‘We are fighting for our land and our freedom. We didn’t take even an inch of land from anyone,’ says Israeli Knesset member, Amit Halevi.
The Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, was in India with a delegation last week on an official visit. The delegation met President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to strengthen bilateral ties, especially between the two parliaments. In an exclusive conversation with the authors, M.K. Amit Halevi, who is a member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) representing the Likud Party and who is currently serving as the Israel-India Friendship leader, reflected on his visit with the delegation, multiple aspects of the India-Israel relations, radical Islamic extremism, and the protests for the Judicial reforms in Israel.
Ekampreet Kaur: You wrote in your opening statement that “For many Jews, India is the first word of prayer every day.” Why do you say that, and what took 31 years for the Knesset speaker’s visit to happen?
Amit Halevi: In our prayer book, the Siddur, the first word is India. The Hebrew word for India is Hodu, and there are two meanings to the word. One is to admit that all the prosperity comes from God, and the other is to not only admit it but also be thankful for it. This is the first word of our prayer because we should be thankful for all the good things we get in life, and I think this is one of the common Judeo-Indic values. Now coming to the second part of your question, the visit of the speaker didn’t happen in the past because of some technical problems, and the former speaker did visit India. But I think since 2017, with the mutual visits of Prime Minister Modi here in Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in India, the relationship between the two countries has increased. Some MOUs were signed this time, but the major essence of the visit was to promote collaboration between the two parliaments. We also want to promote more tourism and business opportunities.
Ratnadeep Chakraborty: How can these two countries move from just the label of being strategic partners and move to other areas of engagement? What are some of the future areas of engagement for the two countries?
AH: The major takeaway from this delegation was to open the doors between the parliament and to solve major problems in the future related to legislation. There will be a visit from the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, and I think the Israeli Prime Minister will come to India next year. In those meetings, there will be more practical issues on the table, and that will promote the relations. There’s a cultural aspect that we are looking at. Firstly, we want to open a common intellectual forum for people from the Social Sciences and religious backgrounds. Both countries represent ancient civilizations, and deepening the interfaith infrastructure will ensure our common interest grows over time. There’s an Indian term ‘ji’ added after a name while addressing a respected friend. Similarly, we want to establish our “JI” – Judeo-Indic alliance. We are accustomed to relations with the West that are also based on common interests and Judeo-Christian Values. At first glance, it seems easier when it comes to a religion that grew out of Judaism, but if we turn our gaze to the East, we will discover that there are very deep foundations shared in Hebrew and Hindu culture.
EK: China is the third-largest trading partner of Israel globally, and the trade volume has only increased over the years. Given the border tensions between India and China, where does Israel position itself?
AH: After the Cold War, even though there has been only one power axis, we have seen in the recent past that multiple powers are emerging like China, Russia, and India. We have learned to respect the Indian foreign policy, and in a way, many states have a dehyphenation policy with other states. India has been a traditional partner, and our spiritual dimension has many things in common. We have a lot of things to contribute to the world. As per your question, I can’t exactly comment on the tension in the borders and Israel’s position on this, but we are trying not to get involved in areas where it’s not necessary. If you know, Israel stood with India during the Kargil war with Pakistan, and even the speaker of the Knesset decided to make his debut International visit to India because of the importance of our alliance.
RC: The Israeli speaker also highlighted the need to seek action against the perpetrators of 26/11. We have seen both countries have faced the wrath of radical Islamic extremism. If you could talk about our areas of cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism and what India learned from Israel’s strategy?
AH: I think we are doing two things, and both of them are very important. Firstly, the rule should be to respect and then get respect from others. Both India and Israel are anti-imperial countries, and we don’t have a goal to take over another’s land. We can argue about the borders, but in general, our vision is that the Jewish people will be in the Jewish land. We are trying to tell the Muslim minority in Israel to be good citizens and respect the national identity of Israel, and we will respect them as well. This is the formula for tackling terror besides the security aspect. If they don’t respect our identity, then they are an enemy. They can’t have the blue card of Israel and be an enemy. It doesn’t go together. They can feel free to go to any of the 22 Arab countries or even to Pakistan. The second aspect is when someone crosses a red line, there should be a tough approach, and that’s what one of our leaders defined as an Iron Wall.
EK: We have seen mass protests happening in Israel a couple of weeks back on the proposed Judicial reforms, and we have also seen your strong viewpoints regarding the same. Why are these reforms important, and aren’t they creating friction between the judiciary and the legislative?
AH: In 2015, both the Upper House and the Lower House in India unanimously decided to amend the Constitution, but the Supreme Court ruled that it violated the basic principles of the Constitution. We are actually in the same area, and we don’t accept it like the Prime Minister of India didn’t accept that a few people can have the right to make decisions for all the people. It is anti-democratic, and through judicial reforms, we are trying to bring back the power to the people. In my opinion, it is the main achievement of modern times that replaced the power of the King’s sword with the will of the people. It has been over 30 years of Judicial activism where they are taking decisions for us instead of us.
RC: India at times hasn’t supported Israel on international forums. A few days back, India voted in favour of a resolution that upholds the rights of Palestinians and asks Israel to cease its actions at UNHRC. Does this inconsistency of support from India in the International forums affect the equation with Israel?
AH: I am not well aware of this particular event, but a while back, India did abstain and didn’t vote against Israel. Our Speaker acknowledged it and thanked the Minister during the visit. We make the distinction, though, as certain words the diplomats need to use to make sure it is politically correct, but thereafter, they are calling us to affirm that our relations are very strong, and they didn’t mean it. I hope in the future that India wouldn’t be afraid to stand with the truth and justice. We are fighting for our land and our freedom. We didn’t take even an inch of land from anyone.
Ekampreet Kaur has pursued her Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Guru Nanak Dev University. She has hosted shows on strategic affairs for The Honest Critique. Ratnadeep Chakraborty is the Co-founder of an independent media company that covers the spheres of strategic affairs called The Honest Critique.