India Israel Relations
The sovereignty of India and establishment of Israel are marked with similar kind of events. While Israel independence in 1948 was marked by a massive migration of Jews from Europe and from Muslim countries to newly formed Israel, India’s independence in 1947 was marked with similar migration of both Hindus & Muslims between two newly independent countries India and Pakistan. Both India and Israel since their independence have developed healthy relations with other countries of the world. And if we talk about the relation between Israel and India, it is not the same today as it was at the time of independence. This relationship between the two has changed dramatically since 1948 to 2017. Let us look at India-Israel relationship in different phases.
At the time of Independence
The two famous foreign policy decisions of India in relation to Israel at the time of Independence include India’s participation in the UN Special Committee on Palestine; and its decision on Israel recognition as a State. In May 1947, at the request of the United Kingdom, the United Nation formed a Special Committee on Palestine. The committee consisted of eleven members with India as one of its members. The committee was entrusted with the task to prepare a report on recommendations for the Palestine. This report was to be presented at the General Assembly for the final decision on Palestine. While the majority countries recommended the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish States and favoured the international recognition for Israel, India opposed the partition of Palestine and recommended the federal state solution. India even refused the Israel’s membership of the United Nation and voted against Israel’s recognition as an independent country. The reason was that both Gandhi and Nehru were not in mood to hurt Indian Muslims by supporting Jews and going against Arabs. Mahatma Gandhi condemned the Christian community for wrongdoing to the Jews but he didn’t favour the recognition of Israel as an independent state. Gandhi even refused the appeal from Albert Einstein to vote in favour of the partition of Palestine. Nehru also upheld the same belief as by Mahatma Gandhi and said no to Israel.
After Independence till 1992
Though the Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru formally recognised Israel in September 1950, yet it continued with its pro-Palestine propaganda to appease the large Muslim population in India. India remained inclined towards Arab nations. Further, as time passed, India became highly dependent on Arab countries for oil imports. This in turn again restricted India from taking any kind of pro-Israel step. Later, with establishment of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961, India almost completely drove itself from favouring Israel by any means. Though Israel helped India through its arms and ammunition during the 1962 India-China war and 1971 India-Pakistan war, yet the relation between the two countries remained peculiar till 1992. The relations between the two started strengthening in 1992 when India started focussing on the Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG Model).
Establishment of full diplomatic ties in 1992
In 1992, the Narasimha Rao government finally established full diplomatic relations with Israel but it was only after taking Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in confidence. Arafat supported the India’s decision of establishing embassies and maintaining diplomatic ties with Israel. There were two main reasons for tie-up between India-Israel. First, at that time the peace process between Israel and Palestine was in an advanced state. The State of Israel and Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) recognized each other for the first time. Also, in 1993, the US mediated Oslo Accord-a set of agreements between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); that further stabilised the relations between the two countries. In fact, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin were jointly given the Nobel Peace Prize of 1994 for their peace efforts. This made India confident on such decision.
The second reason was the pressure from United States. In 1991, with collapse of USSR, India’s major defence partner; it became imperative for India to shift towards United States for its vital defence imports. But United States in return for defence supply asked India to accommodate Israel in its foreign policy.
Relation between the two countries between 1992 to 2017
Since 1992 to 2017, the relations between India and Israel have enhanced to a high extent, especially in the field of defence, agriculture, trade, diplomacy and water management. Here is the brief description of these sectors.
DEFENCE
India is one of the major buyers of Israel’s defence equipments. In between 2012 to 2016 nearly 41 percent of Israel’s defence export was to India. For India, Israel is third-largest source of arms and others defence equipments, after Russia and US.
Israel provided India with military aid during the 1962 Sino-Indian war. Israel also assisted India during three wars with Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and the famous Kargil war in 1999. Most of India’s unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs) imports are from Israel. Recently, in April 2017, the two countries signed a $2 billion deal for an advanced medium-range surface-to-air missile system. India also recently successfully tested the Israeli-made SPYDER quick-reaction surface-to-air missile and is planning to deploy this system on its western border.
DIPLOMACY
India and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1992. Since then several ministers from India visited Israel to strengthen the diplomatic and economic ties with Israel. In June 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so. India and Israel marked 25 years of their diplomatic relationship in June 2017. India sent three Indian naval ships, destroyer INS Mumbai, INS Trishul and INS Aditya, as a goodwill visit at the Haifa port in Israel to mark 25 years of full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture can be treated as the second main pillar after defence for India-Israel relations. Israel is playing an intensifying role to make the Modi Government’s ambitious plan of doubling the Indian farmers’ income by 2022 into a reality. In 2008, Israel launched the India-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP). The first phase of the project emphasised at setting up specialised agriculture centres across India. As of now, 15 such centres have been already established and government has further planned to add twelve more such centres to the list. These centres facilitate with rapid transfer of technology such as protected cultivation, drip irrigation and fertigation to the Indian farmers. Phase-I (2010-12) and phase-II (2012-15) of the project are already completed. And phase-III (2015-18) of the project is operational now. Since most of the crops in India are highly dependent on monsoonal rainfall, and are susceptible to diseases, therefore the Israeli technologies on protected cultivation and micro-irrigation become vital for the country.
WATER MANAGEMENT
Israel has done extremely good in the field of water management and conservation. It has emerged as a world leader in this field and is now providing tips and technologies to other countries for judicious use of water. Recently, the union cabinet has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israel on the National Campaign for Water Conservation in India.
TRADE
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel in 1992, the bilateral trade between both the countries has increased from USD 200 million in 1992-93 to $5.02 billion in 2016-17. India’s major imports from Israel in 2016-17 included natural or cultured pearls and precious stones, worth $1.11 billion. Israel is also a major exporter of mineral fuels, oils and defence equipments to India.
2017 Modi Visit to Israel
Ever since Narendra Modi assumed office in May 2014, the relations between the two countries are at its peak. In fact, Israeli Ambassador to India, David Carmon, in an interview confirmed that “though India-Israel ties had evolved over the last 25 years, it has become more visible under the Modi government.” Recently, Narendra Modi with his visit to Israel became the first Indian Prime Minister to do so. His three day visit was marked by the following events and quotes:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his welcome speech for Narendra Modi said that India-Israel relationship was a marriage made in heaven, but implemented on Earth. He gave the new development formula for success as “I2 T2” that is equal to “Indian talent times Israeli technology.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin gave another description for the relations between the two countries. He said that ‘I’ for ‘I’ is India for Israel, and ‘I’ with ‘I’ is India with Israel. Israel’s PM and President also welcomed India’s Space Programme and Make in India Programme and confirmed further cooperation between the two countries to achieve greater heights.
