel, citing 'national interest'
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in Parliament on Friday that India has “national interests” and commitments to “various regimes” in defending arms supplies to Israel, which has been conducting a genocide against Palestinians for 428 days.
He was responding to a question asked by parliamentarian John Brittas who asked whether Palestine's Minister of state in the foreign office met Indian ambassador Renu Yadav to request New Delhi reconsider arms sales to Israel because of their use against Palestine civilians.
Jaishankar said, "The issue of India's exports, including India's exports of anything which directly or indirectly has any military implications, is guided by our national interest and by our commitments to various regimes.”
"We are responsible members of various international regimes, including the Wassenaar arrangement. We have an export control and licensing process and we take decisions regarding any export which is based on what we consider to be our national interest,” he added.
Jaishankar emphasised that "Israel is a country in which we have a strong record of cooperation in national security,” adding "it is also a country that has stood by us at different moments when our national security was under threat."
"So, when we take any decision we will bear in mind, obviously, the larger circumstances but we will be driven by our national interest in this matter,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, several opposition politicians also took the opportunity to use the question and answer session in parliament to probe India's external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on India's policies, including its decision to abstain from several UN resolutions on Gaza, as well as to clarify its position on the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue warrants.
While responding to TMC MP Saket Gokhle, who asked about India's position on a ban imposed by the Israeli government on the UN aid agency UNRWA and how India is sending aid to Palestine, Jaishankar said the government has stood by its decision to send humanitarian aid and it has just released the latest tranche of support to the UNRWA.
Jaishankar added that India has provided 70 metric tonnes of aid of which 16. 5 was medicine in 2023.
However, an Aljazeera investigation published in June 2024, revealed that Israel is receiving Indian weapons during the ongoing months-long war in Gaza.
A video released by the Quds News Network also supported the claim as the remains of a missile dropped by Israeli warplanes were found , with a label among the tangled parts: “Made in India.”
Another report published by Middle East Eye shed light on how Israeli forces are using an AI weapons system in Gaza co-produced by an Indian defense company that turns machine guns and assault rifles into computerized killing machines.
When Gokhale asked, "What is India's position on the illegal settlement made by Israel in the West Bank in Palestine," he said "Regarding the two-state solution, we supported the two-state solution. We have been public and unambiguous about that. There should be no cause for confusion regarding a two-state solution," Jaishankar answered.
When asked about India's position on the International Court of Justice's warrant against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas leader for war crimes, he vaguely said, "India is not a member of the International Criminal Court.”
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, 2023 has killed more than 44,600 people, mostly women and children.
