India refuses to endorse UN call for arms embargo on Israel
Earlier this week, the first batch of 60 Indian construction workers left for Israel to replace Palestinian workers.
On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council voted in a resolution that called for a suspension of arms sales to Israel.
The relevant sections of resolution A/HRC/55/L.30":
“Condemns Israeli actions that may amount to ethnic cleansing, and calls upon all States to take immediate action to prevent the continued forcible transfer of Palestinians within or from Gaza, in compliance with their obligations under international law.”
“Welcomes the ongoing investigation of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court into the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and looks forward to its continuation, with a view to ensuring accountability for the crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction, including for the aiding or abetting of such crimes.”
“Recognizes that the grave violations of multiple peremptory norms by Israel constitute a threat to international peace and security and result in grave breaches and human rights abuses, and calls upon all States to ensure that their arms exports do not contribute to or benefit from this unlawful situation.”
“Calls upon all States to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, the occupying Power, in order to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights, and to refrain, in accordance with international norms and standards, from the export, sale or transfer of surveillance goods and technologies and less-lethal weapons, including “dual-use” items, when they assess that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that such goods, technologies or weapons might be used to violate or abuse human rights, and recalls the order of the International Court of Justice of 26 January 2024, determining that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.”
“Reaffirms that criticism of violations of international law by Israel should not be conflated with antisemitism.”
“Emphasizes the need to ensure that all those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law are held to account through appropriate, fair and independent national or international criminal justice mechanisms and to ensure the provision of an effective remedy for all victims, including full reparations, and stresses the need to pursue practical steps towards these goals to ensure justice for all victims and to contribute to the prevention of future violations and international crimes”
Here is how the vote panned out: 28 of the council's 47 member states voting in favour, six opposing and 13 abstaining, including India.
As illustrated in the graphic below, the US, Germany, Argentina, Bulgaria, Malawi and Paraguay voted against the resolution.
“I commend the states in the UN Human Rights Council who voted to pass a resolution calling to halt arms transfers to Israel at this critical moment,” Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said.
“Next step for all states is to enforce this as well as recent UN resolutions to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This is in line with states' obligations under international law including ICJ provisional measures,” she added.
India is the biggest purchaser of Israeli weapons on the planet - amounting to around 46% of all weapons sold by the Jewish State.
Indian and Israeli companies are also co-producing Israeli weapons across a number of factories in India. These include: Tavor X95 assault rifles, the Galil sniper rifles, Negev light machine guns, as well as Hermes 900 medium altitude long endurance drones.
In February I wrote about how Indian-made combat drones were sent to Israel for potential use in Gaza as recently as last December or January.
Defence analysts at the time told me that drones were “one of the mainstays of the Israeli military during its ongoing assault on Gaza where they are used for intelligence as well as to carry out attacks on Palestinian civilians and homes.”
Construction workers headed to Israel
Earlier this week, the first batch of 60 Indian construction workers left for Israel to replace Palestinian workers.
The Israeli government cancelled the work permits of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza, following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Despite several Indian trade unions coming out firmly against the proposal to send Indians to Israel, the plan has gone ahead.
"I'm sure that the workers become 'ambassadors' of the great P2P relations between India and Israel," Israeli envoy to India Naor Gilon, said.