India's left-wing Muslins are increasingly concerned that the country's growing dependence on Israel for defense items will damage its relations with Arab countries. Israel is the second most important supplier of weapons to Indian, which is Israel's largest defense customer.

Opposition parties, including the Communist party, comprise the Left Front faction that is part of the ruling coalition. They were upset by last month's Israeli-Indian launch of the TecSAR satellite at the same time Israel placed closures on goods and supplies to Gaza. "Communist party general secretary D. Raja commented, "We hold [Israel] responsible for crimes perpetrated on the people of Palestine."