India's vote in favour of Israel at ECOSOC is not against Palestinian cause: MEA

"India’s vote on June 6 should not in any way be construed as a vote against the Palestinian cause," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters here.

On June 6 India had voted "in favour of proposal" submitted by Israel at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN for further scrutiny by the Committee on NGOs of the application from an NGO ‘Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness)’ requesting consultative status.

"The proposal was submitted by Israel based on information that the NGO allegedly has close contacts with terrorist organizations. Our vote in favour of the proposal is in line with India’s position on greater scrutiny by the NGO Committee of the consultative status applications for possible terrorist linkages and to screen the NGO applications with the sanctions list of the UN Security Council before granting them ECOSOC status," he said.

Israel has formally thanked India for its crucial vote at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation named ‘Shahed’.

"Thank you India for standing with Israel in UN and rejecting the request of terrorist organization 'Shahed' to obtain the status of an observer in UN," tweeted Deputy Chief of mission at the Israel embassy in Delhi Maya Kadosh.

"Together we (India and Israel) will continue to act against terrorist organizations that intend to harm," she further wrote.

This voting on June 6 has been a rare occasion when India has voted in favour of Israel vis-a-vis on a matter involving Palestine. Media reports said following the diplomatic efforts by Israel led by its Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, 28 out of 48 countries in the UN’s Economic and Social Council objected to granting the special status to the organisation.

Besides India, among the countries that voted in favor of Israel are Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.

However, the countries that voted against include Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Egypt, Iran, Morocco and Yemen.

On June 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the crucial vote at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation named ‘Shahed’.

"Thank you Narendra Modi, thank you India, for your support and for standing with Israel at the UN," Netanyahu had tweeted.