"Cut military ties with Israel"

Progressive parties in India accused the Indian government of “aiding and abetting” Zionist regime in its attacks on Palestine and called for an end to military and security ties with regime during a press conference on Wednesday.

The conference launched a mass signature campaign in parliament to push for cutting all Indo-Israeli military ties.

It was convened only days after major Palestinian civil society networks and the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces appealed to the Indian people and government.

Key figures of five leftist political parties addressed the media, criticizing External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement in Parliament for failing to condemn the actions of Israel.

"If somebody from outside this planet reads this paragraph (in Mukherjee's statement) they would think that there has been an earthquake in Palestine or a plague. The suffering, the misery. Israel is not mentioned," Communist Part of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat commented sarcastically.

Karat added that the government must acknowledge Israeli actions if talk about helping Palestinians is to be taken seriously.