RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH (RSS) AND ITS VIEWS ON ISRAEL

The German ambassador’s recent visit to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) office in India made some controversial headlines and generated few curiosities in the Israeli media. A culture of tagging anything related to a non-Muslim (and right-aligned) worldview with words like fascist, racist, militant and even sinister is quite common in the left-oriented media, and Israel is familiar with this. To date, Israel as a nation and some of its key defenders, living or dead (from Ze’ev Jabotinsky to Menachem Begin to current leadership) receive such unwelcoming comments from some groups. Ironically, in India and Israel both, the voices that represent those ideas – which have a long track record of violence, intolerance and domination – feel uncomfortable and often insecure with those ancient philosophies, which promote oneness, openness and universal good.

India and Israel’s relations are blooming, and at this stage, Israel should have clear visibility on one of the most important organizations of India – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has an eternal influence on every aspect of the Indian politics, economy, society and culture. In an era when Westernization became synonymous to progress and Nationalism was seen as a threat to world peace, the rise of RSS and its remarkable growth challenged many popular assumptions.

originally published by The Jerusalem Post Read more…