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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-india-weapons-israel-covid-19-pandemic">https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-india-weapons-israel-covid-19-pandemic</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Arms over masks: India buys weapons from Israel as coronavirus cases spike</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Azad Essa - March 24, 2020<br></div>
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<div><p>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling
of the coronavirus crisis has been criticised by activists and rights
groups after it emerged his government decided to go ahead with an arms
deal with Israel worth hundreds of millions of dollars.</p>
<p>According to a statement <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1607638" target="_blank">released</a>
by the Indian government, Israel will supply the Indian military with
16,479 Negev light machine guns, despite growing concerns over the
health emergency facing the country of 1.3 billion people. </p>
<p>The deal, worth $116 million, came as doctors on the frontline in India continue to <a href="https://www.asiavillenews.com/article/the-weekly-dose-indian-doctors-on-the-covid-19-front-line-in-their-own-words-35900" target="_blank">complain </a> of a shortage of <a href="https://twitter.com/Ms_Aflatoon/status/1242043795127984128" target="_blank">masks</a> and <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Healthcare-workers-face-crisis-of-protective-gears/articleshow/74740534.cms" target="_blank">protective equipment</a>, highlighting concerns that India is ill-prepared to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.mohfw.gov.in/" target="_blank">authorities</a>, there have been around 469 known cases of Covid-19 in India with 10 fatalities. </p>
<blockquote><p>'Why is the government of India choosing to spend massive
amounts on military purchases instead of prioritising a corona relief
package, medical infrastructure, free healthcare and testing for all?'</p>
<p><em>- Kavita Krishnan, Communist Party of India</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>But India, like several other countries, has conducted <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-51922204" target="_blank">few tests</a> and is experiencing a spike in infections.</p>
<p>On Monday, an Indian <a href="https://scroll.in/article/956932/interview-suppression-wont-work-in-india-slow-down-the-coronavirus-this-will-be-a-long-haul" target="_blank">epidemiologist said</a> that up to 55% of the country or some 715 million people could have the virus, while a conservative estimate <a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/current-rate-india-30000-covid-19-deaths-may-no-hospital-bed-june-data/385386/" target="_blank">suggests </a>India could see around 30,000 deaths by May.</p>
<p>With concerns rising over the rapid acceleration of the pandemic and
the impact it has already had on economies around the world, the thought
that the struggling Indian economy could afford to absorb military
spending at this juncture has left some reeling.</p>
<p>Achin Vanaik, a retired professor of International Relations and
Global Politics at the University of Delhi, described the decision as
"extraordinary and highly condemnable, especially as it becomes clear
that authorities are <a href="https://thewire.in/health/india-coronavirus-ramanan-laxminarayan" target="_blank">well aware </a>that official stats are a gross underestimation at this point."</p>
<p>He told Middle East Eye that, "India needs every rupee to deal with
the very real danger of the coronavirus pandemic spreading in a country
of 1.3 billion people - living in densely populated cities and towns. As
it is, compared to Europe, North America or even China and other
countries in Asia, the medical system here is woefully under equipped to
deal with this emergency. This diversion of funds is deeply
distressing."</p>
<h3>'On the course of demagoguery'</h3>
<p>The weapons contract signed on Thursday was originally authorised by
the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in February 2018, and is part of a
series of weapon agreements between the two countries under prime
ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi. </p>
<p>According to India's defence ministry, "the provisioning of this
operationally urgent and very critically needed weapon will boost the
confidence of the frontline troops and provide much needed combat power
to the Armed Forces."</p>
<p>But <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/rana-ayyub-tweet-coronavirus" target="_blank">Apoorvanand</a>,
a professor at the University of Delhi, the move to prioritise arms at a
time of a crisis was only part of a larger attempt by the BJP-led
government to turn India into a security state, like Israel. </p>
<p>"The so-called security of the state is all that matters. So it keeps
on invoking enemies, either outside or within. And it has
turned people, especially Hindus into paranoid masses," Apoorvanand told
MEE.</p>
<blockquote><p>'Modi is taking India on the course of demagoguery, and this is all it has to offer the people'</p>
<p><em>- Apoorvanand, University of Delhi </em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"It is clear that the PM had nothing to offer as a government in
tackling this crisis. Our doctors don't have protective equipment in
sufficient quantity; we don't have capacity to do testing as advised by
the experts.</p>
<p>"Instead, Modi is taking India on the course of demagoguery, and this is all it has to offer the people."</p>
<p>Similarly, Kavita Krishnan, leader of the Communist Party of India,
told MEE that given the government had yet to announce any relief
package for those losing their livelihood as a result of the pandemic,
choosing to spend massive amounts on military purchases was
unconscionable. </p>
<p>"People rendered suddenly jobless are forced to rush back to villages to survive, risking the spread of the virus as they go.</p>
<p>"Why is the government of India choosing to spend massive amounts on
military purchases instead of prioritising a corona relief package,
medical infrastructure, free healthcare and testing for all right now?”
