Netanyahu in India

Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the world’s leading proponent of anti-Semitism, the Palestinian Authority, has been ranting and raving of late. Having lost his support in the region, having been told that it’s time to make peace and to give up on a capital in Jerusalem, Abbas is reduced to maniacal pronouncements… the kinds that are most likely to impress brain-dead Europeans.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister of Israel has been enjoying a tour of his new ally India. He has been greeted better than well, with respect and admiration. He has established new trade agreements and has fortified an alliance. If you want to know what is going on in the world of foreign relations, it is always good to follow shifting alliances. In the interest of contributing to the public debate and discussion, we follow such events on this blog.

While Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are working together, the American media has for the most part ignored the story. After all, it’s happening in Asia, so why should we care?

The Legal Insurrection blog has rounded up stories from the Indian and Israeli press and has put together an outline of the relevant information.

It begins with this:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the fifth day of his six-day India tour with a ‘power breakfast’ with a select group of Indian business leaders and CEOs. Later he joined Prime Minister Nerendra Modi at the India-Israel Business Summit hosted at the iconic Taj Hotel, one the sites hit by the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Netanyahu was very well received by the Indian people. Why would this be? Perhaps because Israel has been a great success story… and has achieved what it has achieved against very long odds:

Before traveling to Mumbai, Prime Minister Netanyahu spent a day with Prime Minister Modi in his home state of Gujarat where tens of thousands of Indians showed up to welcome the visiting Israeli leader.  Jerusalem-based new website Times of Israel reported the reception given to the visiting leader in the Indian city of Ahmadabad on Wednesday:

“In Ahmadebad, tens of thousands of people lined the street, some waving Israeli flags, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sped past, whizzing by massive billboards with his and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s faces plastered on them.

In rural Dev Dholera, curious farmers and others craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the prime ministers, and hundreds of young entrepreneurs and business people cheered the leaders like rock stars.

In Sabarkantha, villagers waved at the prime ministers’ helicopters as they came in to land in a former forest that had been cleared to make way for a helipad. Dancers in traditional dress did flips, and farmers told of how many rupees they had made after training at an Israel-funded agricultural center.

Of course, there were business deals in the defense industry… which highlight cooperation:

There was some positive developments in the field of defense cooperation as well, with India putting the $500 million deal to buy the Spike anti-tank guided missiles back on the table. Earlier this month, India’s Ministry of Defense unexpectedly announced its decision to cancel an agreement with the Israeli defense manufacturer Rafael, amid speculations that India wanted to develop the missile system ingeniously.

Pakistan is worried about the Israel-India cooperation. After all, Israel has led the world in the fight against Islamic terrorism. 

India’s neighboring Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been rattled by growing Israel-India cooperation in defense and counter-terrorism. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister accused Israel and India of building an ‘anti-Islam nexus,’ several Pakistani newspapers reported.

How does the Israeli-Indian alliance compare to the trade that Israel has been doing with China. It is still significantly smaller:

After impressive growth in last two decades, the bilateral trade between the two countries has fluctuated between 4-5 billion dollars in recent years. Israel’s trade volume with China, however, reached almost thrice that size in 2017.