Crisis in relations with Muslim world arguably biggest diplomatic challenge to date for India's Modi

Indian Muslims hold placards demanding the arrest of BJP leader Nupur Sharma, as they react to the derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made by her, during a protest in Ahmedabad, India, on June 8, 2022. (AP)
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Updated 09 June 2022
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Crisis in relations with Muslim world arguably biggest diplomatic challenge to date for India's Modi

  • Anti-Islam remarks by ruling BJP party officials have sparked uproar among Muslims in India
  • Islamic countries have been demanding an apology from India and calling for boycotts

DUBAI: The Indian government led by Narendra Modi is facing arguably its toughest diplomatic test in the nine years it has been power, as the Islamic world boils with anger and Muslim countries voice outrage over disparaging remarks made by a ruling BJP party official about the Prophet Muhammad during a recent TV debate.

With at least 16 Islamic-majority countries expressing their objections via tweets, official statements and summons to Indian diplomats, the BJP was forced to suspend Nupur Sharma, the party’s national spokesperson, and expel another official for screenshot of her offensive comment in a tweet.

Earlier, protests in the northern Indian city of Kanpur against her comments left more than 40 people injured when the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, a Hindu nationalist hard-liner, came down heavily on the demonstrators.




Nupur Sharma, the BJP national spokesperson whose hate speech has caused clashes in India and protests by Muslim nations worldwide. (Photo courtesy: Nupur Sharma's Twitter)

Sharma’s remarks, made on May 27 during a TV debate on a dispute being heard in court, gained currency when a clip of her outburst was shared on Twitter by a journalist and fact-checker.

After her sacking, she wrote that she was withdrawing her remarks “unconditionally” and that it was “never my intention to hurt anyone’s religious feelings.” But many saw her apology as too little too late.

A number of retired Indian diplomats have since spoken out on the incident, warning that the crisis in India’s relations with the Islamic world is serious, and urging introspection by the Modi government instead of resorting to cosmetic measures.

 

The former diplomats say that the Modi government ought to realize that it cannot continue to do what it wishes at home with impunity and still enjoy good relations with Islamic or Western countries.

“On numerous occasions we have seen abuse of India’s Muslim community and attempts to erase the country’s Islamic heritage. There is a long tradition of other countries not interfering in the domestic affairs of another country, but when you get into abuse of the holy prophet, it is a no-go area,” Talmiz Ahmad, a retired Indian diplomat, author and political commentator, told Arab News. 

“At some point, people abroad will say: Enough is enough. I believe this time has come. You cannot persecute a certain community at home and also pretend you have a high moral stature abroad. It doesn’t work like that.”

India’s foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that the offensive tweets and comments “did not, in any way, reflect the views of the government. These are the views of fringe elements.”

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The first task for the governing BJP is to defuse what the Indian opposition sees as a diplomatic crisis of its own making.

Calling for “respect for beliefs and religions,” the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “reaffirms its permanent rejection of prejudice against the symbols of the Islamic religion, and refuses to prejudice all religious figures and symbols.”

The ministry welcomed the action taken by the BJP to suspend Sharma from her job.

Qatar demanded that India apologize for the “Islamophobic” comments and summoned the Indian ambassador to the foreign ministry on the second day of an official visit by India’s Vice president Venkaiah Naidu and a business delegation aimed at boosting trade.

Kuwait also summoned the Indian ambassador, while a supermarket in the Gulf state pulled Indian products from its shelves in protest at the comments. The UAE, Bahrain and Iran were among other Middle East countries traditionally friendly to India that made their objections known in various ways.

Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque condemned Sharma’s remarks as “a real terrorist action that helps to push the entire world to devastating crises and bloody wars,” and urged the UN to take action to protect minority rights in India amid what it described as “intensifying hatred and abuse toward Islam in India and against Muslims.”

Putting the official condemnations into context, Javed Ansari, a senior Indian political reporter and commentator, told Arab News: “Prophet Muhammad is Islam’s most revered and most sacred figure. The religion owes its existence to him, spreading the word of Allah.

“Hence Muslims worldwide, including in India, refuse to tolerate any disparaging remarks about him.

“While they accept in principle the right to free speech, they believe that free speech does not give anybody the right to insult or make disparaging remarks about the prophet. They believe that their sentiments and beliefs must be respected.”

For the Indian government, the danger of allowing the anger in the Muslim world to fester cannot be overstated. Annual trade between India and six Gulf Cooperation Council countries stands at $87 billion. Saudi Arabia is the second-largest exporter of oil to India, after Iraq, while Qatar supplies 40 percent of India’s natural gas requirements.  

