Why India Won’t Fit Into the West’s Israel Narrative |
Whenever I read Western commentary on the India-Israel relationship, I see the same mistake repeated. Analysts try to wedge India into a political template that simply does not fit. Some claim New Delhi supports Jerusalem out of pure ideology. Others reduce the relationship to defense contracts or domestic election strategies. Both are wrong. From an Indian perspective, India’s position is far more practical and forged by hard experience than most outside observers realize.
For anyone growing up in India, national security is never an abstract debate. Terror attacks were a staple of our news cycle for decades. Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Pune: we have watched violence unfold in our own streets. That history rewires how ordinary Indians perceive terrorism. We do not process it through academic theory or campus slogans. We process it through memory.
That deep sense of familiarity explains the immediate Indian reaction to the October 7 attacks in Israel. Even those entirely disconnected from foreign policy recognized the sheer horror of civilians being hunted. It provoked a........