Under Narendra Modi, India\u2019s ties with Israel have taken on a different character, for a country that once championed the Palestinian cause and led the Non-Aligned Movement. To better understand it, I turned to Stanly Johny,\u00a0an Indian foreign policy expert<\/a>\u00a0and the international affairs editor at The Hindu. He told me it isn\u2019t just a political or diplomatic shift, \u201cit\u2019s also at the strategic and defence level\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The evolution of India\u2019s role was revealed in a recent Amnesty International investigation, which showed that India was now a key part of Israel\u2019s weapons supply chain. This represents a fundamental change. For years, New Delhi had primarily been a major customer of Israeli weapons. But, through joint ventures and manufacturing partnerships, it is now a \u201csignificant contributor\u201d to Israel\u2019s weapons production, according to Amnesty<\/a>, which offers the most extensive account so far of the scale of India\u2019s involvement since the war in Gaza began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indian companies, including state-owned enterprises, have delivered drone warheads, artillery shell casings, small arms parts and military vehicle components to Israeli military suppliers despite the substantial risk these could end up in weapons deployed in Gaza, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By examining publicly available shipment-level trade data, Amnesty said it traced hundreds of thousands of weapons components shipped from Indian factories to Israeli military suppliers between 7 October 2023 and 30 November 2025, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0390,516 small arms parts for military-grade weapons Many western nations, including Britain, have restricted or banned<\/a> arms supply to Israel over its conduct in the war, citing risks that the weapons could be used to commit or facilitate violations of international humanitarian law. (The United States accounts for the overwhelming share<\/a> of major arms transfers to Israel.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n An independent United Nations commission of inquiry concluded in September that Israel had\u00a0committed genocide in Gaza<\/a>, and earlier this year, another commission found that Israel is continuing to commit genocide by\u00a0deliberately targeting Palestinian children<\/a>. Separately, the International Criminal Court has\u00a0issued an arrest warrant<\/a>\u00a0for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of committing war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, the Amnesty report hasn\u2019t resulted in any large-scale public debate or political backlash in India, despite some scattered media coverage. Johny believes this is a result of the support for Israel by Modi\u2019s voter base. \u201cThere is a clear ideological confluence between Hindutva and Zionism,\u201d he said. In right-wing circles in India and elsewhere, he argues, Israel is increasingly seen as a bulwark against the expansion of Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hindu nationalists have long admired Israel, viewing it as a model of a nationalist state that can assert itself in a volatile neighbourhood. Author Pankaj <\/em>Mishra chronicled this affinity in a 2017 essay<\/a>, writing that his grandfather was among high-caste Hindus who saw Israel as an example of how to deal with Muslims \u201cin the only language they understood: that of force and more force\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The war in Gaza doesn\u2019t appear to have significantly shifted views. A\u00a0Pew Research survey<\/a>\u00a0published in June found that more Indians view Israel favourably (32%) than unfavourably (28%). This is in contrast to\u00a0the decline of support<\/a>\u00a0for Israel in many Western countries, including the United States, since the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Modi, for his part, has cultivated a personal rapport with Netanyahu. In 2017, he became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel<\/a>, and Modi\u2019s visit to Israel earlier this year came just 48 hours before Israel and the United States launched their attacks on Iran. The optics of Modi hugging<\/a> Netanyahu on the tarmac, coupled with New Delhi\u2019s noticeably muted response<\/a> at the outbreak of war, were a clear sign of where India\u2019s political establishment stands. It has not gone unnoticed. In July, after the US vice-president, JD Vance, rebuked Netanyahu by calling the US Israel\u2019s \u201conly powerful ally\u201d left in the world, Netanyahu shot back<\/a>: \u201cWe have some other friends, like a small country called India. It has 1.4bn people, and boy, do we have tremendous support there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has previously declined to give a direct answer about weapons supplies to Israel. When asked in parliament in 2024<\/a>, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said that information is not in public domain and that exports of military products are guided by \u201cnational interest\u201d. Amnesty identified three state-owned Indian companies \u2013 Munitions India Limited, India Optel Limited and Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited \u2013 supplying Israel with weapons, which it said, could expose India to the hazard of \u201ccomplicity in ongoing genocide in Gaza\u201d. Foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded that<\/a> India\u2019s exports are governed by national laws and international obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pushback has largely come from human rights activists, student bodies, trade unions, India\u2019s left-leaning parties and the\u00a0Congress party<\/a>. The courts have offered no recourse, either. In 2024, a group of civil servants, activists and academics\u00a0petitioned the Supreme Court<\/a>, demanding India suspend its military exports to Israel. The court dismissed the case, ruling that the matter fell within the discretion of the executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn India, you don\u2019t see any anger towards the government for its relationship with Israel, despite the allegations the Israeli government is facing,\u201d Johny said. This, he believes, is a sign that foreign policy debates in India are being stripped of moral concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weapons aren\u2019t the only thing India has sent to Israel during this period. Thousands of Indian workers have also gone to Israel, in many instances to replace Palestinians<\/a> barred from entering the country after 7 October 2023. Last year, the government told parliament<\/a> that more than 20,000 Indian workers<\/a>, in construction work and caregiving, had moved to Israel after an agreement signed in November 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India, meanwhile, has shored up its own arms supplies from Israel. Between 2021 and 2025, New Delhi was Israel\u2019s largest defence customer, accounting for 29% of total arms sales, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for Johny, India\u2019s growing closeness to Israel is beginning to come at a cost. The war in Iran threatens India\u2019s energy security and could have wider economic repercussions across the Gulf, home to a large Indian diaspora. \u201cIndia has to continue to stay engaged with Israel, but it is important to restore balance to its approach to west Asia,\u201d he said, adding that it needs to forcefully defend its own interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0564,970 parts of explosive ordnance
\u00a0298 components of military vehicles<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Modi](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d21acc1b5f7897a2ca8cc94381b855e3187dbd8f\/307_70_1506_1205\/master\/1506.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none\")
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