India's vote at ECOSOC should not be construed as being against Palestinian cause

India on Thursday said that voting in favour of Israel's decision that objected to granting consultative status to a Palestinian group at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) should not be construed as being against the Palestinian cause. "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," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.

"India's vote on June 6 should not in any way be construed as a vote against the Palestinian cause," Kumar added. On June 6, India voted in favour of Israel in the ECOSOC denying providing an observer status to the Palestinian non-governmental organisation 'Shahed', especially after the Jewish nation stressed that the organisation had not disclosed its ties with Hamas.

The spokesperson said that the proposal was submitted by Israel "based on information that the NGO allegedly has close contacts with terrorist organisations." Almost a week after the June 6 vote, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Twitter saying, "Thank you @NarendraModi, thank you India, for your support and for standing with Israel at the UN."