@The Huskar
Its important to analyze this geopolitical development in regards to the emerging and deepening relationship between Israel and India. Both Israel and India had established full diplomatic relations in 1992, and with that bilateral trade has grown from $200 million in 1992 to about $5 Billion in 2010. The high level collaboration in defense, science and IT reflect inter-governmental trust and stable partnership.
Israelis and Indians have been interacting along many axes as both states traverse each other’s terrains. There is a deep cultural interaction and to illustrate this, I would like to note that over 40,00 Israelis visit India on an annual basis. In addition to that , there are over 70,000 Indian Jews that live in Israel, aside from other Non-Jewish Indian communities that cluster in Israel.
There is, indeed, a deep cultural and historical link between the two. It should be known that hundreds of Indian soldiers under the British Raj fought and died in Palestine and remain buried in what is now Israel. Although statehood in 1947 and 1948 (For India and Israel, respectively) came with some conterminous histories of a British past, these two newly established states were driven by very divergent ideologies of nationhood. Ben Gurion held Gandhi in high esteem, they were impelled by very different imperatives. Gandi abhorred the role of religion in public life and the Nehruvian vision of a new India carried that idea forward. Citizenship was divorced from faith in India; in Erez Israel it was a critical link. Who would qualify for full citizenship in Israel and who was an Indian were conceptualized along different axes. And to go back to this concept of cultural diversity, I would like to emphasize that India has a long civilizational connection with Judaism. For centuries, Jews have lived across India harmoniously integrated within a pluralistic multi-faith Indian society. Jews of Indian origin, unlike Ashkenazi communities, have no history of anti-semitism. Bene Israel Jews from western India trace their Indian heritage over two thousand years and this can be seen in the richness of the Kerala Jews in Southern India and the Baghdadis of Mumbai and Kolkata, who trickled in during the 17th centuries, coming to India to escape the pogroms in Iraq, and thus establishing businesses eastwards from India to Shanghai, to Nagasaki, and even in Tokyo.
So when we analyze the full spectrum of Indian-Israeli relations , and geopolitical partnership, we have to consider these cultural and historical processes that I have listed and pointed out. When that is realized, then one can analyze the current growing relationship both countries have. There is a growing Indo-Israeli military dimension that was codified in 2001 through what is the Joint Defense Cooperation Group, which has an annual meeting that addresses defense deals, such as the procurement of weapons, technology transfers, co-production of military equipment and joint military exercises and other aspects of their security relationship. Actually I would like to note that India constitutes the largest market for Israeli defense industry and Israel is the second largest supplier of arms to India, after Russia. According to 2014 estimates, India accounts for $1 to $1.5 Billion of Israel’s $7 Billion total defense exports.
In considering these realities and various cooperative axes that both India and Israel touch base on, it is likely that the Indo-Israeli ties will expand further in the political, economic and strategic realms as India continues to rise in pre-eminence and as Israel continues to expand its defense and political support base throughout the world. And I believe that Modi will work jointly with leaders in Israel to address mutually overlapping strategic interests.