Netanyahu to visit ‘friend’ Modi to boost image ahead of Israel elections

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit India on 8 September, a trip that could help him pick up votes of Indian-Israeli community there.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu | Photo: Manvender Vashist | PTI

New Delhi: The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, will embark on a day-long visit to India on September 8-9 in an effort to boost his image ahead of elections in his country.

Netanyahu’s party, Likud, had tied with the Blue and White Party, led by the former Israeli army chief Benny Gantz, in the April elections. Both parties had bagged 35 seats each in the 120-member Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

Since then, the Israeli prime minister, grappling corruption charges among others, has struggled to cobble together a viable coalition, and as a result, yet another round of elections is scheduled for 17 September.

Sources said that this is the main reason why Netanhayu is coming to India as he wants to cater to his domestic audience, showcasing the fact that he has worked diligently with world leaders and taken Israeli businesses far and wide.

As such, a number of agreements are also expected during the visit. Sources said an announcement on the pending $500-million Spike Missiles deal could be made during Netanyahu’s trip as well as one on cooperation in water management and irrigation systems. Israel has also been trying to sell the anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) systems to the Indian Army for years now.

“The visit will help him in picking up some votes of the Indian-Israeli community there. There are about 80,000 of them there and every vote matters,” said Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, a former secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs and visiting fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.

Chakravarty further said that the Indian-Israeli community is “fairly integrated” in the Middle East country. “So the India trip helps in that connection,” he said. “If the defence deal happens even that will help him and will give a positive spin to things.”

According to Samuel C. Rajiv, associate fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), “Indians are by and large seen in a positive light in Israel”.

“This is good for him (Netanhayu),” Rajiv said. “His foreign and security policies have broad-based support across the entire political spectrum there.”

A strong bond with Modi

Netanyahu and Modi share a strong bond and both keep in touch with each other regularly even though they have not formally met since January 2018.

During his first tenure, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel in 2017 and since then the bond has only grown stronger between them.

Modi and Netanyahu were, in fact, seen quite comfortable in each other’s company during the visit as they strolled barefoot on the Olga beach at Haifa. Netanyahu had taken Modi to the beach to make him see how a mobile water desalination unit works.

Modi recently also featured in Netanyahu’s election campaign hoardings adorning the ruling Likud party’s headquarters and in a video, in which Netanyahu is seen rubbing shoulders with other world leaders such as US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

נתניהו. ליגה אחרת. pic.twitter.com/07YGtjfXwL

— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) July 28, 2019

Netanyahu had even called Modi to congratulate him on his Lok Sabha election victory in May.

The Modi government, on the other hand, took a historic decision by voting in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation named ‘Shahed’ in June this year.