‘Affront to Indian democracy’: India’s opposition party slams Israeli envoy for insulting MP

The opposition Indian National Congress Party (INC) has condemned the Israeli envoy’s disrespectful response to a post on X by an Indian lawmaker concerning the genocidal actions of the regime in Gaza.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a Member of the Indian Parliament, took to the X social media platform on Tuesday to condemn what she described as the Indian government’s “shameful silence” on the Israeli regime’s genocidal conduct in Gaza.

This post seemed to trigger the Israeli envoy to India, Reuven Azar, into what the INC has called intolerable insolence.

Azar quote-tweeted Gandhi Vadra and said not only was Gandhi Vadra’s post not the truth, but it was also “deceitful.”

Azar repeated false claims by Israel: one that the civilian casualties are due to the fighters of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas hiding in residential spaces, and two, that the organization is looting the food entering Gaza.

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The INC leadership took immediate issue with both the content and tone of Azar’s message to Gandhi Vadra.

Among the first to respond was Pawan Khera, media and publicity chair of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), who condemned the incident, saying it was “both unprecedented and unacceptable” for an envoy to publicly "target a sitting Member of the Indian Parliament,” adding that “such an act is a direct affront to the dignity of Indian democracy."

The INC’s General Secretary Jairam Ramesh addressed the issue as well, saying the Congress condemns the remarks made by Israel’s envoy.

He said it was “too much to expect” that the Indian government, which he accused of showing “extreme moral cowardice” in addressing Israel’s destruction of Gaza over the past 18–20 months, would object to the ambassador’s remarks, a response the Congress “finds unacceptable.”

Gaurav Gogoi, Deputy Leader of the INC in the Lok Sabha, also weighed in with a strong reaffirmation of India’s historic support for Palestinian rights.

He said India was among the first nations to recognize Palestine as a nation, a step that key Western countries like France, Canada, Britain, and Australia are only now preparing to take in response to the devastating consequences of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Emphasizing India’s tradition of non-violence, Gogoi said the Congress does not need a lecture from the Israeli envoy.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Saket Gokhale said it was immensely shameful that Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s government had used the Israeli Ambassador to target an Opposition lawmaker in India.

He called the envoy a “pipsqueak” who would not have spoken so brazenly unless he was sure there would be no consequences.

Gokhale asked whether politics had “fallen so low” that the government would not defend the dignity of an Indian lawmaker, and whether India had “surrendered its sovereignty so deeply.”

Another Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said this “ambassador” of a “genocidal regime” had the “audacity to speak in an intimidating language” to an elected Member of Parliament.

He called it a “horrible act of aggression” that, in a country valuing “dignity and sovereignty,” would merit “stern diplomatic action.”

But, he added, since the Indian government has “taken this Zionist regime as their role model,” they would “rather take sadistic pleasure” than deal with the Zionist “ambassador” in “a befitting manner.”

Prior to this post, Gandhi Vadra had denounced the Israeli regime’s assassination of the Israeli journalists, saying, “In a world where much of the media is enslaved to power and commerce … these brave souls reminded us of what true journalism is.”

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