The Israeli strike on Iranian soil didn’t just hit a few silos; it blew open a decades-long intelligence alliance buried deep within Middle Eastern infrastructure.
For over 25 years, Mossad and RAW, Israel and India’s intelligence agencies, have quietly operated in tandem, embedding assets, infiltrating systems and building invisible scaffolding beneath Arab regimes that never saw it coming.
The recent conflict has acted like ultraviolet light over invisible ink. It has revealed covert alliances and exposed deep vulnerabilities across Middle Eastern systems. What’s most damning is not just that India was complicit, but that Arab regimes, perhaps unknowingly ended up facilitating it. Gulf states, obsessed with efficiency and reliant on outsourced manpower, welcomed Indian consultants, technicians and specialists into sensitive sectors: ports, telecom, defence systems and IT networks. But not all Indians came merely to work.
The Qatar case, where eight former Indian Navy officers were sentenced to death for spying on Qatar’s submarine programme for Israel, was a blaring red siren. Modi’s desperate backchanneling to secure their release under global pressure should have been a turning point. It wasn’t. And Qatar wasn’t an isolated incident. India’s covert adventurism has crossed continents.
In 2023, former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau openly accused India’s government, RAW specifically, of orchestrating the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh activist, on Canadian soil. Not speculation. Not hearsay. But intelligence-backed evidence shared by the Five Eyes alliance.
India, instead of cooperating, responded with defiance. It retaliated by expelling Canadian diplomats and launching an aggressive diplomatic counter-offensive.
This incident wasn’t just about Sikh separatism. It was a warning shot. It was proof that Modi’s India feels emboldened to act far beyond its borders, even in Western democracies.
If India is willing to carry out covert killings in Canada, it’s not far-fetched to believe similar operations are already underway across the Gulf.
Remember the ‘Pager Explosions’ in Lebanon in September 2024? The Indian army chief called it “a masterstroke”. Perhaps because the entire logistics chain was handled by Indian agents. Another quiet op dressed in civilian clothing.
Even as India openly backs Israel’s assault on Gaza and lends diplomatic and strategic support to Israel’s confrontation with Iran, Arab countries continue to hire and empower Indian manpower across critical sectors.
The Trojan horse still stands inside the gates. This negligence is dangerous. And it isn’t just the Middle East that should be alarmed. It has also infiltrated Western capitals, particularly Washington DC and Silicon Valley.
In Silicon Valley, Indian-origin executives now dominate the commanding heights of the tech world. That alone is not a crime. But when technological leadership overlaps with foreign allegiance, to a regime increasingly aligned with occupation, apartheid, and cross-border assassinations, then it becomes a matter of national security.
More concerning is the growing number of Indian-origin staffers on Capitol Hill. With dozens of legislative aides, policy analysts and executive branch consultants of Indian influence in US policymaking, the influence is at an all-time high.
On Capitol Hill, Indian-origin aides and advisors have created one of the most powerful lobbying machines in Washington. The Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans now matches the Israeli lobby in influence. And it pushes the same agenda: more weapons, more wars and total silence on Muslim suffering. And where does this influence go? Increasingly, it is being steered to support India’s global agenda, especially its alignment with Israel and its hostility towards pan-Islamic movements and governments.
Some will dismiss this as paranoia or prejudice. It is not. I am not suggesting that a person’s ethnicity alone determines their loyalty. But when entire power centres in tech, defence and policy are dominated by individuals from a nation openly aligned with military aggression and proven espionage, scrutiny is not racism. It is national security.
The Middle East learned this the hard way. Or at least, it should have. The Gulf’s dependence on Indian manpower and services has created vulnerabilities now impossible to ignore. Telecom networks managed by Indian companies. Port terminals operated by Indian engineers. Security systems maintained by Indian subcontractors.
These are not benign arrangements in a world where digital infrastructure equals sovereignty. The Indian espionage network in Iran should serve as a wake-up call for the Muslim World – and the West.
It’s time for a reset. The West, particularly the US, must also confront this dilemma. While Indian talent has powered America’s tech boom, it has also brought New Delhi’s geopolitical agenda into the heart of Washington’s decision-making machinery.
The seeds being planted in policy think tanks, staffer networks and corporate boardrooms are now sprouting in favour of the Indo-Israel agenda, in favour of militarism and increasingly, against the Muslim world. History doesn’t repeat itself. It sneaks in through the gates while the city sleeps.
The Trojan Horse isn’t coming…it’s already inside. Will the Arabs and the West recognise it in time? Or will they wake up only after the city has already burnt.
The writer is a former federal minister.
