India-Israel ties out in the open, says Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon

• Ya’alon, the first Israeli Defence Minister to visit India since the two countries established full diplomatic relations in 1992, attended the ‘Aero India’ show and held talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar.
• In a statement of strategic significance, Israel Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon acknowledged that India and Israel ties were out in the open after keeping a low profile for years.
• The Minister inaugurated the Israeli Pavilion at Aero India 2015.
• Talking on the significance of his visit, he said that India was important to his country’s defence industry and pledged complete support to partner with India on “Make in India.”
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who expressed satisfaction with the ongoing cooperation between the two countries in various sectors.
• India and Israel established bilateral relations in 1992 and with several common concerns, strategic cooperation quickly progressed.
• Since Mr. Modi’s government came to power, India has been more assertive in acknowledging the depth of the relationship. Both sides have seen a flurry of interactions even at the highest level.
• Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in New York last September on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
• India is one of Israel’s biggest defence customers and both sides have embarked on joint development of weapon systems.
• A long-range surface-to-air missile under development was tested for the first time in November 2014.
• In October 2014, India selected Israel’s -Rafael Spike anti-tank guided missile over the U.S. Javelin missile in a deal worth $525 million.

Background

Diplomatic Relations

• India formally recognised Israel on September 17, 1950.
• In 1992, full diplomatic relations were established.
• Since the upgradation of relations in 1992, defence and agriculture have been the main pillars of bilateral engagement
• Political ties between the two countries are friendly.
• In 2000,Jaswant Singh became the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Israel.
• In September 2003. then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, visited India on a state visit.
• There have been frequent Ministerial level exchanges. The latest was the visit to Israel by Home Minister, Shri. Rajnath Singh, on 6-7 Novermber, 2014.

Trade Relations

• From US$ 200 million in 1992 bilateral merchandise trade has diversified and reached US$ 5.19 billion in 2011.
• However, the past few years have seen a decline in total trade due to the global economic recession.
• In 2013, the bilateral trade stood at US$ 4.39 billion with the balance of trade in Israel’s favour.
• Trade in diamonds constitutes over half of bilateral trade.
• In 2013, India was Israel’s 10th largest trade partner overall and Israel’s 3rdlargest trade partner in Asia after China and Hong Kong.
• India is the largest customer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after Russia.
• Potash is a major item of Israel’s exports to India, with India buying a significant percentage of its requirement from Israel.
• Major exports from India to Israel include
  • precious stones and metals
  • chemical products
  • textiles and textile articles
  • plants and vegetable products and
  • mineral products
• Major imports by India from Israel include
  • precious stones and metals
  • chemicals and mineral products
  • base metals and machinery and
  • transport equipment

Free Trade Agreement

• Since 2010 the two sides are negotiating an FTA covering trade in goods and services and the 8th round was held in Israel in November 2013.

Agriculture

• India and Israel have a bilateral agreement for cooperation in agriculture.
• Under the bilateral Action Plan for 2012-2015, agricultural cooperation between the two countries are operational in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
• India has benefited from Israeli expertise and technologies in horticulture mechanization, protected cultivation, orchard and canopy management, nursery management, micro- irrigation and post-harvest management particularly in Haryana and Maharashtra.
• Israeli drip irrigation technologies and products are now widely used in India.

Defence & Security

• India imports critical defence technologies from Israel.
• There are regular exchanges between the armed forces and defence personnel.
• In February 2014, India and Israel signed three important agreements on
  • Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters,
  • Cooperation in Homeland and
  • Public Security, and Protection of Classified Material.

Indian Community

• There are approximately 80,000 Jews of Indian-origin in Israel.
• Waves of immigration into Israel from India took place in the fifties and sixties.
• The majority is from Maharashtra (Bene Israelis) with relatively smaller numbers from Kerala (Cochini Jews) and Kolkata (Baghdadi Jews).
• In recent years some Indian Jews from North Eastern states of India (Bnei Menashe) have been immigrating to Israel.
• While the older generation still maintains an Indian lifestyle and their cultural links with India, the younger generation is increasingly assimilated into Israeli society.
• The world’s first Jewish-Hindu interfaith leadership summit, spearheaded by Hindu organisations in India and Jewish organisations in Israel, as well as the American Jewish Committee, was held in New Delhi in February 2007.

Note

• Although India did not subscribe to the Partitioning of Palestine plan of 1947 and voted against Israel’s admission in the United Nations in 1949, it did recognise Israel as a nation in 1950.
• India’s position on the creation of the State of Israel was affected by its own partition on religious lines.
• Mahatma Gandhi opposed the creation of Israel as he was against the creation of countries based on religion.