‘Is Indian freedom of speech regulated by Israel?’ Congress rails as envoy insults Priyanka

The Congress has taken strong exception to Israeli ambassador Reuven Azar joining issue with a social media post on the Gaza genocide by Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The Congress MP had, on the morning of 12 August, posted on X to state, "The Israeli state is committing genocide. It has murdered over 60,000 people, 18,340 of whom were children."

Noting that Israel has "starved hundreds to death, including many children, and is threatening to starve millions", Gandhi Vadra — a longtime supporter of the rights of the Palestinian people — held that "Enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself".

She concluded: "It is shameful that the Indian Government stands silent as Israel unleashes this devastation on the people of Palestine."

This — despite all the criticism from the global community that surely the Benjamin Netanyahu-led nation of Israel should by now be inured to, much of which it shrugs away like water off a duck's back — seemed to trigger the Israeli envoy to India into what the Congress party considers intolerable insolence.

Azar quote-tweeted Gandhi Vadra to argue: “What is shameful is your deceit. Israel killed 25,000 Hamas terrorists.”

The ambassador continued on a rant that repeated two more oft-cited Israeli / IDF tropes — the one claiming the civilian casualties are due to Hamas hiding in residential spaces and another claiming the food entering Gaza is looted by Hamas. His post claimed: “The terrible cost in human lives derives from Hamas’s heinous tactics of hiding behind civilians, their shooting of people trying to evacuate or receive assistance and their rocket fire. Israel facilitated 2 million tonnes of food into Gaza while Hamas tries to sequestrate them, thereby creating hunger.”

And Azar didn't stop there, adding a third incredible claim, that “Gaza population has grown 450 [per cent] in the last 50 years, no genocide there”.

Notably, Gaza's statistics agency claims the population has fallen by 6 per cent during this latest war. The World Population Review, meanwhile, shows an annual growth rate of 2.84 per cent. The balance is clearly, then, in the negative as of this conflict since 7 October 2023, the date of the Hamas incursion into Israel.

Be that as it may, Congress leadership took immediate issue with both the tone and content of Azar's message to Gandhi Vadra.

Amongst the first to respond was Pawan Khera, media and publicity chair of the AICC, saying, "That the ambassador of a state accused of genocide worldwide would target a sitting Member of the Indian Parliament is both unprecedented and intolerable. It is a direct affront to the dignity of Indian democracy."

Khera demanded of minister of external affairs S. Jaishankar answers to two questions: "Will you address the Israeli Ambassador’s public attempt to intimidate Smt. Priyanka Gandhi? Or has freedom of speech in India now begun to be regulated from Israel?"

To Azar himself, Khera replied, "No amount of deflection or whitewashing can obscure the facts. The international community is witnessing, in real time, the killing of civilians in Gaza — including those queuing for aid."

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh joined in, speaking on behalf of the entire party and adding a sting in the tail for the Narendra Modi administration to say, "The Indian National Congress condemns the words used by Israel's Ambassador to India in response to the pain and anguish expressed by Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, MP, on Israel's continuing genocide in Gaza.

"It is too much to expect the Modi Govt, which has shown extreme moral cowardice when it comes to speaking out on Israel’s destruction of Gaza over the past 18-20 months, to take serious exception and objection to the Ambassador's response. We do and find it totally unacceptable."

Deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi also weighed in, with a firm statement on the alignment of India to the rights of the Palestinian people, recalling that India had been one of the first nations in the world to recognise the state of Palestine — something key Western nations such as France, Canada, UK and Australia are only set to do now, following the appalling effects of the indiscriminate retaliation on Gaza in Israel's 'self-defence'. Gogoi posted: "India is one of the first countries to recognise the Palestine as a state. It is a firm believer in the two state solution. The nation of Gandhi and Nehru has always believed in non-violence and peace. The Indian National Congress party does not need the lecture of the Israeli Ambassador."

Head of the Congress’ social media and digital platforms teams Supriya Shrinate too weighed in to say, "Mr Ambassador, You MUST check your tone while responding to an Indian Member of Parliament. Unacceptable.

"India was one of the first countries to recognise Palestine’s statehood in 1988 and also one of the first to recognise the PLO as the sole legitimate rep of the Palestinians in 1974. Successive govts have abided by that stand and policy.

"So please don’t lecture us and definitely don’t expect us to turn a blind eye when people are being massacred and little children are being starved. You should instead be ashamed."

One last question remains.

Is it possible that the true source of the Israeli ire was not, in fact, an accusation levelled against it by several nations at the UN and in the International Court of Justice — but rather another of Gandhi Vadra’s tweets from an hour prior, one speaking to the "cold-blooded murder of five Al Jazeera journalists... yet another heinous crime committed on Palestinian soil"?

That tweet had said "The immeasurable courage of those who dare to stand for the truth will never be broken by the violence and hatred of the Israeli state".

"In a world where much of the media is enslaved to power and commerce," she continued, "these brave souls reminded us of what true journalism is."

The statement, curiously, carries a gentle echo of the motto of National Herald, the newspaper founded by her great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru: ‘Freedom Is in Peril, Defend It with All Your Might.’

At around the same time that Gandhi Vadra had tweeted on the targeted killings of Anas al-Sharif and other journalists, Israel’s official handle had posted on X an image with the legend 'A terrorist in Al Jazeera’s disguise is still a terrorist'.

Labelling the slain Al Jazeera correspondent as "a senior rocket cell commander who hid behind a “PRESS” vest", the post said, "Intelligence documents reveal two truths: he was a jihadi terrorist on Hamas’s payroll and embedded within the Qatari Al Jazeera network. His press badge was a cover. His real job — launching rockets at Israeli civilians and IDF troops... We will continue to target terrorists, no matter their disguise."

Yesterday, UN Human Rights noted that the death of Anas Al-Sharif and the other journalists in the tent brought the total number of mediapersons killed in the Gaza conflict to 242, an attack it called a "grave breach of international humanitarian law".