Opinion
Mint Quick Edit | Classify Israel’s east-west trade pitch as war rhetoric
Summary
- Speaking at the UN just before Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s killing, Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu referred obliquely to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) in the context of war. New Delhi should discourage links drawn between trade and hostilities.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), announced at the G20 Summit last September, is rarely mentioned in the context of war. However, while speaking at the United Nations hours before an Israeli air strike on Friday killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu had held up two placards.
The first, labelled “The curse", had a map depicting Iran’s shadow across Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, what he called an “arc of terror". The other placard, “The blessing", showed a two-way arrow marked from Gujarat to Europe via the Arabian peninsula and Israel, which he pitched as the world’s choice for “peace and prosperity".
Also read: Israel-Hezbollah war: From Hassan Nasrallah to Ibrahim Aqil — a look at leaders, key people eliminated in airstrikes
To its credit, India’s foreign policy has long resisted Manichean world views. While the IMEC’s potential does hold economic appeal, the country’s broad interests require that it isn’t seen to be on either side of today’s Cold War II divide as it blows hot on and off.
Although Iran and China have grown closer lately, a worry, India is invested in the Chabahar port. It has other strategic reasons, too, for neutrality. Links drawn between trade prospects and hostilities in West Asia are best brushed off as war rhetoric.
