THE date was January 2024, and Israel’s destruction of Gaza was underway for all to see.
asserted
all → see → Gaza
Among the Israeli soldiers demolishing Palestinian homes was a man named Eitan Gilboa.
asserted
man → demolish → homes
In videos obtained by the Hind Rajab Foundation, which analyses publicly available data to identify Israeli soldiers it alleges are implicated in war crimes, Gilboa and his unit can be seen detonating residential buildings and celebrating their destruction.
asserted
Gilboa → obtain → destruction
The foundation alleges that in June of the same year, Gilboa was in Rafah ordering the demolition of multiple buildings and in July was involved in another demolition.
asserted
Gilboa → allege → demolition
It argues that Gilboa’s actions — and the actions of thousands of Israeli soldiers who took part in similar mayhem — are in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
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who → argue → Convention
Where do these Israeli war criminals go to ‘rest’ after destroying the lives of innocent Palestinians?
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criminals → go → Palestinians
Many go to India, following a backpacking route so well known for hosting Israeli soldiers that it is called the ‘Hummus Trail’.
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it → go → soldiers
It stretches through destinations like Kasol and the Parvati Valley, Dharamkot and Tosh in Himachal Pradesh and on to places like Pushkar in Rajasthan, and Goa.
asserted
It → stretch → Rajasthan
Around 80,000 Israeli soldiers are said to travel there annually.
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soldiers → say → ?
This is also where Gilboa went.
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Gilboa → go → ?
The path of guest houses frequented by Israeli travellers is well established and Indians have gone through a lot of trouble to accommodate them.
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Indians → frequent → them
Attractions include raves where visitors can lose themselves in trance music and drugs.
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visitors → include → music
So established is this trade in providing peace and ‘healing’ that one writer called towns on the Hummus Trail the “ashrams for war criminals”.
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writer → provide → criminals
Dharamsala even boasts of a ‘mini-Israel’, where shopkeepers speak Hebrew and serve Israeli food.
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shopkeepers → boast → food
In 2015, a cafe in Kasol was accused of refusing to serve Indian customers while admitting white tourists.
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cafe → accuse → tourists
Israeli soldiers reviled in other parts are welcome in India.
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soldiers → revile → India
The most important thing that India provides is absolution.
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India → provide → that
Here, Israeli soldiers condemned and excoriated in most other parts of the world, are welcome.
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soldiers → condemn → world
They can partake of a commercialised, tourist-friendly mix of ‘healing’ from the trauma of war, without having to take accountability for their actions in Gaza.
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They → partake → Gaza
The Hind Rajab Foundation analysed photographs and other material from his Indian journey and filed complaints with the Himachal police, the home ministry and the Bureau of Immigration seeking his arrest.
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Foundation → analyse → arrest
No arrest followed and Gilboa eventually left India.
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Gilboa → follow → India
India’s ties with Israel run deep and increasingly point to an ideological, economic and military alignment.
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ties → run → alignment
Hindutva’s founder Vinayak Damodar Savarkar praised the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine, describing Palestine as the Jews’ “Fatherland and Holyland”.
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founder → praise → Fatherland
Zionism’s blend of attachment to a motherland and religious attachment to a holy land was precisely what Savarkar wanted for Hindus.
asserted
Savarkar → want → Hindus
India’s Citizenship Amendment Act created an expedited route to citizenship for specified non-Muslim migrants from neighbouring countries while excluding Muslims from its provisions.
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Act → create → provisions
Israel’s 2018 nation-state law similarly privileged Jewish national identity by declaring that the right to national self-determination in Israel is unique to the Jewish people.
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right → privilege → people
In contemporary India, the state supports these Israeli enclaves on the Hummus Trail even as it punishes people for expressing their support for Palestinians.
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it → support → Palestinians
An editorial published in The Edict, a newspaper at Ashoka University, noted how eager Hindutva supporters want to fraternise with Israeli tourists, imagining their shared hostility towards Muslims as a natural alignment, while some Israeli travellers treat brown Indians as lesser locals there to serve them.
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travellers → publish → them
In Pushkar, The Edict reported that the Chabad House has Hebrew signage and a perimeter fence, with Indians facing restrictions on entry while white tourists were admitted with less scrutiny.
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tourists → report → scrutiny
So India welcomes Israeli soldiers on their ‘healing journeys’, including those facing allegations of war crimes.
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India → welcome → crimes
The Indian state — as evidenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s eager embrace of Israeli officials — is keen to emphasise the closeness of the two countries.
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state → evidence → countries
In his speech at the Knesset, Modi even peddled yoga and ayurveda as sources of holistic wellness that Israelis could partake in when they visited India.
uncertain
they → peddle → India
Men like Eitan Gilboa, accused of participating in the destruction of civilian homes, can leave Gaza and seek succour in a new environment where they can forget the cruelties of war.
asserted
they → accuse → war
Hosting those accused of such acts without demanding accountability raises its own moral questions, but this is a truth that India, drowning in its own hatreds, appears unable to acknowledge.
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India → host → hatreds
The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.
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writer → teach → law
The Aporia
