The rejection Monday by the new government in India of a resolution to condemn Israel’s military attacks in Gaza is a moment to savor. Those of us of a certain age can remember the days when India, spouting rhetoric of “non-aligned” nations, could be counted on to lean to the Soviet Union and noise up all kinds of support for the cause of the Palestinian Arabs. Its founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, once proclaimed that “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense as England belongs to English and France to the French.”

Nowadays it’s singing a different tune. “In a debate that lasted nearly three hours,” the Wall Street Journal reports, “opposition leaders pressed the Indian Parliament to pass a strongly-worded resolution denouncing Israel for what some members described as the ‘disproportionate’ and ‘indiscriminate’ use of ‘brute force’ in Gaza that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians in recent weeks.” But the foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, rejected the scheme.

She suggested that India “fully supports” the Palestinian cause but, it seems, only up to a point. It intends to maintain its ties with the Jewish state. She recommended the Palestinians take another look at the cease-fire Hamas rejected. The Journal reported that the ghastly line from Gandhi was quoted in the debate. But ties between Israel and India have grown stronger, “particularly,” the Journal noted, “in the trade of military equipment, making Tel Aviv one of the top suppliers of arms to India, alongside Russia and the United States.”

The Journal quoted a leader of the Communist Party of India as saying in the debate that India must use not only its “moral force” to lean on Israel, but also suspend all arms deals “to send a strong message.” It quoted a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as saying that India instead ought to look to its national interests. Demonstrations are already turning violent in the Muslim area of Kashmir, where at least one person has been killed in protests against Israel. It looks like the government will stand firm.

All of which adds up to an important new development for those of us who are rooting for Israel’s success. India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, has pursued a pro-Israel course when he was governor of Gujarat, a state that had emerged as an economic success story using the same kind of liberal, free-market principles that Israel has been using of late. The editor of the Sun, writing in Haaretz, called Mr. Modi’s election, “an advent of enormous potential consequence.” It looks like the Gaza war is underlining the point.