Comparison of Hamas Militancy With Kashmir Issue Isn't Viable: Experts

There are concerns that Hamas' strikes against Israel could be a source of inspiration for terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir to give a fresh impetus to militancy in the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a telephone call on Tuesday evening that “India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”, according to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

However, Modi's expression of "solidarity" with Israel without a reference to the two-state solution has stoked a debate in India on the country's evolving foreign policy priorities. Historically, India has been one of the major backers of a two-state solution.

But experts have told Sputnik India that comparing Hamas militancy to cross-border terrorism could be misplaced and even "detrimental" to Indian foreign policy priorities.

"The Kashmir issue or the cross-border terrorism that India has been facing from Pakistan is entirely different from what’s happening in Palestine. Comparing them both is detrimental to India’s position on Jammu and Kashmir”, Feroze Mithiborwala, a Mumbai-based anti-imperialist activist and the head of India-Palestine Solidarity Forum told Sputnik India.

“It is political harikari”, stated Mithiborwala, who has previously led international delegations to Palestine to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Indian activist stressed that relevant UN resolutions on the Palestine issue refer to Israel as an “occupying power”. He also noted that people facing an occupation have the right to defend themselves, according to international norms.

The UN General Assembly resolution 33/24, passed in 1978, reaffirms the "legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence" from colonial and foreign occupation through all available means, particularly through "armed struggle".

“If we compare the Palestine situation to cross-border terrorism confronting Kashmir, are we saying that India is also an occupying power in Kashmir? Thus, conflating Jammu and Kashmir issue with Palestine actually harms India's national interests at various international fora," Mithiborwala stated.

Air Marshal (retired) M Matheswaran, founder-president of Chennai-based think tank The Peninsula Foundation (TPF), also rejected the comparison between Hamas and the terrorism problem in India.

“In India, most of the terrorism has been found to be backed by Pakistan. We must not forget that it is Pakistan that occupied a part of Jammu and Kashmir in 1948, after the Indian ruler of the erstwhile princely state decided to join India in the wake of the Partition of the subcontinent”, the think tank head explained.

Rockets fired from the Gaza City (R) being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence missile system (L) on October 10, 2023.

Indian Prime Minister Expresses Solidarity with Israel

The statement by Indian experts come against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “solidarity” with Israel in the wake of the attacks by Hamas over weekend. Modi described the attacks as "terrorism", although India is yet to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a recent update on Wednesday that deadliest attack in the country’s history had left over 1,200 dead, with the death toll expected to rise further as Israeli rescuers recover more bodies from the rubble.

The retaliatory strikes by the IDF in Gaza have left at least 900 dead, according to Gaza's Health Ministry on Tuesday.

‘More Balanced Statement From India Need of the Hour’

Mithiborwala expressed dissatisfaction with New Delhi's official policy of backing a two-state solution having fallen out of sight this time.

“The statement by PM Modi expressing solidarity with Israel and entirely ignoring India’s traditional and principled stance backing the two-state solution is entirely different from most of the Global South community, all of which back the Palestinian cause”, the expert said.

He noted that India's official policy was “different” from most of the other countries of the Global South as well as India's BRICS partners such as Russia and China, who have reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution.

Mithiborwala suggested that the stance adopted by the Indian PM and the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might polarize the Indian electorate on religious lines ahead of the upcoming state elections this year and the national elections scheduled to take place next year.

Major Muslim groups in India have expressed solidarity with Palestine and have blamed Israel for the current state of affairs. Meanwhile, India's main federal opposition Congress party expressed its commitment to a two-state solution this week.

Hamas' Attack Was Reaction to Israeli Provocations: Activist

Mithiborwala said that Hamas attack should be viewed as a “reaction” of the Palestinian resistance movement to provocations by Israeli authorities, which he said dated back to the British-backed Balfour Declaration of 1917, which ultimately led to the creation of the Jewish state in formerly Palestinian territory in 1948.

“Israel has continuously violated the UN resolutions in expanding its illegal settlements in West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, it has exercised control over the lives of nearly seven million Palestinians living in these territories, including on water and electricity connections as well as the civilian movement through checkpoints. There is no doubt that it is the Gaza and other Palestinian territories are the largest open-air prison-cum-concentration camp on the planet”, he highlighted.

Mithiborwala added that Israel has “offended” the global Muslim community by “violating the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque”, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

He also recalled the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, saying that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) under former leader Yasser Arafat made the “biggest compromise” in history of the Palestinian freedom movement by ceding around 78 percent of the historic Palestinian land in favour of a two-state solution at the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995.

“However, Israel didn’t keep its promise in the Oslo Accords, which was supposed to be fulfilled by 1999. The only solution of the end the cycle of violence and achieve everlasting peace is to work towards realising a two-state solution, or else the killings and attacks will continue”, the Indian activist cautioned.

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