American Jews Are Key Advocates of U.S.-India
Ties
Wed July 9, 2003 04:08 PM ET
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters)
When India's deputy prime minister was in Washington last month,
his brief visit included dinner at the elite Cosmos Club, courtesy of
the American Jewish Committee - AJC.
Although L.K. Advani had come to town largely for talks with
President Bush and his key aides, he made time for the influential
pro-Israel lobbying group and thus underscored intensified relations
among the three democracies.
As ties between India and the United States, on the one hand, and
India and Israel, on the other hand, have improved significantly in
recent years, the AJC has been a steady, largely unheralded, advocate
of this trend.
"It's a natural alliance between Israel and India," said Jason
Isaacson, the committee's director of government and international
affairs.
"It's about trade and common interests between democracies (and),
complimenting that is the growing relationships between Indian
Americans and American Jews," as well as between the United States
and India, he said in a telephone interview.
The committee had staged many meetings with leading Indian
figures, Isaacson has visited India seven times since 1995 and the
AJC plans to set up a liaison office in India this year.
The organization, which claims more than 100,000 members, is also
renovating a school in Gujarat, where minority Muslims have been the
victims of ethnic violence.
As evidence these ties have "come of age," the AJC, the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, another leading pro-Israel lobby
group, and the U.S.-India Political American Organization plan a
joint reception for Congress on July 16.
India's national security adviser, Shri Brajesh Mishra, speaking
at the AJC's annual meeting on May 8, hailed a "historical affinity"
between India and the Jewish people and noted India is one of a few
countries with no history of anti-Semitism.
COLD WAR RESTRAINTS
Cool toward each other until the early 1990s, India and Israel now
have full diplomatic ties and broad economic and defense cooperation
and India hopes Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will soon make an
official visit, Mishra said.
Two-way trade is more than $1 billion annually, and Israel is
especially keen to cultivate India as a market for its defense
industry.
The United States, which must approve Israeli weapons sales that
include American technology, recently allowed the transfer to India
of the Phalcon Airborne Early Warning, Command and Control System, an
estimated $1 billion deal.
But U.S. officials are divided over letting Israel sell India the
Arrow anti-ballistic missile system because it may violate
international missile curbs and because of fears India could pass the
technology on to third countries, like Iran.
Although Israel, like the United States, considers Iran a state
sponsor of terrorism bent on acquiring nuclear arms, Isaacson is
restrained about India's relations with Tehran.
"In a perfect world India wouldn't have those ties but we live in
an imperfect world. We hope the contacts permit the Indians to carry
certain messages to the Iranians and help them see U.S. and western
concerns," he said.
In addition to economic benefits, Stephen Cohen of the Brookings
Institution suspect’s intelligence cooperation also binds India
and Israel since "they have a common enemy in Islamic
radicalism."
But he expressed concern this could degenerate into an
anti-Pakistan alliance of Hindus and Jews against Muslims.
