India PM Narendra Modi visits Israel for talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, boosting defence and trade ties amid Gaza criticism
TEL AVIV: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a two-day visit aimed at deepening ties with a key trade and defence partner, a trip that has drawn criticism at home.
It is Modi’s second visit to Israel as prime minister.
He is scheduled to meet his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
“Our nations share a robust and multifaceted strategic partnership,” Modi said in a statement before leaving New Delhi, adding that he will address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, later on Thursday.
“Ties have significantly strengthened in the last few years.”
New Delhi has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel across the defence, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity sectors, while balancing diplomatic interests in the Middle East.
Talks opened in New Delhi on Monday for an India-Israel Free Trade Agreement (FTA), India’s government said in a statement, noting that merchandise trade reached $3.62 billion in 2024-2025.
Modi said he would hold talks with Netanyahu to “discuss ways to strengthen cooperation”.
Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Ties deepened after Hindu-nationalist leader Modi took office in 2014.
Modi first visited Israel as prime minister in 2017, before Netanyahu made a reciprocal visit to India the following year.
Both right-wing leaders have called each other a “friend”.
In September 2023, grand plans were unveiled in New Delhi for an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor — to link railways, ports, electricity, data networks and pipelines, including through Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Those plans were stalled by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which responded with a devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
‘Shock and horror’
“What happened on October 7 was received in India with shock and horror, and which is why the support for Israel was quick, instantaneous, and enormous,” said Ashok Malik, head of New Delhi-based strategic advisory firm The Asia Group.
India-Israel ties, which Modi is “taking forward with this visit”, stem not only from strategic alignment on issues such as terrorism, he added.
“Israel has a lot to contribute in terms of innovation technology, including agriculture, technology, and economic partnerships and of course defence… This is quite independent of the Palestinian issue,” Malik said.
Months after his 2017 visit to Israel, Modi travelled to Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority.
His current visit, however, has sparked criticism at home.
Senior Congress party figure Priyanka Gandhi — sister of opposition leader Rahul — posted on social media on Wednesday that she hoped Modi would mention the killing of “thousands of innocent men, women and children in Gaza” when he addresses Israel’s parliament.
India, the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people, is majority Hindu, but an estimated 220 million Indians are Muslim.
One of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group, operates the Israeli port of Haifa, while Israeli military drone technology played a pivotal role during India’s May 2025 clash with Pakistan.
At the same time, India maintains strong relations with Gulf nations and Tehran, including developing Iran’s Chabahar port — a trade gateway to Afghanistan, where New Delhi has built a relationship with Taliban authorities.
The Sun Malaysia
