![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
A six-day visit by PM Benjamin Netanyahu to India on 14–19 January 2018 marked a new apogee in the renewed relationship between two old civilizations. It was a reciprocal visit to PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in July 2017 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee year of the ‘Diplomatic Normalisation’ between the two states. Netanyahu’s visit took place not only against the backdrop of this enthusiasm, but also had concrete economic and political goals given that just a month before the visit New Delhi cancelled a $500 arms deal with Israel and voted against the Jewish state in the UNGA on the Jerusalem question. Through five public addresses, three media interviews and one road show, Netanyahu attempted to break longstanding anti-Israel stereotypes and show the Indian masses that they could be beneficiaries of Israel’s innovation and technological advancement. Amplified by a string of economic, high-tech, agricultural, and defence agreements, Netanyahu’s visit proved to be a success, whose positive implications will affect the bilateral relations for years to come.
Disclosure statement
There is no potential conflict of interest in the article.
Notes
1. Ministry of External Affairs, National Archives of India, File No.23(1741)-T, 1952 .
2. MEA, NAI, F.46 (15)-AWT/48, (Vol. I–VI).
3. See note 1 above.
4. India, MEA, Annual Reports (1973–74).
5. The Indian National Congress, established in 1885, was the main political forum in colonial India to oppose the colonial rule.
6. Golda Meir to Shlomo Zabludowicz [in Hebrew], 23 August 1971, Subject File 220, P. N. Haksar Papers (III Instalment), Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India.
7. Many Indian officials and diplomats including JB Kriplani visited Israel to learn cooperative farming, refugee management in the era of ‘non-relation’. Jay Prakash Narayan visited the country in 1958 to meet with the socialist leaders including PM Ben-Gurion. Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan paid a secret visit to India in 1977.
8. MEA, NAI, F.46 (15)-AWT/48, Vol. I.
9. Ibid.
10. Kumaraswamy, India’s Israel Policy; and Blarel, The Evolution of India’s Israel Policy.
11. Gandhi, “The Jews.”
12. Panter-Brick, Gandhi and the Middle East.
13. The ‘untouchables’ in orthodox ‘Hindu’ understandings. Although, Gandhi chose the word ‘Harijan’ to mark them as ‘God’s men’. The popular term to denote the depressed classes is ‘Dalit’, in India.
14. See note 12 above.
15. Gandhi, Conundrums.
16. Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to Subhas Chandra Bose (3 April 1939), in Nehru, Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Series I, 9:537.
17. The idea was developed after V.D. Savarkar’s writings, which claimed ‘Hindu’, as a culture and synonymous to India. Inhabitants of India are primarily culturally Hindu, even if they follow any ‘alien’ religion. BJP is the political party that follows the core values of Hindu Nationalism.
18. Literally meaning the ‘Sons of Menasseh’, are an ethnolinguistic group in India’s northeastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram. Claiming their descent from one of the lost tribes of Israel, they adopted the practice of Judaism. In the late 20th century, Israeli Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail of the group Amishav named them Bnei Menashe, based on their account of descent from Menasseh. After years of confusion, the chief rabbi of Israel ruled them (in 2005) as part of a lost tribe, allowing aliya after formal conversion.
19. Israel, MFA, Press Room, PM Netanyahu and Indian PM Modi attend ceremony to rename square in New Delhi in honor of Haifa, 14 January 2018. Retrieved January15,2018, from http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2018/Pages/PM-Netanyahu-and-Indian-PM-Modi-attend-ceremony-to-rename-New-Delhi-Sqaure-in-Honor-of-Haifa.
20. Hindustan Times, “Teen Murti Chowk renamed after Israeli city Haifa as Netanyahu visits,” 15 January 2018.
21. Ibid.
22. Nye, Soft Power.
23. Israel, MFA, Press Room, PM Netanyahu addresses Raisina Dialogue, 16 January 2018. Retrieved January 17,2018, from http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2018/Pages/PM-Netanyahu-addresses-Raisina-Dialogue-16-January-2018.aspx.
24. India fought full-scale wars with Pakistan in 1947, 1965, in 1971 (Bangladesh Liberation War) and in 1999 (Kargil War). India-China war occurred in 1962.
25. On 26 November 2008, a ten members group of Laskar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based terrorist organisation, launched a fidayeen attack in different parts of Mumbai, which caused 164 people dead and 308 injured.
26. Menon, Choices.
27. India, MEA, Documents, Speeches & Statements, Press Statement by Prime Minister during his visit to Israel, 5 July 2017.
28. Hindustan Times, “Modi praises Indian army for surgical strikes, compares it to Israel,” 28 October 2016.
29. India, MEA. (2018). Joint Statement between the Republic of India and the State of Israel, 15 January 2018. Retrieved January, 15,2018, from http://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/29357.
30. In 2003, a movie named ‘Zameen’ replicated the famous ‘Operation Thunderbolt’. In recent times, movies like ‘Baby’ and ‘Phantom’, both in 2015, reiterated the Israeli counter terrorism strategy as the solution for India’s problem. Phantom, for example, replicated the operations, which Mossad undertook in the aftermath of Munich Massacre. ‘Phantom’ was contextualised on Mumbai Massacre. Israel is also mentioned in a very positive sense in a movie called ‘Kaun kitne Paani mein’ which projected Israel as a messiah in Agro-Tech.
31. Joint Statement 2018.
32. Ibid.
33. Government of India, Press Information Bureau (2018)’ PM Modi, Israeli PM Netanyahu visit Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad’, January 17. Retrieved January 18,2018, from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/mbErel.aspx?relid=175695.
34. FICCI, Press Release (2018), ‘India-Israel CEOs Forum charts a roadmap for enhancing bilateral trade to US$ 20 billion by 2022ʹ, January 15. Retrieved January 18,2018, from http://ficci.in/pressrelease-page.asp?nid=2988.
35. Joint Statement, 2018.
36. Israel, MFA, Press Room, ‘Israel and India: 26 years of friendship, innovation, and Prosperity’ 14 January 2018. Retrieved January 18,2018, from http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2018/Pages/Israel-India-26-years-of-friendship-innovation-prosperity-14-Jan-2018.aspx.
37. India, MEA. (2018) ‘List of MoUs/Agreements signed during the visit of Prime Minister of Israel to India’, January 15. Retrieved 18 January 2018, from http://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/29356/List_of_MoUsAgreements_signed_during_the_visit_of_Prime_Minister_of_Israel_to_India.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Pradipta Roy
Pradipta Roy is PhD Scholar in the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University, India, specialising in India’s foreign policy and West Asia.