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India Gives Israel a Firm Embrace
(Wall Street Journal) Sadanand Dhume - Narendra Modi's visit to Israel this week reflects deep changes in India's domestic politics. Traditional opponents of a closer India-Israel relationship have lost in the court of public opinion. Modi's visit to Israel was possible because he is on the winning side of a debate at home about the Jewish state. The leaders of India in the early decades of independence showed no love for Israel. While his country was still a British colony, Jawaharlal Nehru opposed the 1917 Balfour Declaration in which the British opened the door to a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Three decades later, after Nehru became prime minister, India opposed the 1948 creation of Israel at the UN. New Delhi only recognized the Jewish state in 1950, and didn't establish full diplomatic relations until more than four decades later. Today, many middle-class Indians view Israel not as the neocolonial oppressor of caricature, but as Americans do: A plucky country surrounded by dangerous neighbors that has thrived against the odds. Some are also attracted to Jewish civilization because, like Hinduism, it predates Islam and Christianity. A 2009 survey by the Israeli Foreign Ministry found India to be the most pro-Israel of those countries surveyed, ahead even of the U.S. The notion of slowing down India-Israel ties out of deference to either pan-Islamic sentiment worldwide or domestic Muslim sentiment finds few takers. The writer is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.