“On Oct. 7, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tweeted a parallel comparing the Hamas attack on Israel to the situation in India before Narendra Modi was elected as prime minister in 2014. “What Israel is facing today, India suffered between 2004-14,” it read. “Never forgive, never forget.”

Yet, today, many Hindu nationalists are also ardent supporters of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Modi considers one of his close friends and allies.

Far-right Hindu nationalists even rallied outside the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi asking to enroll in the Israel Defense Forces to combat the common enemy of both Israel and India. “The same radical jihadist Islamist terrorist thinking that Israel is a victim of, we are a victim of as well,” one anchor said on television. “Israel is fighting this war on behalf of all of us.” Another leader of Modi’s BJP said on social media: “We may face the situation that Israel is confronting today if we don’t stand up against Politically motivated Radicalism.”

Source: @ranaayyub via the Washington Post

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