Future of Prime Minister’s Visit to Israel

Mrs. Neena Gopal, the Editor of Deccan Chronicle had highlighted few important insights below on the Prime Minister’s upcoming visit to Israel. Narendra Modi has planned a visit to the region in July 2017; the first time an Indian Prime Minister is visiting the Jewish state.

India-Israel Relations

The two countries share an extensive economic, strategic and military relationship. India is the largest buyer of defense and military equipment from Israel. Since 2014, India has been the third largest trade partner for Israel.

During 1950s to 1990s, the relationships between the two countries were informal in nature. India’s opposition to formal diplomatic relations with Israel was due to domestic and foreign considerations. India’s support for the ‘Palestine Liberation Organization’ was a factor in this regard.

Although, there were no formal relations for decades, recent meetings and cooperation between the two have boosted ties, especially with Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister.

Since 2014, many diplomatic visits have taken place; Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Israel in 2014 without visiting Palestine, breaking from convention. In 2015, India’s President, Pranab Mukherjee visited Israel. In 2016, the Indian Minister of Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh visited Israel to bolster India-Israel agricultural ties.

India to Buy 8000 Spike Missiles from Israel

India signed a 2 billion dollar defense deal with Israel, for the supply India of Spike anti-tank missile & a naval weapon air defense system. The deal will be signed at the time of Prime Minister’s visit to Tel Aviv, Israel. 

The deal for ‘Spike anti-tank missile’ for India’s army and ‘Barak 8 missile’ for the navy are expected to be finalized within two months time, the deal is worth 1.5 billion. The 8000 missiles are expected to reach India after two years, after signing the contract. This is part of Modi’s $250 billion plan to modernized the armed forces by 2025, with brewing tensions from its neighbors, China and Pakistan.

According to the Vice-President of Aerospace and Defense at Ernst & Young, India-Israel relations have been strong but have never been openly publicized. The Prime Minister’s expected visit suggests that India plans to extend its relation further than just buying military hardware from Israel.

Assessment

India’s government plans to improve its relation with Israel with aims to strengthen and advance its defense sector. This is largely because of the growth in terrorism and also to counter ties between China and Pakistan. This could be seen as Modi’s strategy for ensuring deeper relations with United States, given the US-Israel friendship.

A question was asked to Mrs. Gopal, “Is the ‘Modi factor’ camouflaging what’s really happening behind the upcoming Prime Minister’s visit to Israel? Could it be more than a ‘friendly’ visit?”

Mrs. Neena Gopal answered saying, “Prime Minister Modi heads a very right wing party, therefore, the synergy between Israel and BJP has always been there. It was the connections between Israel and India that allowed us to block the Pakistanis when they took over Kargil. They supplied us with the kind of equipment- body imaging and heat imaging kind of a missile which stopped the Pakistani in Kargil and that’s how we won Kargil from Pakistan. The India-Israel relation is a factor that has benefitted India many times over and the defense relationship that we share. But we are also not going to abandon the Palestinians.