Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers, upon completing their service in the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, need somewhere to rest, heal, and decompress after committing unconscionable violence. For this purpose, they have turned to South Asian coastal cities, visiting places like India and Sri Lanka on state-sanctioned holidays.
In Goa, India, Hebrew signs hang on shop fronts, some reading advertisements for laundry services and some honouring the deaths of IDF soldiers. Since the 1990s, an estimated 80, 000 Israeli soldiers have visited India, frequenting destinations like Kasol, Dharamkot, Pushkar, and Goa – a trail so frequented that it has come to be known as the ‘Hummus Trail’. In these cities, reports have emerged of ‘wellness retreats’ opening for the specific customer base of “traumatised” IDF soldiers: “therapy” sessions in the form of loud screaming take place , disrupting locals’ lives, scaring children, and making for a grim atmosphere. The Israelis leading these resorts respond to locals’ complaints with comments like “Indians are not allowed in that space,” despite operating in India.
India’s economic ties with Israel are strong. Amnesty International’s “Made in India: the Supply of Weapons and Ammunition to Israel” report that was published in July this year found that India continues to export ammunition, weapons parts and accessories to Israeli forces, with at least 2596 shipments of weapons to Israel made since October 7, 2023.
India, much like Israel, has been a demonstrably Islamophobic state, treating its Muslim minority despicably with mass violence and pogroms being carried out against the Muslim polity. Despite having shown staunch support for Palestine historically , since the 1990s, India has adopted a pro-Israel stance that has been affiliated with the rise of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In neighbouring Sri Lanka, Israeli flags fly high in businesses and shop fronts in coastal cities in the island like Arugam Bay. Israeli tourists without work visas who are overstaying their tourist visas and opening businesses illegally are vitiating the livelihoods of locals by pushing locals out of tourism-centric businesses. In patronising and supporting their own businesses , Israelis are effectively creating a vacuum which locals are exempted from. In August this year, around 300 locals demanded the closure of a Chabad House in Hiriketiya, another coastal city, that officials claim was opened without the necessary permits. In addition to taking jobs from locals and operating businesses illegally, Israelis have also discriminated against locals and continue to threaten and intimidate Sri Lankans.
Just this month, a viral video posted on Instagram by @eye.on.palestine shows an Israeli tourist violently pushing off a boat operator into the sea . The tourists allegedly claimed “it was just a joke”, they “didn’t mean to be mean”, and most importantly, that they are “good kids” about to enlist in the IDF next month, and therefore, “don’t deserve this hate”.
In the coastal town of Hiriketiya, reports have emerged of Israeli tourists tearing down a Palestinian flag displayed by a Sri Lankan business owner , returning shamelessly to confront the business owner after stripping the Palestinian flag. Upon reporting to the local police, the business owner was instructed to remove the Palestinian flag with no addressal made of the harassment perpetrated the Israeli tourists.
Sri Lanka has historically been a pro-Palestine nation, with Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike – the first female prime minister in the world – closing the Israeli embassy in Colombo in the 1970s and suspending diplomatic relations between the two nations. Sri Lanka’s ties with Israel began deepening most during the 30-year long civil war, during which the Sri Lankan government imported much of its weapons from Israel .
Despite strong opposition against relations between Sri Lanka and Israel relations from local activists in Sri Lanka in the form of protests and performances , the Sri Lankan government sits in limbo. Despite officially supporting a two-state solution, it continues maintaining relations with Israel, not least because of the enticing job opportunities promised by Israel to Sri Lankan workers.
Israeli tourists have also ravaged countries like Thailand, with locals protesting their government allowing Israeli soldiers to vacation in the country: “ Thailand is not and cannot be a safe haven for Israel soldiers who have committed despicable crimes ”.
To understand the Palestinian struggle against the genocidal state of Israel is to recognize that it is not an isolated struggle. To disaffiliate oneself from the Palestinian struggle is to presume that the genocide committed by Israel is a distant dystopia, an unreality that affects only Palestinians. What current events in Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand demonstrate is the exact opposite: colonial entitlement to place is far-reaching. Violence, be it in the form of genocide, economic oppression, physical assault, or racial segregation, is the primary and primitive motive of the coloniser.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.
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