There are no doubts about President Pranab Mukherjee's tactful politicking skills. You don't manage to be considered untrustworthy by the Nehru-Gandhi family and yet somehow become the president of the country without being good at tact. Which makes him the ideal person to be India's first head of state visiting both Israel and Palestine, where he has been over the last two days. Yet there is occasionally one liability with Mukherjee: his accent.

In an address to  Israel's Parliament on Wednesday, Mukherjee tried to point to the cultural contacts between the two countries. "I am told that Hebrew is spoken in some villages in northern India, whose populations also enjoy hummus," the president told the Knesset. Except, according to reporters who were there, it sounded like Mukherjee had said that Indians "enjoy Hamas," the Palestinian organisation that runs Gaza and has been designated a terrorist outfit by a number of countries.

It wasn't a major gaffe, even though apparently Israeli Members of Parliament looked surprised, yet it was significant for another reason altogether: An accidental mention of Hamas turned out to be the only reference to Palestine in his entire Knesset speech.

Over the course of his address to Israeli lawmakers, Mukherjee covered a lot of ground. He spoke of how India has been a home to persecuted Jews and thanked Tel Aviv for rushing critical defence supplies to India in 1999. But he didn't even come close to acknowledging the Palestinian question. The only thing in his speech that could be a reference to concerns about Israel's occupation, was in the section regarding the United Nations.
"India has been a strong voice of developing countries in the UN and other multilateral organisations. India believes that there is no better option than to resolve issues through negotiations and peaceful dialogue. We see that the administrative architecture of international bodies is not effective enough in enforcing their decisions."

This isn't entirely surprising, of course. New Delhi's relationship with Tel Aviv continues to grow massively, especially as Israel becomes a big  source of arms and defence equipment for India. Moreover, New Delhi has never sought to spread the idea that third-party nations should be commenting on the troubles of others, because of its own Kashmir problem, and it's highly undiplomatic to respond to an invitation to address a country's Parliament by criticising that state.

Yet it also stands in stark contrast to Mukherjee's words from the previous day, at the state banquet hosted for him by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
"India has always stood beside Palestine. India's policy on Palestine has three core dimensions: solidarity with the Palestinian people; support to the Palestinian cause; and, partnership in Palestine's nation and capacity building efforts. The Indian leadership, across the political spectrum, remains unwavering and steadfast in its support for the Palestinian cause."

Mukherjee reiterated what has been India's official position for decades now and even expressed concern about the "stalled peace process." He said New Delhi supports a negotiated resolution, resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital." "

In another speech, accepting an honorary degree at Al Quds University, Mukherjee even pointed out that it had voted in the United Nations against Israel's construction of a border wall and insisted, "India shares the perception that the Palestinian issue is at the center of Arab-Israeli conflict."

This approach has come into doubt with the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, with its close ties to Tel Aviv and insistence on an even tighter embrace on defence issues. In July this year, India for the first time abstained from voting on a Palestinian resolution at the UN, based on a technicality, prompting suggestions that New Delhi might be considering a change in its stance, something the government has denied. With Modi expected to visit soon after Mukherjee though, it's clear that the relationship is evolving.