Le Monde: Hindu nationalists are exploiting Israel’s war on Hamas to achieve their ideological ambitions Politics news

Barely hours had passed since the attack launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement (agitation) on October 7 in Israel, until torrents of false news and anti-Islamic rhetoric began flowing on social media networks in India, where the party believes Bharatiya Janata Party The ruling is that Israel is a model of a religious nation-state.

The French newspaper Le Monde said that immediately after the attack, Hindu nationalists began exploiting the new war in the region to achieve their own interests, and it was stated in a message published on the account of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Prime Minister’s party. Narendra Modion the X website (formerly Twitter) that “what Israel suffers today, India suffered between 2004 and 2014,” and therefore “never forgive, and never forget.” The message was attached to a shocking video clip that includes pictures of the Mumbai attacks in which more than 160 were killed. person in 2008.

The newspaper explained that Modi was one of the first world leaders to denounce “terrorist attacks” and affirmed “India’s solidarity with Israel in this difficult time.” Thus, the newspaper says, his message, which was similar to the messages of many Westerners, represented a break with India’s historical position, in favor of the two-state solution. In Israel and Palestine.

The speed of this reaction reflects the development of relations between New Delhi and Tel Aviv since the Hindu nationalists came to power in 2014, after India, in the 1970s, was the first non-Arab country to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of Palestine, and it did not establish diplomatic relations with Israel except in the 1970s. 1992.

Ideological convergence

Le Monde noted that Modi was the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel, and he does not hide his ideological affinity with its prime minister. Benjamin NetanyahuHis party and supporters, who want to make secular and multicultural India a Hindu nation, do not hide that Israel is the model of the religious nation-state to which they aspire, nor do the ideologues of the Indian nationalist right who glorify the Nazi leader. Adolf HitlerTheir fascination with the Israeli security doctrine.

The first official Indian positions exclusively pro-Israel were followed by a torrent of misinformation on social media targeting Palestine, during which many old videos or even taken from video games were presented as atrocities committed by Hamas or the Palestinians, with the aim of promoting anti-Islamic narratives. Against the Indian Muslim minority.

These speeches have been picked up by Indian TV channels, with “inflammatory” broadcaster Arnab Goswami on Republic TV saying, “The same extremist jihadist Islamic terrorism that Israel has fallen victim to, we are also victims. Israel is waging this war on behalf of all of us.” Even some Hindu extremists They expressed their willingness to take up arms alongside the Israelis, and Israel’s ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, proudly announced that he was able to form an army of Indian volunteers.

A few months before the general elections scheduled for spring 2024, many people are condemning the exploitation of the conflict for domestic political purposes, with “the Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliated organizations talking about the attack on October 7 as something that could happen in India if we do not support Modi’s policy.” Security is the only recourse against such attacks,” says Professor Nicolas Plarel of Leed University in the Netherlands.