New Delhi: The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Tuesday and gave him an update on the horrific confrontation between Israel and Hamas, which has claimed more than 1,600 lives.
PM Modi responded,” The people of India stand firmly with Israel in such a crisis.” His statement shows a transformed bilateral relationship between India and Israel.
India has historically backed the Palestinian cause and moved closer to Israel in recent years. India will now have to navigate a challenging diplomatic situation since it prepared to take on a more significant role in the Middle East before the war broke out.
Defense Ties Between India and Israel:
India is Israel’s third-largest trading partner in Asia and tenth-largest trading partner globally as of 2019; bilateral commerce, excluding military supplies, is estimated to be worth US$6.3 billion. Under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, relations improved even further, and India refrained from voting against Israel on several UN resolutions. As of 2015, negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral free-trade agreement between the two nations are ongoing, focusing on industries including information technology, biotechnology, and agriculture.
Defending and securing Israel provides India with essential defense technologies. The military forces frequently swap personnel. The Chief of Air Staff of India, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, last traveled to Israel for the multilateral conference of Air Chiefs and commanders from May 22–24, 2018.
As COSC Chairman, Admiral Sunil Lanba of the Naval Staff visited Israel in June 2017. In July 2018, the JWG on Defense convened its final discussions at the Defence Secretary level in New Delhi. Three Indian naval ships from the Western Fleet paid a port call at Haifa in May 2017 for their routine goodwill visits.
In September 2018, the naval training ship INS Tarangini docked at Haifa. Security-related topics are cooperative; a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism is one example.
India and Israel inked three significant agreements in February 2014, including protecting classified information, cooperation in homeland security, and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. The agreement on homeland security has a Joint Steering Committee supported by thematic Joint Working Groups.
India and Israel have come a long way since they first forged ties in 1992. Both nations increased their exchanges in various fields, including considerable people-to-people contact, motivated by the shared danger perception of being surrounded by hostile neighbors. The anchor for this bilateral conversation served as the partnership in defense and security. This cooperation was solidified during the Kargil War in 1999 when Israel was among the few nations to give India direct military support. These strong linkages existed before the much later development of India-US defense collaboration.
Also, sources reveal that even though Israel and India did not have official relations, New Delhi secretly sought and procured armaments from Tel Aviv as it prepared to wage war with Pakistan in 1971.
However, the conversation between PM Modi and Mr Netanyahu also comes in the backdrop of Palestine’s envoy saying that India is a friend of Israel and Palestine. It must step in to help resolve the crisis.
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