For long the Congress government in an attempt to please the Middle-East nations avoided close contact with Israel. In 1992 the then PM Narasimha Rao decided to have diplomatic relations, but the relationship remained cool, though Mossad began to cooperate with Indian intelligence agency RAW in a clandestine manner. The advent of the BJP, the Hindu revivalist party and narendra modi in 2014 have changed all that, and Modi has met The Israeli PM Netanyahu on the sidelines at the UN. Both are reported to have good chemistry together.
Now Modi will visit Israel in May-June this year.
It will be the first-ever visit by an Indian prime minister to Israel. The decks for the visit are clear, and the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has already visited Israel in October last year. There was also a reciprocal visit by the Israeli president to India. These were the first-ever visits by any head of state of each country.
Israel and India
There is close cooperation between Israel and India in the defense sector. Israel is also planning to manufacture defense equipment in India as per Modi's "make in India" plan. The Israeli have already sold the "Barack" anti-ship missiles to India, and Indian AWACS uses their airborne radar. There is also close cooperation between israeli intelligence Mossad and India.
As both nations face a common danger, the bonds are only likely to get stronger. Israeli intelligence is regularly giving inputs to Indian intelligence about terrorist activities planned against India.
The Indian PM's visit will be a watershed for relations between the two countries. India is facing terror activity in Kashmir by Pakistan and Israel is surrounded by a hostile environment.
A closer Israeli-India relationship is thus inevitable
Last word
The Indian prime minister is a person who thinks of out of box solutions as was seen by his visit to the UAE and getting the crown prince of Abu Dhabi as the chief guest at the Republic day parade. His visit to Israel is to be seen in that light. Israel which has few friends in the world is happy to have a strong relationship with India.
