Israel on Saturday thanked India for not voting on an “anti-Israel bashing” UNHRC resolution, which sources said was a result of Tel Aviv’s sustained talks with the Indian leadership over the past year.
Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon tweeted his appreciation. “We appreciate votes by members of @UN_HRC, including #India, who did not support yet another anti Israel bashing resolution. We thank them.”
On Friday, India abstained on a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution condemning Israel over a UN report into the alleged war crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza conflict - marking a significant change in India’s stance.
But India also stated that “there is no change in New Delhi’s long-standing position on support to the Palestinian cause”.
Forty-one of the 47 UNHRC council members voted in favour of the resolution, including the eight sitting EU members: France, Germany, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, latvia and Estonia.
Only the US voted against the resolution.
India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained. Israel has been in touch with the leaders of the five countries that abstained since last July, when India had voted against Israel in the UNHRC.
Officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office have said that Netanyahu had himself spoken with the leaders of India, Kenya and Ethiopia over the past few days, Israeli media reported.
However, according to sources, Israel began the effort from last July itself. Israel feels the UNHRC vote on the violence in the Gaza Strip was “politicised” and “unbalanced”. According to Israel, the resolution does not take into account the 5,000 rockets fired into its territory by Hamas.
The upcoming UNHRC vote was also taken up by Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon when he visited India and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other officials.
“The UNHRC vote has been in discussions for a while with India,” a source said.