Sonia Gandhi slams Modi government for ‘stonewalling silence’ on Israeli ‘genocide in Gaza’; BJP says Congress has ‘double standards’ | Today’s news

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Modi government on Saturday, saying that its “stone silence” and “inaction” on Israel’s “genocide in Gaza” was not only morally reprehensible but also impossible to explain in terms of India’s national interest.

The Congress Parliamentary Party leader argued that India had distanced itself from its long-standing partners in Palestine, Iran and the wider Middle East while distancing itself from global public opinion, creating space for Pakistan to position itself as a mediator.

In The Indian Express, Gandhi also termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel ahead of the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran as a “confused strategic decision”. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that the Congress has been talking about Gaza while remaining silent on the atrocities being committed on Hindus in Dhaka. He also accused the party of adopting a “double standard” in foreign policy.

The Congress leader said the idea of ​​Indian nationhood required the country to speak up for the Palestinians, especially the children who were brutally targeted. She also argued that India’s national interest required a global public opinion response against the Israeli regime’s “genocidal actions” in Gaza and its “brutal displacement and dispossession of thousands of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank”.

She added: “The continued silence of the Modi government simply cannot be rationally or morally explained.”

Referring to international findings, Gandhi said that the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded in September 2025 that Israeli authorities were committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

It further said that in June 2026, the same commission, now headed by Justice (retired) S. Muralidhar, whom it described as a respected Indian lawyer, reiterated that Israel’s actions were aimed at destroying the very existence of Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.

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“The 94-page report is harrowing reading, with grim details of the extent of the devastation Israel is wreaking in Gaza and the genocidal intent underlying its actions. At least 20,000 children have been killed and another 44,000 injured, many for life,” she noted.

Gandhi argued that the focus on children was not accidental but a deliberate strategy.

“Twenty-seven percent of those killed or injured were children, and many boys were found with bullets in their heads and necks. Ninety-seven percent of Gaza’s schools were destroyed,” she noted.

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She also claimed that the destruction of health infrastructure, including children’s hospitals, led to a 300% increase in abortions and birth complications.

Referring to the conflict, Gandhi noted that in the two and a half years since Hamas’ “vile, horrific and totally unacceptable attack” on Israel, the response of the Israeli armed forces and political leadership has been marked by “unwanted cruelty and barbarism”.

She further claimed that senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet, have called for a “total siege” and “total destruction” of Gaza, described Palestinians as “animals” who have “no right to exist” and defined Israel’s success as “hundreds of thousands fleeing Gaza”.

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Gandhi claimed that despite what she described as a clear “genocidal intent”, support from US President Donald Trump’s administration allowed the Israeli government to continue its “brutal campaign” against the Palestinians. She added that countries around the world are increasingly forced to respond to the humanitarian situation.

She also said the United Nations had been unable to act decisively because of what she described as US obstruction, but added that its agencies had played a significant role in documenting alleged Israeli war crimes.

Gandhi further pointed out that several countries traditionally associated with the Western bloc, including France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, have recognized Palestinian statehood after decades of indifference to the Palestinian cause.

She also noted that South Africa, which she said shares a long history of anti-colonial solidarity with India, had sued Israel at the International Court of Justice for alleged violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

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Gandhi also mentioned that several European countries had imposed restrictions on arms sales to Israel, while a number of Latin American nations had either reduced or severed diplomatic ties with the country.

She further noted that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for members of the Israeli political leadership.

‘We have alienated ourselves from our historical allies’: Sonia Gandhi

According to Gandhi, many countries that share close ties with India have recognized Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.

“Amid growing public backlash against Israel and the international community’s awareness of the unjustifiable brutality unleashed in Gaza, India remains the lone voice of silence,” it said.

Gandhi said India was moving strategically closer to Israel at a time when she said much of the world was moving away from the country.

She also described Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel under these circumstances, just days before Israel’s war with Iran and the assassination of Iran’s top political leadership, as a “stunning strategic decision”.

Gandhi went on to say, “We have estranged ourselves from our historic allies in Palestine, Iran and the wider Middle East. We have distanced ourselves from global public opinion. And we have left Pakistan, of all countries, alone, which has and continues to harbor feared terrorists, to claim the space of mediator – a role to which we would naturally have a friendly claim with all our historical players.”

She also argued that India had sacrificed both its strategic interests and moral standing and gained little in return, apart from what she described as friendship between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who she said faced criticism around the world, including the United States.

BJP accuses Congress of ‘double standard’ on foreign policy

“This shows their double standard. Here too they want to determine foreign policy based on vote bank politics. India has consistently taken a stand on Gaza. It has voted in the UN and besides India has provided humanitarian aid. That is why the Indian Prime Minister has been given the highest civilian honor of Palestine,” Poonawalla said, according to ANI.

“India is in a position where it can talk to both Palestine and Israel. It can talk to both Ukraine and Russia. It can talk to both the United States and Iran. We are not disengaged today, we are all,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)