At a macro level, according to Ahmad, remittances from the Indian community in the GCC countries bring in revenues that cover over a third of the Indian government’s annual oil import  bills. He describes India’s ties with the bloc encompassing trade, logistics, energy and investment as substantial, adding that for New Delhi the real danger lies not in a boycott of Indian goods but a possible adverse impact on the recruitment of Indian workers.

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An estimated 8.5 million Indians work in the GCC bloc, constituting the largest expatriate community in each member country. Every year they send roughly $35 billion in remittances that support 40 million family members in India. It is said that each employed Indian in the Gulf has at least four or five individuals relying on their earnings abroad.

Noting that the relationship between the Gulf and India go back 5,000 years, Ahmad said it is unlikely that the diplomatic backlash will inflict long-term damage to the ties that bind India with Arab Gulf and other Muslim-majority countries.

“Indians are the number one community in the GCC and the majority community in certain countries, and that is because we have adopted accommodation and moderation, and completely rejected any involvement in local politics. This is the community’s strength,” Ahmad said.

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“I personally feel there will be a degree of course correction. Certain advice and warnings have been given. I believe course correction is well on the way and likely to work on both sides for mutual advantage.”

Having said that, Ahmad, who served as India’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE during 2000-11, added: “In the Gulf, we have some of the most cherished friends of India. I wish that their senior leaders and diplomats had quietly counseled certain officials in India that there will be negative consequences for bilateral relations if continued abuse is directed at a certain community in the country.”

For its part, he said, “India’s ruling party should take a deep review of its domestic policies and convince India’s friends (in the Muslim world) that corrective action is being taken. We need to go back to the scenario of India as a pluralistic, multi-cultural and moderate nation that is democratic and accommodative."

On the upside, Ahmad says, India is fortunate to have “a towering intellectual and a very well experienced diplomat who is highly respected globally and at home” like Dr. S Jaishankar as the foreign affairs minister. 

“I am confident that he will be advising the powers that be that you cannot separate domestic from foreign policy. One impinges on the other,” he said.

Looking to the future, Ahmad said: “Our foreign and domestic policies must be in sync. We must go back to the core principles of this nation, which are pluralism, multiculturalism, moderation and accommodativeness.”

 


Saudi Arabia, France issue joint UN declaration calling for 2-state solution, end to Gaza war

Updated 29 July 2025
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Saudi Arabia, France issue joint UN declaration calling for 2-state solution, end to Gaza war

  • It pushes for reunification of Gaza and West Bank under control of the Palestinian Authority, and for Hamas to relinquish power in Gaza and surrender its weapons
  • Floats the idea of a future ‘Peace Day’ to mark formal end of the conflict and the launch of regional cooperation in trade, energy and infrastructure

NEW YORK CITY: France and Saudi Arabia issued a joint declaration at the UN on Tuesday calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, and setting out a detailed international road map for the implementation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Released at the close of a high-level international conference in New York, which the two countries co-chaired, and seen by Arab News, the “New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine” outlined a time-bound process for establishing an independent, sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel, with security guarantees for both sides.

The declaration was endorsed by a broad group of international partners that had chaired working groups during the conference, including Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Ireland and the EU, in what organizers described as an “unprecedented global consensus” on the urgent need to resolve the long-standing conflict.

“The war in Gaza must end now,” the declaration stated. It condemned the attacks by Hamas against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza that have resulted in large-scale civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure.

It warned that a continuing conflict, absent a credible path to peace, “poses grave threats to regional and international stability,” and called for the immediate implementation of a phased ceasefire agreement, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US, to end hostilities, secure the release of hostages, and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The declaration additionally called for the reunification of Gaza and the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian Authority, and for Hamas to relinquish power in Gaza and surrender its weapons. A transitional administrative committee, backed by international partners, would be established under the authority of the PA, supported by a temporary, UN-led stabilization mission to protect civilians and assist with the security and governance transitions.

“Only a political solution can deliver peace or security,” the declaration stated, as it reaffirmed international backing for a two-state solution based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The declaration also pledged broad international support for the reconstruction of Gaza, endorsing an Arab-Organization of Islamic Cooperation recovery plan, and announced a forthcoming Gaza Reconstruction Conference to take place in Cairo. It committed to the creation of a dedicated international trust fund, reaffirmed the role of UN Relief and Works Agency, and backed the Palestinian Authority’s agenda for reforms.

