For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolving relationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Under Narendra Modi, India’s ties with Israel have taken on a different character, for a country that once championed the Palestinian cause and led the Non-Aligned Movement. In rightwing circles in India and elsewhere, he argues, Israel is increasingly seen as a bulwark against the expansion of Islam. In 2024, a group of civil servants, activists and academics petitioned the supreme court, demanding India suspend its military exports to Israel. But for Johny, India’s growing closeness to Israel is beginning to come at a cost.