Krishnan asked.</p>
<p>India's Ministry of Defence did not respond to MEE's request for comment. </p>
<h3>Communication blockade in Kashmir</h3>
<p>The Indian government's efforts so far have been largely ridiculed as
being all spectacle and no substance. On Sunday, millions emerged on
their balconies and many others came out onto the streets to clap and
bang pots and pans in a show of solidarity with doctors, nurses and
paramedic staff, in what was seen by some as a grotesque PR exercise for
the Modi government.</p>
<p>But the government has also moved to <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/957034/todays-coronavirus-updates-nine-dead-21-states-tighten-lockdowns-as-cases-rise-to-468" target="_blank">shut down </a>some 80 districts across the country and suspend interstate train and bus networks. Meanwhile, Delhi has said it would be <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/956838/covid-19-delhi-bans-gatherings-of-more-than-five-persons-raises-ration-benefits-for-poor-by-50" target="_blank">increasing rations </a>for the poor.</p>
<p>The Indian administration has also come under fire for the partial
communication blockade in Kashmir, which academics and activists argue
will have dire consequences for eight million people already living
under a military occupation.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/india-says-palestinians-should-consider-trumps-middle-east-plan" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/india_and_israel.jpg?itok=v1RvmJPN" alt="" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p>India says relations with Israel are 'very strong' as it presses Palestinians to accept Trump's plan</p>
</div>
<p>Not only are hospitals understaffed and poorly-equipped but the restrictions on the internet have left doctors <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/die-cattle-kashmiris-fear-coronavirus-outbreak-200322151405218.html%C2%A0" target="_blank">reeling</a> over their inability to download the latest guidelines or resources needed for treatment.</p>
<p>In an open letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 170 South Asian academics and activists <a href="https://medium.com/@media_41618/amid-covid-19-pandemic-over-170-academics-from-around-the-world-demand-india-restore-high-speed-d25d6b3edd0" target="_blank">called </a>on the body to apply pressure on India to reinstate the internet at full speeds and to release political prisoners.</p>
<p>“As we are already seeing in countries across Europe and America,
reliable internet also allows day-to-day economic and educational
functions to operate substantially during any social-distancing
measures, which are central to preventing community spread of this
highly contagious disease,” the letter read.</p>
<p>“It is also urgent to bring to your attention the plight of hundreds
of Kashmiri political prisoners, who remain detained in unhygienic
conditions in various jails in Kashmir and across India, and are
therefore at a grave and increased risk of infection.”</p>
<p>Responding to the restrictions in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Amnesty International India said in a <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/03/mitigate-risks-of-covid-19-for-jammu-and-kashmir-by-immediately-restoring-full-access-to-internet-services/" target="_blank">statement</a> that failing to allow people access to information might amount to human rights violations. </p>
<h3>'False sense of superiority'</h3>
<p>India and Israel's ties have strengthened significantly in recent
years, especially under Modi and Netanyahu. Though trade in arms forms
the bedrock of the relationship, both countries are increasingly relying
on each other or find ways to allude to their alliance. </p>
<p>In attempting to echo calls for social distancing, the Israeli prime
minister also suggested that Israelis stop shaking hands and greet each
other with "<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/benjamin-netanyahu-encourages-namaste-greeting-place-handshakes-during-coronavirus-outbreak-1490622" target="_blank">Namaste" </a>instead. </p>
<div>
<p>India once called Zionism racist. Today it moves to replicate it </p>
</div>
<p>Last week, Netanyahu reportedly <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/netanyahu-requested-pm-modi-to-allow-export-of-masks-pharmaceuticals-to-israel-report/article31067020.ece" target="_blank">asked </a>Modi
to approve the export of masks and pharmaceutical raw materials to
Israel, after India had banned the export of these items to meet its own
domestic requirements.</p>
<p>India is the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment and now accounts for 46 percent of Israel's arms exports. </p>
<p>"Our national resources should be used to tackle the Covid-19 threat;
to testing and equipment and for the development of a vaccine, if
possible," Apoorvanand says.</p>
<p>"But India is not even thinking about that. India is not ambitious at
all. It has a false sense of superiority, which it is trying to show
through a stockpiling of armaments." </p>
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