UN Rapporteur warns India may face responsibility over Israel engagement
New Delhi: UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has criticized India’s engagement with Israel, stating that New Delhi is “violating its obligations” under international law and may also be “facing responsibility” for its actions.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Francesca Albanese made these remarks during an interview with Indian English daily The Hindu, while responding to a question on India’s legal and moral responsibility in associating with Israel and its war.
Referring to findings linked to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), she said the legal responsibilities are clear. “The International Court of Justice has declared the occupation illegal and imposed an obligation on states not to trade, not to transfer weapons, and not to buy weapons from a state accused of maintaining an illegal occupation,” she said.
She further noted that this obligation is even more significant “in the context of a genocide for which Israel is before the International Court of Justice,” adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
“So, India is violating its obligations under international law and might even be facing responsibility,” she said, adding that states supporting Israel in such circumstances could face legal scrutiny under international law.
In her report titled “Torture and Genocide,” presented at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese argued that third states are enabling Israel’s torture regime through the provision of weapons and other forms of support.
As per media reports, India exported rockets, explosives, rocket motors, and other military components to Israel during the ongoing war in Gaza. Reports, including those by Al Jazeera in June 2024, indicated that Indian companies continued such exports amid the conflict.
During the interview, Albanese further argued that India’s continued political and defence ties with Israel risk strengthening what she described as a system of violence, contributing to the erosion of the international legal order.
She said India faces internal contradictions in its foreign policy. “Two days before the current war with Iran, Prime Minister Modi visited Israel, upgraded ties to a ‘Special Strategic Partnership’, and described Israel as the ‘fatherland’ for India‑origin Jews,” she said.
“It seems to me that in the present, India and Israel are contributing to the decay of the international system that our forefathers or foremothers painfully built,” she said.
