Palestinians denied of homeland, India talks to Russia ‘bluntly’: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on Wednesday said that a response to the conflict in Gaza has to acknowledge the fact that the Palestinian people were “denied the right to their homeland”. Mr Jaishankar, who is on a visit to Malaysia, said that the challenge of foreign policy framing is to get the “balance right”. He referred to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and said Indian interlocutors were used to “pass messages”.

“On the one hand, what happened on October 7 was terrorism. On the other hand, nobody would countenance the death of innocent civilians. Countries may be justified in

S. Jaishankar

their own minds in responding, but every response must take into account something called international humanitarian law,” Mr. Jaishankar said while interacting with the Indian community.

“Whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, there is the underlying issue of the rights of the Palestinians and the fact that they have been denied their homeland,” he said.

In the backdrop of the conflict that intensified after the Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Mr. Jaishankar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval have maintained dialogues with various stakeholders in West Asia as well as in eastern Europe. Mr. Jaishankar will host Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba who is scheduled to arrive here later this week. He said that Indians have been talking to Russia “bluntly” and said, “Real life has a whole lot of complexities.” During his visit to Singapore two days earlier, Mr. Jaishankar had referred to RussiaIndia relation as one marked by “positive relationship”.