DEEPER, BROADER CONVERGENCE

Israeli Foreign Minister sets the ground for PM Netanyahu’s possible visit to India by the end of 2025

- Ashwin Ahmad

Gideon Sa’ar could not hide his love and admiration for India.

The Israeli foreign minister, who is on his maiden visit to the country - two months after Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s visit - described India as a “global superpower” in an interview to a television channel. He added that an MoU on defence between the two countries was in the works.

Recalling the Hamas terror attacks, Sa’ar said in the interview. “We will not forget the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first world leader to call Prime Minister Netanyahu on that awful day. India stood by us, and we will remember that.”

The Israeli foreign minister had a packed day in Delhi. Arriving late on Monday night, he had a morning meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, followed by a meeting with NSA Ajit Doval. Observers pointed out the Israeli foreign minister's visit was even more in the public domain than Smotrich’s had been. MEA sources state that Prime Minister Netanyahu may also be visiting India next perhaps by the year-end.

Though the Israeli finance minister met with his counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman where they inked the new Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIA) between India and Israel and met Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his visit did not dominate media headlines the way Saar’s has done.

Diplomats said the conclusion one could draw was that New Delhi was feeling less need to play down its relationship with Israel especially now that a ceasefire had been reached.