The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking directions to stop military exports from India to Israel amid Tel Aviv’s war on Gaza.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said that the court did not have the jurisdiction to pass such orders, as such matters were within the domain of foreign policy.
The petition was filed by 11 persons including former civil servants Ashok Kumar Sharma and Meena Gupta, and activists Harsh Mander, Jean Drèze and Nikhil Dey, Live Law reported.
Prashant Bhushan, the counsel for the petitioners, cited judgements by the International Court of Justice directing Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip. He argued that India is bound by international treaties seeking to ban the supply of military weapons to states that have engaged in war crimes or genocide.
Bhushan argued that continuing exports would “constitute action complicit against the Genocide Convention and other international obligations which India has assumed”.
The court, however, said in its judgement on Monday that the “self-imposed restraint on courts entering into areas of foreign policy” was grounded in sound rationale.
Chandrachud verbally posed a hypothetical question as to whether the court could direct the government to stop importing oil from Russia on account of the war in Ukraine, according to Live Law.
“See Bangladesh too, there are disturbances there,” the chief justice said. “What should be the degree of economic engagement with that country, it is a matter of foreign policy.”
Bhushan argued that the case of Israel was different as several international entities had found that it was committing genocide.
Pardiwala, however, said that several Indian companies may have contracts with Israeli entities, and if the court were to ban military exports, it could lead to proceedings against them for breach of contract.
The bench said in its judgement that the fallout of such breaches of contract “cannot be appropriately assessed by this Court and would lay open Indian companies which have firm commitments to proceedings for damages which may affect their own financial viability”.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then. The attacks have killed more than 40 thousand persons, including 16,500 children.
In February, reports had claimed that New Delhi was supplying Tel Aviv with drones manufactured in Hyderabad as part of a joint venture between Israel’s Elbit Systems and the Adani Group.
India has neither confirmed nor denied supplying weapons to Israel.
India reiterates call for ceasefire
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday reiterated India’s position calling for a ceasefire “as soon as possible” in Gaza.
Addressing the first India-Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers in Riyadh, the minister said: “The current situation in Gaza is now understandably our foremost concern…While we condemn acts of terrorism and hostage taking, we are deeply pained by the continuing death of innocent civilians. Any response must take into account the principles of humanitarian law.”
Jaishankar’s statement was on similar lines as India’s stand at the United Nations on July 18, when it had called for an immediate and complete ceasefire in Gaza. India had also called for all hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas to be unconditionally released.
Israeli strike kills 40
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Tuesday that a fresh Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the southern part of the territory resulted in 40 deaths and 60 injuries, reported AFP. Another fifteen persons were said to be missing.
The strike took place in the Al-Mawasi area of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Israel had designated the area as a safe zone shortly after the war broke out.
The Israel Defense Force claimed that the strike was aimed at “several terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis”. It said that among those struck were Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’ aerial unit in Gaza; Osama Tabesh, the head of the militant group’s Observation and Targets Department; and Ayman Mabhouh, whom Israel described as a “senior Hamas terrorist”.
However, Hamas described as a “blatant lie” the claim that any of its fighters were present at the site of the Israeli strike.
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