Israel removes India map wrongly depicting J&K from website after backlash

Israeli ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, wrote that the incorrect map depicting Jammu and Kashmir was the website editor's mistake.

In Short

• Map incorrectly depicted a part of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan
• Ambassador of Israel to India called it website editor's mistake
• Development comes as Israel battles multi-front war in Middle East

Israel took down a map of India that incorrectly depicted a part of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan on the country's official website following a massive backlash on social media. Reuven Azar, ambassador of Israel to India, said the map was taken down and called it the website editor's mistake.

The issue was first pointed out by a user on X. "India stands with Israel. But does Israel stand with India? Note the map of India (pay attention to Jammu and Kashmir) on Israel's official website," the user wrote.

Reacting to the tweet, Reuven Azar said, "Website editor's mistake. Thank you for noticing. Was taken down."

India has always maintained that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir would always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.

The development comes as Israel battles a multi-front war in the Middle East following the killing of the secretive Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrullah last week. Over 1,000 people have been killed and over a million displaced as Israel shifted the focus of its war from Gaza to Lebanon, where it has attacked Hezbollah strongholds.

The crisis escalated after Iran launched a barrage of 200 missiles towards Israel on Tuesday, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to threaten retaliatory strikes.

Recently, Netanyahu, while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), displayed two maps, showing a group of countries as "The Curse" and another group as "The Blessing".

Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, painted in black, were shown as "The Curse". The other map showed Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and India painted in green. These countries were termed "The Blessing".

Interestingly, both the maps showed Palestinian territories -- the West Bank and Gaza -- as part of Israel. The Golan Heights region in Syria was also shown as being part of Israel.