’Complicit in genocide’: Two opposition parties condemn India signing trade agreement with Israel
The New Indian Express | 9 September 2025
’Complicit in genocide’: Two opposition parties condemn India signing trade agreement with Israel
Opposition parties have slammed India’s signing of a bilateral trade agreement with Israel on Monday, amid its genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, more than half of it being women and children.
Slamming the bilateral investment agreement signed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with her Israeli counterpart Bezalel Smotrich as "despicable," AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi wrote on X, "It is despicable that the Modi govt has signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty with Israel at a time when Israel is overseeing genocide, ethnic cleansing & famine of Gaza."
Owaisi pointed out that the far-right minister has arrest warrent applications against him pending with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"The person seated next to @nsitharaman believes that it is “just and moral” to starve Gazans. Arrest warrant applications against him are pending with the ICC. Supporting a genocidal government cannot be in national interest," Owaisi said.
Smotrich is known for making genocidal comments against the Palestinians during Israel’s war on Gaza. His visit to India comes as he faces sanctions in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway for “repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians.”
Condemning Smotrich’s visit, the CPI(M) said it is "shameful" that the government is hosting him at a time when people are being massacred in Gaza every day.
"The Politburo of the CPI(M) condemns the visit of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to India. He led an Israeli delegation to sign a bilateral investment agreement with the Indian government," the CPIM said in a statement.
It said Smotrich belongs to a far-right, racist political party, is the leading advocate in the Benjamin Netanyahu government for occupying the Gaza strip by forcibly displacing the Palestinian people and a prime mover of proposals to annex the occupied West Bank to Israel.
"As a result of his expansionist policies involving the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, several countries have banned his entry and some of them have also imposed other sanctions. Among these countries are the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Slovenia and New Zealand," the CPI(M) said.
"It is shameful that the (Narendra) Modi government has hosted such a person and signed agreements with the Israeli government at a time when the people of Gaza are being massacred every day," it said.
"This episode highlights the deep and entrenched ties that the Modi government has forged with the Netanyahu government, and its complicity in the ongoing horrific genocide in Gaza," it added.
The CPI(M) Politburo demanded that the Indian government rescind all military, security and economic collaboration with Israel till that country agrees to an immediate ceasefire and work towards a just and peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question.
India’s bilateral agreement with Israel comes as several countries have threatened to review trade treaties with Tel Aviv in the light of its ongoing war on Gaza. On Monday, Spain announced an arms embargo against Israel and a travel ban on anyone directly involved in the genocidal war.
