Modi in Israel: Uncovering the Veil

Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel during 4-6 July, 2017. It was a “stand-alone” visit. He did not make a stopover at Ramallah. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not mentioned and the Indian Ambassador to Israel spoke about the successful de-hyphenation of India’s relations with Israel and Palestine. It was seen as suggestive of India’s “pursuit of its relations with the Jewish State on its own merit.” In actuality, it is symbolic of a shift from covert “behind-closed-doors bilateral interactions, anchored in military and intelligence discussions.”

In 1947, India voted against the partition of Palestine. In 1949, she voted against Israel’s admission into the United Nations.  When the UN discussed whether Zionism is racism, India voted in favour of the resolution. India recognized Israel in 1950 but established full diplomatic ties only in 1992 in the post-Cold War era with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a period that coincided with India’s rendezvous with liberalization, globalization and privatization.

In the meantime, Israel became one of India’s biggest foreign arms market from where it procures weapons and equipment estimated to be worth a billion dollars annually. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India purchased around 41% of Israel’s arms export during the period 2012-2016. In 2017 Israeli companies have signed arms deals worth over 2 billion dollars with the Indian defence establishment. Trade and investment between the two nations has also been steadily increasing in water, agriculture, information technology and several other sectors.

The Indian prime minister received a grand welcome, comparable to the one received by Donald Trump, the American president, perhaps again symbolic of fundamental political reconfigurations both in a regional and global sense.  The visit was described as an attempt to break the remaining walls.  Modi in his own words considered it to be his “singular honour to be the first ever prime minister of India to undertake this groundbreaking visit to Israel.” The civilizational linkages and continuing informal connections between the two nations at a societal level were highlighted.

The relatively nascent political character of both states was underlined and the need to develop a strong, progressive political and economic partnership was emphasized with the Indian prime minister affirming to embark on what he termed as a “path breaking journey of engagement.” Prime minister Narendra Modi and the  Israeli  prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of “shared priorities” and a partnership that “can help global peace and stability,” after conducting continuous meetings over four hours and signing seven deals, including pacts on agriculture and water management.

One of the first places that prime minister Modi visited was Yad Vashem, which he termed “as a reminder of the unspeakable evil inflicted generations ago,” and urged for a determined opposition to the “evils of terrorism, radicalism and violence that has plagued the world.” In keeping with the symbolism, the Indian prime minister met Moshe Holtzberg, the Israeli child who as a toddler survived the 2008 terror attack at the Chabad house in Mumbai.

The Indian prime minister, who was almost always accompanied by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu during the course of his three day visit stopped over at a technology exhibition in Tel Aviv, visited the Dor beach in Haifa and attended a demonstration of a mobile seawater desalination unit, paid homage to the deceased Indian soldiers who fought in World War I in Haifa, and announced that the people of Indian origin in Israel would receive the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card even if they had undertaken the compulsory army service. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in reciprocation, presented Narendra Modi with a photograph depicting Indian soldiers leading a British military column to liberate Jerusalem in 1917.

While addressing the Indian diaspora, Modi announced that direct flights would be initiated between Delhi, Mumbai and Tel Aviv to “encourage people-to-people contacts.” He also stated that an Indian cultural centre would be inaugurated in Israel, gratifying a long-standing demand of the Indian diaspora.

While the Israeli prime minister termed the India-Israel relationship as “a marriage made in heaven but we are implementing it here on earth,” the Indian foreign secretary S. Jaishankar perhaps put it more appropriately “as two societies who consider themselves cradles of civilization, have now found a more contemporary basis for their relationship.”

As the euphoria of what has been termed as a path breaking event abates, several queries come to the fore. A pragmatic analysis of the real, tangible achievements and ramifications of this new found, explicit India-Israel bonhomie is imperative.

(To be concluded)

Priya

9/7/2017