New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be starting a two-day trip to Israel from February 25-26. Sources said that the ties between India and Israel will be upgraded to a “special strategic partnership” during PM Modi’s visit. It will mark a “significant leap ahead” similar to Israel’s relations with countries such as the US and Germany, sources said.
‘Rare high-level moment’
Israel is upbeat about the PM Modi’s trip and the Israeli media reflects this. The front page of The Jerusalem Post has highlighted PM Modi’s visit to Israel. It has headlined it “Welcome, Modi” with Namaste written in Hindi and a photo of PM Modi waving, alongside. The report calls the trip as a “rare high-level moment that comes after months of visible movement in the bilateral relationship”. It adds that Israel has treated India as friend for years. “Modi’s visit is the moment to treat India as a top-tier strategic priority. The relationship has trust, history and political chemistry.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen prior to a delegation-level talks, at Hyderabad House, on January 15, 2018 in New Delhi. (Photo by Ajay Aggarwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The Jerusalem Post has also highlighted the Modi Doctrine with the title “New Delhi’s burgeoning partnership with Jerusalem” and done an analysis of “maturing of ties between Israel and India”. It has also carried a report quoting an envoy that Modi’s visit is set to open “new phase” in ties.
The JP Editorial underlines: “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel is nothing short of historic. This year marks a quarter-century of official relations between the countries, though military and technological cooperation stretches back much farther. Yet this is the first time an Indian prime minister will make an official visit to the Jewish state.”
“The trip is exceedingly important for a number of reasons. Depending on which demographer you ask, India is either the world’s most populous country, or second-most, after China. And demographic trends seem to indicate that India will soon surpass China, no matter who you ask.”
The piece adds: “We welcome Prime Minister Modi, join him in celebrating 25 years of diplomatic ties and look forward to a new era of cooperation and innovation in the ties between our countries.”
‘Visit will result in closer economic, diplomatic coop’
The Times of Israel is also extensively covering PM Modi’s official visit to Israel. It said that PM Modi is slated to address the Knesset plenum, becoming the first Indian prime minister to do so. A report of the news outlet highlighted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s remark that PM Modi’s visit will result in closer “economic cooperation, diplomatic cooperation, and security cooperation” with New Delhi, while highlighting cooperation in the fields of “high-tech, in AI and in quantum”.
Netanyahu had also said that Israel “will create an entire system — essentially a kind of hexagon of alliances — around or within the Middle East,” and India will be part of it. A report was headlined — Netanyahu: Modi visit is part of effort to create alliance against radical Sunni, Shiite axes.
Another article said: “This week’s visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel signals the consolidation of a broader regional axis confronting both Shiite and Sunni radicalism across the space stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean — while simultaneously strengthening Europe’s connection to the trade routes envisioned under the IMEC corridor.”
“Taking place amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, and during a particularly sensitive period in the region, the visit underscores India’s commitment to partners with whom it shares deep strategic and geopolitical alignment — both in the near and long term,” it pointed out.
‘No more toe-dipping’
Another news outlet Haaretz carried an article with the headline ‘No More Toe-dipping: Netanyahu to Host India’s Modi for A Strongman Summit in Israel’. The article describes how PM Modi and his Israeli counterpart are two leaders who have weathered global turbulence and used it to their advantage.