The Congress on Friday slammedPrime Minister Narendra Modi over India’s position on Israel, accusing him of showing “extreme moral cowardice” and alleging that his stance marked a “betrayal” of India’s values.
The criticism came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said at a conference in the West Bank that Israel faced delegitimisation globally, “except in India”.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Modi had failed to condemn Israel’s actions in the region, including the reported assassination of Iran’s head of state and the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
“Modi has stood out as Netanyahu's strongest supporter. Israel is embedded in the Modani conglomerate. He has been demonstrating extreme moral cowardice and his stance is a betrayal of all that India stands for. It is shameful and unacceptable to crores of Indians,” Ramesh alleged in his post.
Questioning Netanyahu’s reported remarks, Ramesh said the Israeli leader’s comments did not reflect India’s broader sentiment.
“It would have been more accurate to say that of Prime Minister Modi's ecosystem and not in India as a whole,” he said.
Ramesh also claimed that Modi had warmly embraced Israel shortly before its military actions involving Iran earlier this year.
“Modi never condemned the targeted assassination of the Iranian head of state and other top leaders. Modi has never condemned the ongoing Israeli genocide and devastation in Gaza nor has he publicly voiced his strong opposition to Israel's bombing of Lebanon,” he claimed.
"Modi has maintained total silence on the forced dispossession and displacement of lakhs of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and on the manner in which civil rights of Palestinians living in Israel itself have been curbed,” he said in his post.
(With inputs from PTI)