CHENNAI: An article by Shashi Tharoor, the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram, in the Israeli daily `Haaretz’ (‘India’s Israel envy’, Jan 23, 2009) is sure to haunt the former under-secretary- general of the United Nations for the lavish praise and awe he expressed for Israel at the height of its military offensive on Gaza at the beginning of the year. Tharoor’s article is so pro-Israel that it has the potential to embarrass even a hardline BJP ideologue.
What is sure to be of interest to the voters in Kerala in general and Thiruvananthapuram in particular are Tharoor’s sympathies for Israel that is “a small country living in a permanent state of siege… surrounded by forces that are hostile to it”. The admiration that Tharoor professes in the name of Indians might have persuaded him to overlook the fact that the “forces” (read Hamas) is a democratically elected government the people of Palestine have chosen, but the voters in Kerala are sure to be intrigued over the way he glosses over the human right violations of the Israel army in Gaza for which it is drawing flak from the UN Human Rights Council.
Tharoor, in the beginning of his article, can barely contain himself as he notes: “As Israeli planes and tanks were exacting a heavy toll on Gaza, India’s leaders and strategic thinkers were watching with an unusual degree of interest --- and some empathy”. It is worth wondering as to who are the “strategic thinkers” Tharoor was referring to.
Tharoor’s remark: “…the painful awareness that India and Israel share many of the same enemies” would boggle the minds of many. Is Hamas, for instance, an enemy? His might well turn out to be a lonely voice in Thiruvananthapuram, where a resolution was passed condemning the killing of Saddam Hussein under the aegis of the American occupation.
While sticking out his neck for the Israelis, Tharoor does not miss the opportunity to take a dig at the Congress-led UPA and the state of (soft state) India’s national borders.
He says: “… unlike Israel, India has seemed unable to do anything about it (terrorist attacks)” and “India is a giant country whose borders are notoriously permeable, an open society known for its lax and easygoing ways”.
The `Haaretz’ article, coming on top of Tharoor’s failed bid to become UN Secretary- General, the way he has managed to court controversy by reportedly expressing his preference over the way the national anthem is to be sung - by placing a hand over the heart, American style, the criticism that greeted his being a member of the advisory committee of the Coca-Cola India Foundation, is sure to provide enough grist to the Left’s campaign mill in Kerala.