Why India's Recognition of Israel Took Until 1950

The Congress Inheritance and the Federal Plan (1920s to November 1947)

India's view of Palestine took shape long before independence. During the Khilafat movement of the early 1920s, the Indian National Congress took up a pan-Islamic cause to draw Muslims into the national struggle, and Palestine entered Indian politics as part of that agenda. In the 1930s the question became a contest between the Congress and the Muslim League for Muslim support. The Congress faced a logical bind. If it accepted that Jews formed a nation entitled to a state, it could not easily reject the League's claim that Indian Muslims formed one too [1]. India also had no history of antisemitism and only a small Jewish community, so few Indian leaders knew the Zionist case closely [1]. This inheritance shaped India's work on the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) in 1947. On 23 August 1947, eight days after India's own independence, Nehru cabled the Indian member, Sir Abdur Rahman. He rejected the Arab demand for a single unitary state as impractical. He instructed Rahman to back a federal solution that gave substantial autonomy to both Jewish and Arab provinces under a central authority [2]. India, Iran and Yugoslavia then presented a minority plan for a federal Palestine, while seven members backed partition. Neither the Jewish nor the Arab side accepted the federal plan [1]. On 29 November 1947 the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, the partition plan, by 33 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions [3]. India and Pakistan both voted against it [1]. The Congress had accepted partition at home as the price of freedom but opposed it for Palestine [1]. The federal plan provided for a Jewish state with its own government inside a federation. It did not provide for Jewish sovereignty.

Nehru's Position: Sympathy Without Endorsement (June 1947 to August 1948)

Nehru's private letters show regard for the Jewish people. On 13 June 1947 Albert Einstein wrote asking him to support a Jewish state. Nehru replied on 11 July 1947. He wrote that India had mourned the millions of Jews killed in Nazi Germany and that he had "a very great deal of sympathy for the Jews" [4]. He praised Jewish work in Palestine for raising living standards there. He also asked why that work had not won Arab goodwill, blamed continued British rule for much of the deadlock, and promised to help the Jewish people as far as he could without injuring others. He shared Einstein's letter with Gandhi [4].

Albert Einstein’s letter to Jawaharlal Nehru.

His policy line held through the war of 1948. In a note dated 4 April 1948 he wrote that partition should be avoided and that a federation of autonomous Jewish and Arab units remained the correct approach [5]. In August 1948 he repeated the federal formula in the Constituent Assembly. A member asked whether the government was weighing the feelings of a large section of Indians. Nehru replied that the government had to keep all factors in mind. Another member asked about pro-Arab remarks by India's envoy in Cairo. Nehru answered that India's sympathies had also been with the Jews because of the persecution they had suffered [6]. He told the Assembly that India had turned down an Egyptian request for small arms and was observing strict neutrality under the Security Council truce [6].

Silence and Deferral (May 1948 to May 1949)

On 17 May 1948, the second full working day of the new state, Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett wrote to Nehru asking for recognition. Nehru also held the external affairs portfolio. India did not reply. It met with the same silence the Gaza-based All-Palestine Government's request for recognition in October 1948 [1]. Nehru told the Constituent Assembly that he had not even acknowledged Sharett's message, because an acknowledgement could be read as de facto recognition [6]. The issue reached the cabinet in early 1949. On 29 January 1949 N.V. Gadgil, a Congress minister in Nehru's cabinet, wrote to him about recognising Israel. Nehru replied the next day. He said the matter could be discussed informally in cabinet, but that External Affairs advised waiting. He wrote that recognition so soon after the New Delhi Conference on Indonesia would be harmful and could break up the conference structure [7]. On 4 February 1949 the Egyptian Ambassador, Ismail Kamal Bey, called on Nehru to thank India for withholding recognition. He described recognition by other states at that stage as pressure on the Arab side and almost an unfriendly act [8]. On 11 May 1949 the General Assembly admitted Israel to the United Nations by 37 votes to 12 with 9 abstentions. India voted no, together with Afghanistan, Burma, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen [9]. This remains the only occasion on which India voted against admitting a state to the United Nations [1].

