Narendra Modi to visit Israel, first by an Indian PM

[Gollum]

Best news in a long long time. Israel is our natural ally and we can't thank them enough for their assistance during the Kargil War. India is the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest defense supplier to India after Russia. Also we have common threats, people who hate them invariably hate us. The importance of intelligence sharing on terrorist groups and joint military training can't be emphasized enough. Throughout the years Congress has opposed Israel at every nook and corner to appease a particular minority group. An Israeli diplomat once remarked "For long, India has treated Israel as a mistress that someone enjoys but refuses to be seen with in public ". Now all that is going to change with the BJP Govt. This is aweeeesome !!!! India Israel relations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93Israel_relations Waiting for Congress+secular parties, communists, presstitutes, Muslims, jihadi groups, to get their knickers in a twist. Pray for Gaza my ass. 2 minutes silence for the above groups, imagine the hullabaloo tonight in JNS, 24 Akbar Road, AAP HQ, Darussalam :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Narendra-Modi-to-visit-Israel-first-by-an-Indian-PM/articleshow/47491228.cms http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/pm-modi-to-visit-israel-later-this-year-115053100434_1.html

[asterix]

Should plan after Bihar polls..,

[Clarke]

Israel, despite being tiny, has so many facets to it:

[randomGuy]

About time.

[Texan]

Despite India buying so much military equipment from Israel, it is quite shocking to know that an Indian PM has never visited Israel. Quite hypocritical. It's good to know that is going to change.

[Gollum]

Should plan after Bihar polls..' date='[/quote'] Doubt he will go there before Bihar polls. But even if he does so, this news isn't going to affect BJP's electorate base in any way. People who are sympathetic to Palestine and hate Israel(you know who I am talking about :cantstop:) will anyways never vote for BJP or it's allies. Those who have a soft corner for BJP will be further vindicated for opting for the correct party and moderate supporters will become hardcore supporters. Better to think about the nation's interests here. A strong Indo Israel friendship can benefit us in many ways, most importantly help our security situation. Only once has an Israeli PM come to India and that was during Atal jee's tenure in 2002 or 2003 I think. Congress has been ass licking Palestine for the last 60 years, a state that is fiercely anti India and has always voted against India and in favor of Pakistan. Enough of these minority appeasers and enough of goons/opportunists like kejriwal, Owaisis, Azam Khan, TMC, CPM etc. This ruling party is different, has national interests in mind for a change.

[Gollum]

Despite India buying so much military equipment from Israel' date=' it is quite shocking to know that an Indian PM has never visited Israel. Quite hypocritical. It's good to know that is going to change.[/quote'] And we know why. :winky: "For long, India has treated Israel as a mistress that someone enjoys but refuses to be seen with in public ". Now that is going to change, first time we are bravely acknowledging our real friends. Palestine was, is and will always be a lying snake, never to be trusted. Just for opportunist electoral gains, so many parties have been playing the Palestine-Israel card to our detriment. Muslims & Leftists cry for Gaza/Godhra/Kashmir and at the same time keep mum about Hamas, Sabarmati Express burning, Kashmiri Pandit exodus, ISIS atrocities, Boko Haram abduction of schoolgirls, Bangladesh blogger killings and a gazillion other things. Want to see their faces now, want to see them lose their minds over this. And see how Israel helped us during Kargil http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/india/kargil-spl-2-269992.html :hatsoff:

[mishra]

Nowadays, Saudi's are fullfilling Indian need for oil. Atleas market is filled with Oil now. Our dependency on Iranian oil is decressing in short term future. So We can improve upon bilateral technology projects with Israel. It is a natural ally

[G_B_]

Nowadays' date=' Saudi's are fullfilling Indian need for oil. Atleas market is filled with Oil now. Our dependency on Iranian oil is decressing in short term future. So We can improve upon bilateral technology projects with Israel. It is a natural ally[/quote'] lets put it this way Shia sunni rivalry in the middle east is a good thing for India..... I think India is stepping up imports from Angola as well.

[mishra]

^ Problem is Saudis are arming themselves. They have got all the hightech gadgets now. They want a decisive battle. For oil, I remember, couple of years back, India getting told off by US for importing oil from Iran via some third nation (Turkey or something)

[G_B_]

^ Problem is Saudis are arming themselves. They have got all the hightech gadgets now. They want a decisive battle. For oil, I remember, couple of years back, India getting told off by US for importing oil from Iran via some third nation (Turkey or something)

yeah i remember see the saudis have all the high tech gear in the world. But they will still lose a war to Iran. you should read up about the Iran Iraq war. Freaking waves of women threw themselves at Saddams army despite Saddam being armed by the West with much better weapons. Saudis lack the mental desire. They are a nation which is basically sat on its ass and done nothing. Their workforce is lazy.They must be credited for political stability though and they have learned from the mistakes of the oil crisis in the early 70s. So the upper echelons of Saudi society have been wise. Credit where its due. With regards to India I feel we need to start diversifying our import base. Too much of our oil is from the middle east. You look at the USA and they have been importing a lot more from Venezuela Mexico and Canada. In addition to shale. India needs to boost imports outside the middle east.

