Daily Times

It was the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, where Britain publicly pledged to establish a national home for Jews in Palestine after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Balfour Declaration was supported by Britain, France, Italy and the US. As a result, a large-scale migration of Jews into Palestine took place. This was the time when in Palestine, Jews were less than 10 per cent of the total population. It was because of this declaration that a Jewish state was established in the heart of the Arab world in May 1948.

Later, some 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and the Declaration set the stage for the full-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. After being created as a Jewish state, Israel went to war with its Arab neighbours. Firstly, they locked horns at the Suez war of 1956 and then the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israel expanded her borders to the Suez Canal and River Jordan; also occupying Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. The two also met at War of October 1973.

According to Srinath Raghavan, who revealed in his book in an article published in India Today, in 1948, India voted against Israel’s creation. India recognised Israel in February 1950. Israel first set up a consulate at Mumbai and established full diplomatic relations in 1992. During the 1962 war with China, Israel supplied weapons and equipment to India.

Since then, the cooperation between the two countries has been at its peak. During the 1965 war, Israel supplied huge quantities of military hardware, including anti-tank missiles and technology, to India. During the 1971 war, Israel again provided military hardware and strategic intelligence to India.

During the 1965 war, Israel supplied huge quantities of military hardware to India

The then Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, diverted an arms shipment for Iran to India during the 71 war. According to an article published in Israel, from the early 80s, Israeli intelligence agencies kept monitoring Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

Israel planned an attack against Pakistan’s nuclear facility in Kahuta. According to Israel Defense, Israel went as far as building a complete model of Kahuta facility in Negev desert in the south of Israel to train pilots. According to the book, “Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons,” by Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark, the attack was to be staged in March 1984 from the Jamnagar (IAF base) in Gujrat. A stern warning was given to India by Pakistan to refrain from such a nefarious design, and such an act was to be taken as an act of war. According to the book in the early 80s, MOSSAD threatened members of Dr A Q Khan’s network and also attempted to assassinate members of his network. It was in 1981 when Israeli F-16s bombed Iraqi nuclear reactor in Baghdad. A detailed account of the attack is given in the book, “Two Minutes Over Baghdad,” by Amos Preimutter and UriBar-Joseph. The aim was to prevent potential enemies from achieving a nuclear status.

In 1998, there were reports that Pakistan spotted Israeli F-16s in air, days before the nuclear tests of May 1998 were carried out. It was also revealed that Israel was likely to use Indian air space to strike Pakistan.

According to Professor Nicolas Blarel, a leading expert in the Israel-India defence relationship, Israel aided India with mortar and ammunition; becoming one of the few countries that had directly helped India during the Kargil conflict. It has also been reported that Israel helped India during the Balakot Tree Attack in February 2019. India bought 250 SPICE 2000 missiles from Israel in 2016.

Indian Mirage jets, which attacked Balakot trees, were armed with Israeli-made SPICE 2000 smart missiles. It was also reported that the Indian jets attacking Pakistani trees in Balakot were piloted by Israelis. During the Pakistan-India standoff, famous journalist Robert Fisk wrote in The Independent, “Israel is playing a big role in India’s escalating conflict with Pakistan.”

There were also reports that Israel sent its Special Services Soldiers in the IOK as well as during the February 2019 standoff. According to reports, Israeli commandos were in Srinagar as tourists. Their identities were disclosed in an encounter with Mujahideen. Relations between Israel and India changed after the BJP came into power. Modi was the first prime minister to visit Israel in July 2017, which was followed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to India in January 2018. In 2003, the then prime minister, Ariel Sharon, had become the first Israeli prime minister to visit India. Since then, ties between the two countries have been growing not only at the tactical level but also at the strategic level.

According to Robert Fisk, “Israel has been assiduously lining itself up alongside India’s nationalist BJP government in an unspoken and politically dangerous ‘anti-Islamist coalition, an unofficial, unacknowledged alliance, while India itself now become the largest weapon market for the Israeli arms trade.”

India buys surveillance equipment from Israel, including the Phalcon airborne warning and control system and the Heron drone, which were used in Balakot Tree Attack. India is also pushing Israel to transfer some of the Israeli defence production to India to boost its defence capabilities. India has further fortified the fencing system along the LOC by smart fencing system with help borrowed from Israel. Besides, the cooperation in the field of defence production, technology and agriculture, Israel is also helping India change the demographic structure in the IOK. Israel suggested India arrange the mass induction of Hindu population in IOK. This is evident from the recent abrogation of article 370 and reorganising of the IOK in two union territories. Now, Indians can purchase property in IOK. Israel has converted the Palestinians into a minority in their land. The same formula is being applied in IOK. India and Israel have spared no effort to malign Pakistan and did not miss any occasion to harm Pakistan’s interest. Both India and Israel are also trying their best to blacklist Pakistan in FATF. Pakistan has always supported the just cause of the Palestinian people and did not recognise the state of Israel. The Pakistani passport is the only one in the world, which says its holder can travel anywhere on it except Israel. Both Israel and India are working to impose their hegemony in the Middle East and South Asia. Both are desperately arrayed against Muslims minorities. Both are propagating the so-called Islamic fundamentalism across the world and Islam as a threat to the international order. Both India and Israel are involved in atrocities/human rights violations and killing of innocent Muslims in IOK and occupied Palestinian lands.

Pakistan must try to expose the heinous and ugly designs of India and Israel to the world.

The collaboration between India and Israel is clearly against Pakistan. Therefore, Pakistan must take all safeguards to protect its interests. The message to India and Israel should be “Beware that our armed forces are battle-hardened, well-trained and capable of thwarting your evil designs.” Despite attacks from all sides, Pakistan cannot be defeated. The father of the nation had rightly said that no power on earth can undo Pakistan.

The writer is a retired brigadier and freelance columnist