The Domestic Calculus: Muslim Opinion, Pakistan and Kashmir (1948 to 1952)

Nehru set out his reasons most fully in a letter of 5 February 1949 to V.K. Krishna Menon, India's High Commissioner in London. He wrote: "There is little doubt that Israel has come to stay" [10]. He accepted that India would have to recognise the new state in the normal course. He gave four reasons for waiting. Recognition would disrupt the Indonesia conference. It would have a bad effect on Muslims in India. It might hurt India's position on Kashmir. It would worsen relations with Pakistan [10]. He agreed with Menon that the Arab states were unreliable and that India could not expect much from them. Even so, he held that India's foreign policy could not ignore the countries to its west, from Afghanistan onwards [10]. The Kashmir factor was concrete. Nehru had taken the dispute to the UN on 31 December 1947, and India needed Arab votes, or at least Arab neutrality, there [1]. Pakistan courted Arab governments on Palestine from the start. An Israeli diplomat, Eliyahu Sasson, wrote in December 1950 that Pakistan was the "center of gravity" of Indian diplomacy [1]. At home, partition had left India with a large and anxious Muslim minority, and members of the Constituent Assembly raised Muslim sentiment directly in the August 1948 debate [6]. The same calculation outlived recognition. In March 1952 Nehru assured Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Walter Eytan that full relations would follow the general election. Cabinet colleague Maulana Abul Kalam Azad then warned that Pakistan would exploit the step in the Arab world and that Indian Muslims would be alienated, and Nehru deferred it [1].

The Congress Debate and the Voices for Recognition (1947 to 1950)

Support for recognition existed both inside the government and outside it. Within the cabinet, Gadgil raised the question in January 1949 [7]. Krishna Menon pressed the case from London in the same weeks, which prompted Nehru's letter of 5 February [10]. Among officials, Foreign Secretary K.P.S. Menon wrote in February 1950 that non-recognition had become "both anomalous and embarrassing." He noted that Israel was a UN member recognised by many governments, including Muslim-majority Turkey [6]. India's ambassador in Cairo, A.A.A. Fyzee, had urged King Farouk to reach an arrangement with Israel, and in 1950 he advised New Delhi that the moment for recognition had arrived [6]. Outside the Congress, the most vocal support came from the political right. After the partition vote in 1947, Hindu Mahasabha leader V.D. Savarkar issued a statement welcoming it. He wrote that "the Jews will soon recover their national Home in Palestine" [11]. He described Palestine as the Jewish fatherland and holy land, and he pledged Hindu nationalist moral support for the new state [11]. India's Jewish community also spoke. Abraham Barak Salem, a Cochin advocate and freedom fighter, appealed to Nehru in 1949. He later sent a memorandum to President Rajendra Prasad urging diplomatic ties and offering to serve as India's representative in Israel. The memorandum was forwarded to the Foreign Secretary, who took no action [6]. Nehru himself began to move in late 1949. In October 1949 Israel's envoy Eliahu Elath reported that Nehru had discussed Israel with Arab and Muslim envoys in a way that prepared them for eventual recognition. After returning to India, Nehru stated that recognition could not be deferred indefinitely [12].

Recognition and Its Limits (February 1950 to January 1992)

Events in 1950 removed the main obstacles. Turkey had already recognised Israel. Iran followed in March 1950. In April, Jordan's annexation of the West Bank divided the Arab League. Fyzee wrote that League solidarity had broken down, that Arab governments were absorbed in their own affairs, and that better relations with Pakistan reduced the risk of hostile propaganda [6]. On 17 September 1950 the Ministry of External Affairs issued a one-line press release announcing that India had decided to recognise the Government of Israel. The same day it sent its missions in Cairo, Baghdad, Djakarta, Rangoon and New York a note explaining the decision. The note said Israel had come to stay. It compared the step to India's recognition of Communist China, as acceptance of an established fact already accepted by more than 40 states, including Turkey and Iran. It added that India and Israel had worked side by side at the United Nations [6]. Fyzee reported that the Egyptian press carried the news without comment [6]. On 1 October 1950 Nehru explained the decision to India's chief ministers: "We would have done this long ago, because Israel is a fact" [13]. He wrote that India had held back only to avoid offending its friends in the Arab countries, and that recognition meant no particular change in policy [13]. In June 1953 a journalist asked whether India would withdraw recognition. Nehru refused. He said the decision had followed years of full consideration and matched the uniform policy India applied to China and other states [14]. Recognition did not bring an exchange of embassies. India kept a policy of recognition without relations until 29 January 1992, when Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao announced full diplomatic relations [1].

