Monday, January 18, 2010

India Suffers From Misconception About Israel

Several alarming incidents have taken place during the last couple of days. The first such incident concerned the announcement made by Israel that those people of Israel who intend to visit India can go there without any fear or threat to them. The advisory issued by Israel was no less than a glad tiding for India because earlier, the United States and Britain had issued a travel advisory to citizens people to travel to India most cautiously, because the presence of terrorists in India could jeopardize their travel and threaten their lives.

India's Internal Matters
In view of the movement for a separate Telengana state, the United States and Britain had cautioned their people to avoid visiting Andhra Pradesh also. Under such circumstances, the advisory issued by Israel to its people appears to be extremely satisfactory. Some circles, however, appear to be greatly concerned about the reason behind this advisory issued by Israel. It is so fully aware of India's internal matters that it is acquainted with every security measure that the Government of India takes, and Israel feels that Indian security agencies would leave no stone unturned to protect Israeli citizens visiting India.
Has Israel given an assurance that India attaches more importance to Israel than to the United States or Britain? Perhaps, Israel is not very incorrect in thinking so, which was proved by yet another alarming incident. It relates to the clandestine India visit by the chief of the Israeli National Security Council, Uzi Arad.
The National Security Council is an important institution in Israel like that of the Mosad. The council is directly accountable to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Arad called on Indian National Security Adviser. M.K. Narayanan – who has been appointed new Governor of West Bengal -- and held discussions on important issues, which included, inter alia, the Afghan war and the Iranian nuclear program. Clearly, it was enough to ring alarm bells in some political circles.

Debatable View
One can understand that the Iranian nuclear program is a matter of grave concern for Israel but what has the issue to do with India is beyond anyone's comprehension. Reportedly, Narayanan avoided saying anything on the issue in view of the sentiments of minorities. Yet, why Israel included the issue in talks with India is being considered extraordinary. It is also learned that certain circles in India take Israel as the last word on issues relating to security. They take the Israeli security system as unparalleled in the world.
The two security advisers also discussed purchase of arms and weapons. This implies that the closeness between India and Israel is increasing to a level that is a matter of grave concern. Incidentally, one official circle is of the view that Israel is the most powerful country militarily. This is a debatable view.

Security Arrangements
Security arrangements in Israel are undoubtedly most stringent. No suicide attacks take place there as in India and some neighboring countries. Yet, one wonders against whom these arrangements are directed? If the standard of these stringent measures is gauged by the fact that Palestinians can cause no harm to Israel, then we must not lose sight of the fact that Palestinians have no military power at all. Is it not a fact that they are carrying on their struggle for the past 60 years without any kind of sophisticated weapons? They do not even have ordinary weapons.
Palestinians under the "Intifada" come out with stones in their hands to face the fully armed Israeli army. The weapons that Palestinians have are no more than fireworks! Further, Palestinians do not believe in carrying out suicide bomb attacks as Al-Qa'ida militants and terrorists. If the Israeli security is taken as unprecedented and unparalleled in comparison to Palestine, it is not short of comparing a lion with a goat.
As far as Israeli might is concerned, the fact is that it has spent most of the 60 years of its existence in developing and increasing its military power. It developed rockets, sophisticated rifles, fighter planes, and as is known to the world, it also developed nuclear arms by hoodwinking the international community. The details have been published in a book the Zionism: The Real Enemy of Jews authored by a BBC staff member. Publishers in the United States and Britain had refused to publish the book for fear of Zionists, but now the book in two volumes is available in bookstalls in London. Anyway, three major wars have been fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The first such war took place in 1948 when Israel came into existence.

Indulgence of Golda Meir
As for the military might of Arabs, the less said the better! Arabs were no comparison to Israel as far as weapons and arms were concerned. The weapons, which Israel had reached there from the United States, with the active indulgence of Golda Meir. The details of the arms are available in this book too. In short, Israel proved mightier than Arabs in the war. The second war took place in 1957 but all Arab countries including Egypt were found wanting, and the third one took place in 1973. Initially, the Egyptian Army proved mightier, which led Moshe Dayan and Ariel Sharon to decide to carry out nuclear attacks on both Cairo and Damascus. Yet, former US President Nixon exerted pressure on Golda Meir and prevented Israel from carrying out the nuclear attack.

Formidable Adversary
However, Israel received one jolt in war. Its military might proved futile in 2006 when it faced the Hezbollah of Nasarullah in Lebanon. The defeat that Israel suffered in that war blew the lid off the myth of it being invincible! The commission set up by Israel to find out and investigate how Nasarullah's guerillas managed to defeat the Israeli attack has yet to submit its findings! The fact remains that until today, Israel had never faced any formidable adversary. If a section in India believes that Israel is the most powerful country, it should bear this fact in mind. If this section feels that Israel's military power is superior to that of Arabs, and Israel is the mightiest and invincible country, it would be nothing short of living in a fool's paradise by this section in India. Going by all that is taking place, one reaches the conclusion that by protecting its superiority in security arrangements, Israel intends to get huge sums of money from India. Depending fully on Israel in matters of security may also probe as self-deception for India.

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