There’s a large section in my book, The Palestine Laboratory, about the growing ties between Israel and India.
This new story, by Azad Essa in Middle East Eye, is concerning:
The Israeli army is set to include Indian-made Hermes 900 drones in its expanding fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), in a move human rights activists and defence analysts say will further implicate India in Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Indian news channel TV9 Hindi reported on 7 February that the drones, manufactured in the south-central Indian city of Hyderabad, would help fulfil “Israel’s needs in the Israel-Hamas war.”
I was asked to comment:
Likewise, Antony Loewenstein, the independent journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory, told MEE that the prospect of Israel using Indian-made weapons in Gaza was “shocking yet unsurprising”, given the warming of ties between India and Israel over the past decade.
“This alliance between India-Israel has received far too little international attention, but it’s vital we examine it more because Israel is essentially being assisted in its genocide in Gaza by the so-called world’s largest democracy.
“I think we have to look closer at the defence ties between the two countries. I also think it’s important to name and shame the Indian officials and companies that are building these drones,” Loewenstein, who was based in occupied East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020, added.