And Azar didn’t stop there, adding a third incredible claim, that “Gaza population has grown 450 [per cent] in the last 50 years, no genocide there”.

Notably, Gaza’s statistics agency claims the population has fallen by 6 per cent during this latest war. The World Population Review, meanwhile, shows an annual growth rate of 2.84 per cent. The balance is clearly, then, in the negative as of this conflict since 7 October 2023, the date of the Hamas incursion into Israel.

Be that as it may, Congress leadership took immediate issue with both the tone and content of Azar’s message to Gandhi Vadra.

Amongst the first to respond was Pawan Khera, media and publicity chair of the AICC, saying, “That the ambassador of a state accused of genocide worldwide would target a sitting Member of the Indian Parliament is both unprecedented and intolerable. It is a direct affront to the dignity of Indian democracy.”