Israeli opposition stages walkout during Narendra Modi's Knesset visit

Israeli opposition walked out from Knesset ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and parliament speaker Amir Ohana's speech, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Knesset. However, opposition leader Yair Lapid re-entered the Parliament following Netanyahu’s speech, welcomed Prime Minister Modi and assured him it had “nothing to do with you”.

The opposition leader, after walking out of the Parliament, issued a statement. “We will only return for the Indian prime minister’s speech to respect the alliance between the countries and express our appreciation for Prime Minister Modi’s standing by Israel,” read the statement. Israeli opposition, including Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beiteinu, has staged the walkout to protest the exclusion of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit from the session, which they viewed as a snub to the judiciary.

To avoid the embarrassment of having empty seats on an international broadcast, the Knesset sent an email blast to all former legislators. This also included a few specific former members of the Knesset whom the speaker wanted to invite.

During the visit, PM Modi was conferred with the Speaker of the Knesset Medal, the highest honour of the Israeli Parliament. “The entire State of Israel is filled with admiration for your leadership, for your friendship, for the fact that you were here for us in our time of trouble, and for the alliance, the eternal alliance between our two states," he told Modi.

PM Modi's visit to Israel was met with severe criticism from the West Asian media. His visit is seen as “strategic legitimising” of the “genocide” in Gaza. India has abandoned its historical "anti-colonial" moral standing. It is decoupling itself from Palestine and is failing to confront Israel on the issues of international law and human rights. Both Modi's India and Netanyahu's Israel have a shared friendship through Islamophobia and a common enemy of Islamic terrorism. Modi condemned the October 7 attack as “barbaric”, but did not mention the historical exploitation and injustice against the Palestinian in their homeland.