‘Stop Indian Arms Exports to Israel. It’s Criminal’

New Delhi: Activists, lawyers, journalists and members of civil society converged at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on Thursday, July 31, to denounce exports of Indian arms and ammunitions to Israel. The speakers who addressed the press conference here, maintained that these exports were unethical and a flagrant violation of the United Nation’s Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime Genocide, adopted in 1948. 

The speakers cited reports suggesting that the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and the Department of Defence Production gave repeated licenses to three companies -- Munitions India Ltd, Premier Explosives Ltd and Adani-Elbit Advance Systems India Ltd -- to exports arms and ammunitions to Israel when it was accused of genocide by several international humanitarian aid agencies. Interestingly, these developments took place after the Ministry of External Affairs then spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, had reiterated that India supported the formation of a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine. 

Noted author and Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy said that Israel not only occupies Palestinian land but also American university campuses.

“We saw a huge movement across campuses in the United States. The students demanded that America should stop its logistical and moral support to Israel. Similarly, American universities should disclose their endowment investments and divest from the companies operating in occupied areas of Palestine. However, these students were suspended, arrested and even beaten by policemen riding horses. It clearly implies that you can protest against the US government in the US, not Israel,” said Roy, addressing reporters.

The author said her recent visit to Beirut exposed herself to the sheer tyranny of the Israel Defence Forces on children. 

“I met trauma specialist Ghassan Abu Sittah, who has been providing medical relief to Palestinian people, and he told me that he amputated thousands of children without anaesthesia. Just imagine how painful would that be for an orphan child battling from hunger,” said Roy.

Several speakers recalled that Israel was accused of blocking humanitarian aid, including medical supplies to the war-torn region. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that since March 1, nearly 30% of humanitarian aid missions were denied to northern Gaza by Israel forces. In its 97th situation report, UNRWA for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East stated that over 100 schools run by it were deliberately hit through missiles.

Roy also said that the Israel bombings had killed 160 journalists reporting the war. “It is the second war after World War II where so many journalists were killed. Israel does not want its war crimes to be reported. It is indeed shameful that Indian media houses do not report about it,” she added.

Brinda Karat, politburo member, Communist Party of India (Marxist), demanded immediate revoking of licenses to companies exporting arms and ammunitions to Israel.

“It is deplorable that the company, Adani Elbeit Limited, based in Hyderabad, was provided subsidy in land allotment. Similarly, Israel’s request to provide cheap labour was accepted and a special drive was run to employ workers who would replace Palestinians. It is akin to supporting apartheid by Zionist Israeli government. It is not acceptable,” she said.

Karat added that it was unethical and illegal on the part of the Indian government to export arms. The rulings of International Court of Justice (ICJ) clearly maintain that “all states are under obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The CPI(M) leader said India was setting a wrong precedent by not obliging the ICJ rulings. It had approached ICJ five times over its own issues and yet it continues to flagrantly violate all treaties, she added.

Siddharth Varadarajan, Co-Founder Editor, The Wire,  said that the Indian government may claim to be the leader of Global South, but it was South Africa that had the moral courage to drag Israel to ICJ in Hague and hold it responsible for its war crimes.

“What can be more shameful than providing arms to a war criminal conducting genocide. You were caught red-handed when the Spanish Foreign Affairs minister Jose Manuel Albares acknowledged that it denied entry to ship Mariane Danica that was carrying 27 tonnes of explosives to Israeli port of Haifa,” he said.

Varadarajan said the Indian government’s “complicity” in this war went against the national interest. “We saw that Colonel Vaibhav Kale was killed by Israel and you (Indian government) did not utter a word. You are party in replacing Palestinian workers and sending your own citizens in a region where war is a consistent threat to their lives.” Colonel Kale, who served in United Nations as a security coordinator, was killed in Khan Younis Area when he was travelling to a hospital.