Since independence, up until 1991, India had never attempted to establish formal diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. Not that it did not want to, but it was mainly because of the popular Indian sentiment that it should not keep connections or do any business with the nation that ostracises and conducts atrocities against Palestinian Muslims. And also, because certain sections of the society did not want the Indian state to recognise Israel as a separate entity in itself. Is appeasing and pacifying the heated sentiments of the people considered the deciding factor in foreign policy engagements of a nation?