In One Paragraph

India recognised Israel on 17 September 1950, more than two years after Israel's founding. By February 1949 Nehru had privately accepted that Israel had come to stay. He delayed recognition because of the Congress party's prewar commitment to an Arab-majority Palestine, fear of unsettling Indian Muslims after partition, the need for Arab support over Kashmir and against Pakistan, and the timing of India's diplomacy on Indonesia. Cabinet minister N.V. Gadgil, diplomats K.P.S. Menon and A.A.A. Fyzee, V.K. Krishna Menon, the Hindu Mahasabha under V.D. Savarkar, and Indian Jewish voices such as Abraham Barak Salem argued for recognition. It came after Turkey and Iran recognised Israel and Arab unity weakened. Nehru then wrote that India would have acted long before but for Arab sentiment. Full diplomatic relations waited until 29 January 1992.

Sources

1. P. R. Kumaraswamy, "Shifting Sands of Time: India's Approach toward Israel," Strategic Assessment, Research Forum (Tel Aviv: Institute for National Security Studies, July 2020), sections "The Process," "Neglect of India," "The Pakistan Factor," and "Post-1992,"https://www.inss.org.il/strategic_assessment/shifting-sands-of-time-indias-approach-toward-israel/.
2. Jawaharlal Nehru, "Cable to Abdur Rahman," 23 August 1947, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 4 (New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund), 636, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/cable-to-abdur-rahman-23-august-1947-5e3x67.
3. United Nations General Assembly. "Future Government of Palestine," Resolution 181(II)A, 128th plenary meeting, 29 November 1947, voting record, UN Digital Library,https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/667160.
4. Jawaharlal Nehru to Albert Einstein, 11 July 1947, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 3, 393–396, J.N. Papers, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/to-albert-einstein-11-july-1947-v95lwj.
5. Jawaharlal Nehru, "Trouble in Palestine," note, 4 April 1948, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 5, paras. 3–4, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/trouble-in-palestine-4-april-1948-9jweg1.
6. Ajay Kamalakaran, "Why India Waited Two Years before Recognising Israel," Scroll.in, 14 February 2026,https://scroll.in/magazine/1090667/why-india-waited-two-years-before-recognising-israel.
7. Jawaharlal Nehru to N.V. Gadgil, 30 January 1949, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 9, 478, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/to-n-v-gadgil-30-january-1949-272nk.
8. Jawaharlal Nehru, "Recognition of Israel," note, 4 February 1949, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 9, 478–479, originally File No. 46(15)-AWT/48, Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, National Archives of India, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/recognition-of-israel-4-february-1949-4pl7w.
9. United Nations General Assembly, "Admission of Israel to Membership in the United Nations," Resolution 273(III), 207th plenary meeting, 11 May 1949, voting record, UN Digital Library,https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/671023.
10. Jawaharlal Nehru to V.K. Krishna Menon, 5 February 1949, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 9, 479–480, V.K. Krishna Menon Papers, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/to-v-k-krishna-menon-5-february-1949-gqw51.
11. Abdulla Moaswes, "Global Hindutva and the Palestinian Cause," ReOrient 8, no. 2 (2024): 239–261, section "Early Hindu Nationalist Views on Palestine,"https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/reorient.8.2.0239.
12. P. R. Kumaraswamy, "India's Recognition of Israel, September 1950," Middle Eastern Studies 31, no. 1 (1995): 124–138,https://www.jstor.org/stable/4283702. Paywalled. Abstract also available athttps://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA16630851&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00263206&p=AONE&sw=w.
13. Jawaharlal Nehru, "Letters to Chief Ministers V," 1 October 1950, para. 20, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 15, pt. 1, 543–551, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/letters-to-chief-ministers-v-1-october-1950-2vvq4e.
14. Jawaharlal Nehru, "Recognition of Israel," press conference, 25 June 1953, in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd ser., vol. 22, 526, The Nehru Archive,https://nehruarchive.in/documents/recognition-of-israel-25-june-1953-e6g16. ** **