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“Vulture”, “Disgrace”: Indian Editor Slammed For Article Over India’s ‘Conditional Support’ For Palestine

Gupta then asks, Why is the larger Indian public opinion so indifferent, and Do human tragedies no longer move the people in the country? eventually attributing the reason to the national interest, apart from Hindus seeing it as a "Muslim-Israel issue."

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“Vulture”, “Disgrace”: Indian Editor Slammed For Article Over India’s ‘Conditional Support’ For Palestine

“Vulture”, “Disgrace”: Indian Editor Slammed For Article Over India’s ‘Conditional’ Support For Palestine

An Indian journalist and editor, Shekhar Gupta, also the founder of online news portal, The Print recently drew strong public wrath for an article promoting a logic of conditional support for Palestinians that many slammed as a disgrace to journalism. Gupta’s argument of National Interest, his column, highlighting the purported Israeli help to India as a justification for the country’s indifference to Palestinian suffering, has surprised many who know the journalist to be a liberal figure.

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In the controversial article, Gupta claimed that the Muslim world has stopped seeing Palestine as an Islamic issue, noting that their shared strategic threat is Iran, its Shia base, and claiming that the so-called Muslim world has stopped seeing Palestine as an Islamic issue.

The journalist asks, Why should India care? “If the Palestinians care about Indian support, therefore, they first need to go down politely on their knees to Pakistan, Iran, its seasonal pals (Turkey and Malaysia no longer mention Kashmir), and the OIC, and beg them to de-hyphenate them from Kashmir,” Gupta wrote in his article in The Print.

Stating that the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt helped Israel intercept Iranian proxies’ missiles, Gupta argues national interest always trumps. The journalist then applies the logic that countries act in their own national interest, not for somebody’s cause, “be it ideological, religious, or moral.”Gupta then goes on to argue and justify why Indians support Israeli genocide in Gaza, stating that the Jewish nation helped India multiple times.

He says no major Indian political parties, including secular parties, raise their voice for Palestine, arguing that what looks like is the overwhelming pro-Israel mood among the majority in India. He claims it was only Priyanka Gandhi who spoke in outrage against Israeli aggression against civilians in Gaza because she had to face elections in Wayanad and was playing vote bank politics.

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Gupta then asks, Why is the larger Indian public opinion so indifferent, and Do human tragedies no longer move the people in the country? eventually attributing the reason to the national interest, apart from Hindus seeing it as a “Muslim-Israel issue.”

The Indian journalist claimed that there was little sympathy in India for the sufferings of Gazens and Palestinians in general, noting that except for the fleeting protest after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s killing in a Shia-dominated area, there were no protests in India for Palestine.

Notably, the article has drawn sharp criticism from many in India. An X user, Dr. Jo, wrote, “I do not consider you a vulture. I consider you something a vulture would eat,” expressing his anger to the journalist.

 

Another handle, Ashok Mehra, termed the article a worse way to ask for support for Palestine. “Next you will say reinstate Hasina for support to Israel. Get real Shekhar,” he wrote.

 

Countering the journalist argument, another user wrote, “Why is Israel supporting Azerbaijan that supports Pakistan in Kashmir? Guptaji, stop this milawat ram bania journalism.”

K S Narendran, another user, said he feels the journalist has inverted framing of the issue. “All that Palestinians care about right now is survival. The real issue is: does India care? Do Palestinians being ethnically cleansed and slaughtered matter? Should our humanity be hostage to our geopolitical calculations?” he wrote.

 

“What a disgrace you are after decades in journalism, still viewing the massacre of Palestinians through the lens of power and material gain! PaIest! Nians aren’t your ‘SorryVeer’ who will beg to resist oppression. This isn’t about’siding with the powerful’; it’s about basic humanity, which you lack,” wrote another user, referring to Gupta.

 

Topics
controversial article India-Palestine Palestine - India palestine israel conflict Shekhar Gupta Shekhar Gupta slammed The Print editor

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