(Image credits: ANI)
NEW DELHI: Israel has urged India to formally designate Hamas and other groups acting against it as terrorist organisations, saying that New Delhi’s position carries significant weight across South Asia.Senior officials from Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs, speaking in Jerusalem, said they believe India understands the “networks and linkages” behind these organisations. They stressed that Israel had already proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and now expects “reciprocation” from India.“Our request from India is to work hard to sanction and designate these organisations as terrorist groups. Israel designated Lashkar-e-Taiba a couple of years ago, and we would like to see this reciprocated,” one official said, as quoted by ANI.Israel also underlined what it described as strong ties between Hamas and LeT, and warned that Iran’s IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah have increasingly been relying on transnational criminal groups to conduct attacks.“You’re not going to see an Iranian operative act directly in Europe. What you will see is a criminal group — a drug lord, a human trafficker or another network — connected to an Iranian handler who then carries out an attack, as we’ve seen in Scandinavia or in London,” the official said. The remarks came just days after a similar appeal from the Israeli Defence Forces. “It will be a good thing if India did. India and Israel have a common enemy. It will be good to have a clear statement on who we face,” Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, International Spokesperson for the IDF, said in Tel Aviv on December 1.Another official emphasised that even a declaratory move from India would have a “strong global impact”, given the influence India holds in the region. “Neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Maldives ‘look up to India’, and New Delhi’s stance shapes regional responses,” the official said. “It’s not only about freezing assets or banning operatives from entering India. It signals that India has clearly seen what Hamas is doing, and no operative should step on Indian soil,” he added.“We are putting pressure on India to designate Hamas… After having designated Lashkar-e-Taiba, we would like to see the same,” the official said, noting “clear attempts” by Hamas to rebuild its structures and stressing that dismantling them remains central to the next phase of the US-proposed ceasefire.Hamas, founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, is designated a terrorist organisation by the US, UK, Canada and several other countries. India condemned the October 7, 2023, attacks but has not yet listed Hamas under its domestic terrorism laws.