BRICS Summit Declaration Condemns Israel, Silent on Ukraine — SkimNews
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- India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi and secured unanimous endorsement of a joint declaration from all member states — a reversal from the May foreign ministers' meeting, where disputes between India, the UAE, and Iran over Israel/US-Iran language had blocked consensus.
- The declaration condemned US unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures, as well as secondary sanctions imposed outside UNSC authority, characterizing them as violations of WTO rules and harmful to Global South development, health, and food security (paragraphs 21-22).
- Russia secured the omission of any reference to its war in Ukraine, while India obtained condemnation of cross-border terrorism and a specific reference to the April 22, 2025 attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people (paragraph 40).
- The declaration condemned "deliberate attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities operating under full IAEA safeguards" — language read as affirming the protected status of Iran's nuclear infrastructure — while declining to name the US or Israel as the attackers (paragraphs 28-29).
- On Palestine and Lebanon, the declaration condemned forced displacement, starvation as a method of warfare, and attacks on civilians; supported full Palestinian UN membership and a sovereign Palestinian state within 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as capital; and called on Israel to withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory while denouncing attacks on UNIFIL personnel (paragraphs 30-36).
- Summit optics signaled a diplomatic pivot: Modi walked hand-in-hand with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the red carpet, and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed met Pezeshkian despite the absence of UAE ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan — a contrast to the UAE's May effort to block Israel-critical language.
- Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi held a meeting with three Kashmiri religious leaders — Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi, and Molvi Imran Raza Ansari — a politically sensitive engagement at an India-hosted summit that underscored BRICS' rejection of Western efforts to isolate Iran and Russia.
Why it matters: India brokered consensus among geopolitical rivals — including the UAE and Iran, described in the article as states 'at war with one another' — to produce a declaration harshly criticizing Israel while omitting Ukraine entirely. The visible Modi-Pezeshkian embrace and the UAE's diplomatic engagement with Iran signal both countries have recalibrated away from earlier alignment with Israel and the US.
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