All united for free palestine

India's policy of equidistance between Israel and Palestine faces criticism amid mounting death toll in Gaza

India's opposition parties walked out of the upper house of parliament last week after the government refused to pass a resolution condemning Israel for its invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The government, led by nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), came in for criticism for acting as a "spectator" even as hundreds of Palestinians are being killed in Israeli air, naval, and ground attacks.

But Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said that India's policy on Palestine was a legacy of the past governments.

"There is absolutely no change in India's policy towards Palestine, which is that we fully support the Palestinian cause while maintaining good relations with Israel," the minister said.

The foreign minister has said that India has diplomatic ties with both nations and "any discourteous reference can impact our relations with them". Instead, the government has backed the Egyptian ceasefire offer.

C Uday Bhaskar, a foreign policy expert, said India was "seeking to find a balance between Israel and Palestine" adding that to "condemn would not be the appropriate choice of word".

He said that there was no "major policy shift in not using the word 'condemn'".

"My sense is that even if the UPA [the last Congress-led government] had been in power, India would not have hastily 'condemned' Israel," he told Al Jazeera.