After US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the US Embassy to King David's city, Guatemala soon followed suit. Recently, Honduras and Romania announced plans to move their embassies to Jerusalem. This came as Brazil, the Czech Republic and Hungary also opened up new offices in the holy city. Russia, Australia, Panama, and the Czech Republic already recognize west Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Now, Moldova is mulling the possibility of moving its embassy to Jerusalem. In the wake of these developments, it appears only natural that India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would follow suit.
Shipan Kumar Basu, the president of the World Hindu Struggle Committee, noted that the Organization of the Islamic Conference recently condemned Moldova for announcing plans to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem. He noted that among the countries which is a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference is Bangladesh. According to him, it is greatly hypocritical for 57 Muslim countries who are members of the Organization of Islamic Conference to condemn Moldova for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to condemn Myanmar for mistreating Rohingya Muslims while having absolutely nothing to say about the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and inside refugee camps in India: "The international community has nothing to say about the 30 million Hindus oppressed presently in Bangladesh or the 50.5 million Bangladeshi Hindus living as refugees in India. This raises the question: Do world leaders really work for the benefit of minorities and the oppressed or are they working in favor of radical Islam?"
Basu believes that one of the best ways Modi can stand up to this hypocrisy is by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the Indian Embassy to the holy city. This should not be a hard decision for Modi. Israel is one of India's post important Middle Eastern allies and one of its strongest trade partners, with India now being the No. 1 buyer of Israeli military equipment. Modi visited Israel in 2017 and Netanyahu visited India in 2018 and 2019. Netanyahu frequently refers to Modi as his "friend."
India and Israel have many shared values and face common threats. Both are democratic nations. Both are ancient nations with histories going back thousands of years. Both consider radical Islam to be an existential threat to their nations' existence. Both have fought a number of bloody wars since their countries were partitioned. And the two countries declared independence around the same time. This reality has influenced how Indians feel about the Jewish state. According to a recent poll, 58% of Indians had a favorable opinion of Israel while only 56% of Americans felt likewise.
Given the strong friendship between Israel and India, it is only natural for India to recognize the seat of Israel's government – where its parliament, Supreme Court, and government ministries are located – as its capital. As former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker recently stressed: "Failing to put the embassy in the capital would be like foreign countries establishing their embassy to the United States in New York instead of Washington, D.C. While New York is an important city and arguably the financial center of the world, it is not our nation's capital. Countries that recognize America have their embassies in our nation's capital." Similarly, locating one's embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv is like establishing an embassy to India in Mumbai rather than New Delhi.
It is very important for the Jewish people that India recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Jerusalem plays a central role in the Jewish faith. King David established Jerusalem as the eternal capital 3,000 years ago. Jewish history in the city goes back 4,000 years to the day Abraham sacrificed a ram instead of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, where the Temple was later built. The ruins of two ancient Jewish Temples remain there to this day. The Jewish people have constituted the largest ethnic group in Jerusalem since 1840 and have comprised a majority of the city's population since 1860, long before the rise of the Zionist movement. Furthermore, a Palestinian Center for Public Opinion poll showed that 52% of east Jerusalemite Palestinians preferred to live under Israeli rather than Palestinian rule. It is only natural that a strong ally like India recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital.