Recent commitments made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold elections and pursue peaceful statehood, alongside plans for democratic reforms and enhanced governance, were welcomed.

The signatories also called on Israeli authorities to halt settlement activity, end settler violence, and give a clear public commitment to a two-state solution. “Unilateral measures threaten to destroy the last remaining path to peace,” the declaration warned.

It linked Palestinian statehood to broader normalization and integration efforts in the Middle East. It proposed exploration of a regional security framework, modeled on the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and floated the idea of a future “Peace Day” to mark the formal conclusion of the conflict and the launch of regional cooperation in trade, energy and infrastructure.

The co-chairs of the conference pledged to present a progress report on efforts to implement the declaration during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September, and tasked the chairs of the working groups with establishing a follow-up mechanism under the umbrella of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.

“This is a historic opportunity,” the declaration stated. “The time for decisive, collective action is now — to end the war, realize Palestinian statehood, and secure peace and dignity for both peoples.”

The long road to Palestinian statehood
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Israel military intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen

Updated 29 July 2025
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Israel military intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen

  • Houthis later claimed the attack, saying they had fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM: Sirens sounded in several Israeli cities, including Jerusalem, on Tuesday as the military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, with Houthi militants later claiming the attack.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the Israeli air force,” the military said in a statement.
The Houthis later claimed the attack, saying they had fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi fighters have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since their Palestinian ally Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war.
The Houthis, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians, paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza that ended in March, but renewed them after Israel resumed major operations.
Israel has carried out several retaliatory strikes in Yemen, targeting Houthi-held ports and the airport in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.


Israel ‘using thirst as a weapon to kill Palestinians’ in Gaza, UN experts say

Updated 29 July 2025
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Israel ‘using thirst as a weapon to kill Palestinians’ in Gaza, UN experts say

  • ‘Cutting off water and food is a silent but lethal bomb that kills mostly children and babies,’ they warn
  • As summer temperatures soar and hygiene conditions deteriorate rapidly, fatalities from dehydration are increasing and outbreaks of waterborne diseases are spreading

NEW YORK CITY: A group of UN human rights experts on Monday accused Israeli authorities of deliberately depriving Palestinians in Gaza of access to clean drinking water. They described this alleged action as a grave violation of international law and a potential crime against humanity.

“Israel is using thirst as a weapon to kill Palestinians,” the experts said. “Cutting off water and food is a silent but lethal bomb that kills mostly children and babies.”

The independent experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, said that water and sanitation systems in Gaza have been systematically targeted throughout the Israel’s ongoing military campaign.

Since the conflict began in October 2023, Israeli forces have destroyed or severely damaged wells, pipelines, desalination plants and sewage networks. According to the UN, nearly 90 percent of the territory’s water infrastructure is no longer functional, leaving more than 90 percent of the population without reliable access to safe water supplies.

As summer temperatures soar and hygiene conditions deteriorate rapidly, fatalities from dehydration are increasing and outbreaks of waterborne disease are spreading. Most of the 2 million residents of Gaza have been displaced, with many of them forced to drink contaminated water and live without even basic sanitation.

“This catastrophe was not only predictable, it was predicted,” the UN experts said. “The deliberate denial of water and essential supplies is part of a pattern of collective punishment and may amount to extermination under international law.”

The experts referred to an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in July 2024, which reaffirmed Israel’s obligations as an occupying power to ensure civilians are able to access adequate supplies of food and water.

Instead, the experts noted, Israeli authorities have further reduced the already limited flow of emergency water deliveries, and continue to block essential shipments of fuel required to power desalination and sanitation systems.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, has warned that it will be forced to close several of its remaining wells entirely unless immediate authorization is granted for fuel deliveries to the territory. These sources currently provide hundreds of thousands of liters of water to people each day for drinking and hygiene purposes.

“With fuel supplies nearly exhausted, humanitarian organizations are scaling back life-saving work, including the distribution of water,” the UN experts said.

Describing the situation as “barbaric,” they added that the actions of the Israeli government meet the legal definition of genocide. They cited the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court and defines genocide as “deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of a population.”

They urged the international community to act decisively, calling for the immediate deployment of naval humanitarian missions from Mediterranean ports to deliver fuel, water and aid workers to Gaza. They also called for urgent action to restore water and sanitation systems in Gaza, and an end to restrictions on humanitarian access.

“The international community must act now to end this inhumane and unlawful deprivation,” the experts said. “This is a test of global conscience — and failure is not an option.”