[mishra]

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/07/coming-out-of-the-closet-india-israel-ties-under-narendra-modi/

Relations between India and Israel are experiencing a diplomatic renaissance. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landslide victory in India’s elections last year has ushered in a new, conspicuously more visible phase of bilateral ties. Cooperation with Israel—conducted secretly throughout most of India’s history—has now become a public affair. Modi has openly and enthusiastically embraced the Jewish state. Although some wonder whether the change is merely one of style rather than substance, there is no question that India’s recent public displays of affection toward Israel are a stark departure from the past. If current trends continue, the Modi government could become the most pro-Israel government New Delhi has ever seen. Throughout most of its post-independence history, India benefitted privately from Israel while refusing to publicly acknowledge it. New Delhi voted to recognize Israel in 1950, but Cold War alignments, fear of alienating its large Muslim population, and its need to maintain strong ties to the Arab world over the Kashmir issue resulted in New Delhi adopting an unsympathetic, if not outright hostile, posture toward Israel. India reflexively supported the Palestinian position, viewing the conflict in zero-sum terms. But this did not stop New Delhi from covertly accepting critical intelligence and military assistance from the Jewish state during its wars with China in 1962 and with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it the end of the ideological and geopolitical foundations of India’s longstanding Israel policy. New Delhi sought a more pragmatic and balanced approach to the region. With some help from Washington, India finally established full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, the last major non-Arab country to do so. Both countries quickly moved to make up for lost time, pursuing cooperation in a wide array of arenas ranging from security and defense to education and agriculture. Although it was India’s left-leaning Congress Party that normalized relations with Israel, ties flourished under the country’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Leaders in both countries expressly emphasized the ideological affinity their two nations shared as democracies and longstanding victims of terrorism. The two states embarked on a strategic partnership, with Israel emerging as one of India’s most important military suppliers. Following the Congress Party’s return to power in 2004, however, New Delhi appeared to revert back to past tendencies, preferring cooperation with Israel behind closed doors. Ties were shoved firmly back in the closet. Ten years later, the outlook appeared very different. Modi had forged a personal connection with Israel long before becoming prime minister. In 2006, he visited Tel Aviv as chief minister of his home state of Gujarat and spoke glowingly about what India could learn from Israel. Modi actively courted Israeli investment and expertise, harnessing them to help achieve Gujarat’s storied economic growth. Notably, Israel extended the invitation to Modi at a time when he was unwelcome in many countries, including the United States, for his purported role in failing to stem communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. Proponents of stronger Indian-Israeli ties hoped that a Modi-led BJP victory would lead to a more public relationship and even-handed approach to the region. The optimism proved justified. Less than two months after Modi’s election, signs emerged that New Delhi was again recalibrating its posture toward Israel and the Palestinian conflict. Just days after Israel launched its controversial Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip last summer, India’s Foreign Ministry released a statement signaling its alarm over the civilian loss of life, but at the same time also expressed its concern over “cross-border provocations resulting from rocket attacks” targeting Israel. The balanced statement represented a change from past official declarations that had instinctively denounced Israeli actions. Days later, the Indian government rejected a parliamentary resolution seeking to condemn Israel over the conflict in Gaza. Sponsored by India’s opposition Congress and Communist parties, the proposed resolution sought to denounce Israel over its use of “brute force” in Gaza. The government, led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, refused to adopt the measure. The personal chemistry between Prime Ministers Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu has also given India-Israel ties a powerful boost. Netanyahu was amongst the first world leaders to congratulate Modi last year following his landslide victory at the polls. In September, the two premiers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly where Netanyahu declared that the “sky is the limit” with India. Later that year, Modi sent Hanukah greetings over Twitter in Hebrew, delighting members of the Jewish community around the world. In March, Modi again tweeted in Hebrew to congratulate his “friend Bibi” on his re-election. High-level exchanges between Indian and Israeli leaders quickly resumed. The outreach went beyond official meetings. Last September, Modi met with the American Jewish Committee just hours before his celebrated address to the Indian-American diaspora at Madison Square Garden. In less than a year, Modi had rekindled the romance between India and Israel. But does India’s unprecedented public embrace of the Jewish state represent a shift in policy or just in optics? India-Israel ties have undoubtedly assumed a more public dimension since Modi’s election, but a question persists whether there has been a more significant change in India’s foreign policy toward Israel. Although conducted outside the public eye under the previous government, cooperation continued unabated. In 2008, for example, India launched an Israeli spy satellite, capable of surveilling Iran’s nuclear sites. Even after rejecting the proposed parliamentary resolution condemning Israel last June, Swaraj emphasized that the BJP’s Israel policy was unchanged. Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether the new government has begun to fundamentally alter the trajectory of its Israel policy or whether the change is more cosmetic. At a minimum, it is clear that Modi is keen on expanding the political relationship. Many are hoping he will become the first Indian prime minister to travel to Israel. The visit would represent an unprecedented milestone and propel the relationship to even greater heights. By bringing India-Israel ties out of the closet, Modi has brought focus, direction, and substance to the relationship. How long ties will remain in the public spotlight will largely depend on the results of the next Indian election still four years away. But regardless of the outcome, it is safe to conclude no government in New Delhi has ever been as enthusiastic about its affection for Israel as the one in power now.