Modi Govt Must Stop Arms Supply to Israel
THE International Day of Solidarity with Palestine was observed by the Left parties on August 3, at Jantar Mantar. The call was a part of the international solidarity actions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The call included the following demands: immediate ceasefire and recognition of Palestinian State with pre-1967 ceasefire line and East Jerusalem as the capital; imposition of immediate military embargo on Israel and on import and export of weapons and military equipment and stop all forms of military cooperation; imposition of sanctions on cooperation and movement of Indian labour for industrial activity in Israel; legal sanctions on Israel including diplomatic financial and economic sanctions and to invoke the UN's special committee against apartheid to terminate the apartheid regime of Israel and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Responding to the call given by the Central Committees of CPI(M), CPI, CPI-ML Liberation, RSP and Forward Bloc, the Delhi state committees organised a well-attended protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of CPI(M) said its time to critically review Indian government’s complicity in the developments in Gaza. Brinda said Israel’s courage to impart this genocide comes from the support of US imperialism. She stated that world-over huge mobilisations of youth are raging against this support of US imperialism and Israeli aggression. She said it is a shame that the armaments made under ‘Make in India’ by Adani through a joint venture with an Israeli company are finding their way to aid the aggression on Gaza. When the ship-full of armaments from Chennai towards Israel docked at Spain, the workers their got a whiff of the contents in the ship and blocked it from proceeding to its destination at their port. She saluted the working class for their action and also the unions in Kerala, who refused to allow any ships helping Israel to dock at the ports in their state.
The International Court of Justice, in its July verdict warned that anyone found complicit in this war would invite violation of international norms. In spite of such an explicit ruling by the ICJ, the Modi government is still not canceling the licenses for export of these armaments, Brinda pointed out.
The ideological affinity of the BJP-RSS towards the Zionists was explained by none other than Mohan Bhagwat in 2014, she reminded. According to Bhagwat, what they want to establish through Hindutva in India is the Zionist model, which is to divide the society on the basis of religion. This would be disastrous to our country, she warned. In order to realise their worldview, our age old foreign policy has been revised to pave the way for joining the US-Israeli axis.
Brinda added that the Indian government is silent on the killing of the Hamas leader who was the chief negotiator discussing means to achieve a ceasefire and an end to the war. It is for the first time that the government had abstained from a vote condemning Israel in the UN. All these incidents clearly show the pro-Israeli tilt in our foreign policy, she added.
She concluded that the Left parties would demand in parliament for the cancelling of import-export licenses of arms trade with Israel.
D Raja, general secretary of the CPI, criticised the Indian government’s failure to take a clear position in favour of Palestine and for hobnobbing with Israel. This goes against the traditions of our freedom struggle, where we clearly stated that Palestine is for Palestinians, as much as India is for Indians and France is for the French. Neither the prime minister who always projects himself as a ‘Vishwa guru’, nor the foreign minister, who goes on lecturing everyone are uttering a single word condemning Israel, he pointed out.
Raja called for building solidarity with the people of Palestine and concluded his address stating that the people of India always stood with Palestine, though the Indian government is not consistent.
Ravi Rai, Polit Bureau member of the CPI-ML, Liberation and Dharmendar, secretary of AIFB, Delhi state committee spoke at the meeting.
Eminent economist Jean Dreze, of the Right to Food movement said, India’s stance has put Indians under utter shame before the hapless Palestinians.
Representatives of SFI, AISA, AISF, DYFI and AIYF also spoke on the occasion. All the speakers lent their voices to the growing solidarity movement with Palestine and against Israeli aggression. They promised to campaign against Israeli aggression and on the plight of Gaza among the people, particularly the students and youth, to further strengthen the solidarity movement in the country. A strong solidarity movement would bring pressure on the government to change its foreign policy positions and stand consistently with the people of Palestine, they opined.
Many prominent people working in various fields, NGOs and representatives of the class and mass organisations of the Left parties attended the meeting.for mistakes...
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