The statement was issued by seven of UN’s special rapporteurs and experts responsible for issues related to human rights, water and sanitation, food, health, displaced persons, and the occupied Palestinian territories. They operate independently, are not members of UN staff, work on a voluntary basis and do not speak on behalf of the organization.


Far-right minister says Israel should reoccupy Gaza

Updated 29 July 2025
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Far-right minister says Israel should reoccupy Gaza

  • Bezalel Smotrich evoked the 2005 withdrawal in which Israel evacuated 8,000 settlers and its soldiers from the Gaza Strip
  • Several Israeli far-right groups will march Wednesday under the slogan “20 years later, we’re coming back to the Gaza Strip”

JERUSALEM: Israel should reoccupy Gaza rather than negotiate with Hamas, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday at an event marking the 20th anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal of settlers from the Palestinian territory.
“Gaza is an integral part of Israel. How to move on to a tangible plan (for resettlement)? We need to need think about it, and above all we must succeed,” said Smotrich, who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Smotrich, who had threatened to leave the government if it allowed aid into Gaza, was on the back foot a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized new humanitarian deliveries.
“If I’m still in the government despite everything, it’s probably because I have good reasons to believe positive things are about to happen,” the head of the Religious Zionism Party said.
Smotrich evoked the 2005 withdrawal in which Israel evacuated 8,000 settlers and its soldiers from the Gaza Strip.
“Who could have thought 20 years ago that Gaza would be like it is now?” he asked the audience, before suggesting that conditions in the territory now favored a return of Israeli settlers.
During a meeting at the Israeli parliament last week, elected officials and ministers were presented with a plan for the construction of new settlements.
“This is doable and realistic. I’m very optimistic. Conquering Gaza and settling it as an integral part of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said at the time.
Fellow far-right minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf echoed his comment. “This is the price that the terrorists must pay, and God willing, as soon as possible,” he said.
Several Israeli far-right groups will march Wednesday under the slogan “20 years later, we’re coming back to the Gaza Strip.”
Gaza’s Hamas government reacted angrily to Smotrich’s remarks, calling them “an explicit threat to continue the crimes of genocide and forced displacement against our people.”


Israeli public figures urge ‘crippling sanctions’ on their country amid Gaza famine

Updated 29 July 2025
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Israeli public figures urge ‘crippling sanctions’ on their country amid Gaza famine

  • Group of 31 signatories to letter includes academics, artists and public intellectuals
  • Appeal follows mounting international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in the strip

LONDON: High-profile Israeli public figures have called for “crippling sanctions” to be launched against Israel by the international community to avert further disaster in Gaza.

The appeal came in a letter to The Guardian by a group of 31 signatories, including academics, artists and public intellectuals.

The letter was signed by Academy Award recipient Yuval Abraham; former Attorney General of Israel Michael Ben-Yair; former Parliament Speaker Avraham Burg; and winners of the Israel Prize, the country’s top cultural award, among others.

Israel is “starving the people of Gaza to death and contemplating the forced removal of millions of Palestinians from the strip,” the letter says.

Its signatories are esteemed figures in journalism, science, academia and more, representing a significant shift in Israeli public life, as more prominent figures begin to criticize the war in Gaza.

The letter’s endorsement of severe international sanctions against Israel is also taboo; politicians in the country have called for the targeting of those who promote such measures.

Israel’s war in Gaza, which is reaching the two-year mark, is also generating further public angst and criticism of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The wider Jewish diaspora is engaged in renewed debate over the trajectory and morality of the war.

This week, two of Israel’s top human rights groups, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, published reports that described their country’s actions in Gaza as “genocidal.”

Tuesday’s letter says: “The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire.

“No one should be unaffected by the pervasive hunger experienced by thousands of Gazans. No one should spend the bulk of their time arguing technical definitions between starvation and pervasive hunger.

“The situation is dire, and it is deadly. Nor should we accept arguments that because Hamas is the primary reason many Gazans are either starving or on the verge of starving, that the Jewish state is not also culpable in this human disaster. The primary moral response must begin with anguished hearts in the face of such a large-scale human tragedy.

“Blocking food, water, medicine, and power — especially for children — is indefensible,” it said. “Let us not allow our grief to harden into indifference, nor our love for Israel to blind us to the cries of the vulnerable. Let us rise to the moral challenge of this moment.”

Earlier this month, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in comments to The Guardian, condemned his country’s planned “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza as a concentration camp.

Forcing Palestinians inside the zone from the rest of the enclave would amount to ethnic cleansing, he added.

Netanyahu and his government continue to deny the existence of famine in Gaza, or any potential Israeli links to the disaster unfolding in the territory.