India-Israel: Beyond Guns & Diamonds

A temporary chill in Indo-Israeli ties is unlikely to mar PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic first visit to India as the two countries explore ways to expand their strategic relationship

- Sandeep Unnithan

There’s a reason the body language between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu will be closely watched when Israel’s Air Force One lands in New Delhi on January 14. The first ever visit to India by an Israeli prime minister comes just six months after Modi’s visit to Israel, the first by an Indian PM. That visit saw a red carpet welcome in Tel Aviv, personal chemistry with even a photo op of the two PMs walking on Olga beach in Haifa like reunited childhood friends, their trouser cuffs rolled up. This time around, Netanyahu’s visit, equally historic, comes amidst a perceived chill in ties between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. On December 22, India voted with 127 other countries for a UN General Assembly resolution rejecting US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Without singling out India, Netanyahu called the vote “preposterous” and “a theatre of the absurd”.

Then, barely a week later, Israel’s state owned Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd said on January 2 that India’s defence ministry had cancelled a $500 million (Rs 3,186 crore) deal for supplying 1,600 Spike man-portable anti-tank missiles, one of the biggest deals in recent years. The missiles were going to be made in India through transfer of technology at the government-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd with a private sector partner, Bharat Forge. A Rafael spokesperson expressed “regret” over the collapse of the deal, which the company had pursued for nearly five years. Not even a swift placatory announcement on January 3 by India’s MoD of a Rs 460 crore order for 131 Barak missiles from Rafael could make up for the gloom in Tel Aviv (this deal had been cleared earlier in 2017). The Spike deal has been restarted as a fast-track proposal now, and Rafael will once again be a contender.