152 d omestic politicscautioned his interlocutor that India “must treat the thirty million Mus-
lims most carefully.”^41 One normally does not fi nd such frankness in
domestic Indian discussions on Israel.
A similar account is presented by Eytan following his meeting with
Nehru on March 4, 1952. According to the Israeli diplomat, Nehru frankly
admitted that diffi culties pertaining to personnel and fi nancial con-
straints or problems of Arab reaction were irrelevant. What then was the
problem for normalization? According to Eytan,
[Jawaharlal Nehru] said... that what had held the thing up in the past
was his consideration for India’s Muslims. We [that is, Israel] must
realize he said, that the Indian Muslims had suff ered a great shock by
partition; they were now a minority whose leaders had all abandoned
them for big jobs in Pakistan; and though individual Muslims occu-
pied leading positions in India, the Moslem community as a whole
was depressed and fearful of the future— though less so now than
two or three years ago. The Indian government had always shown
understanding for their delicate position and had not wanted to heap
shock on to shock if it were not absolutely necessary. This was what
had delayed diplomatic relations with Israel in the past, but it was
clear that the positions would now have to be reconsidered.^42Financial considerations and the absence of personnel, according to
Nehru, were secondary to his concern and sensitivities toward India’s
Muslim population and their possible response to normalization.
As the issue of Indian recognition was being raised regularly in the
Constituent Assembly, in February 1950, the Ministry of External Aff airs
prepared a long note explaining the reasons for the delay regarding rec-
ognition. Given the near blackout imposed by the National Archives of
India, this note speaks volumes:
The consensus of opinion expressed by our Missions in Arab coun-
tries, as a result of their conversations with knowledgeable persons
in these countries and as a result of their own study of the question,
is that the recognition of Israel by India would displease the Arabs
and be treated as an unfriendly act and would certainly aggravate our
relations with Pakistan. It has been brought to our notice that Saudi
Arabia would be particularly concerned at our recognition of Israel.
Our missions have, therefore, emphatically advised us against our