New Delhi, Jun 9 (PTI) A new survey has found that nearly half of young urban Indian respondents primarily associate Israel with defence and military strength, while a majority view it as technologically advanced.
The study, ‘How India’s Gen Z Sees Israel’, surveyed 500 respondents aged 18-29 across four regions – the Hindi heartland (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan), Delhi-NCR, South India and West India – with an equal gender split, using an AI-assisted digital research platform.
The survey was commissioned by the India Israel Centre, an independent policy research forum focused on academic and policy work on India-Israel relations, established in partnership with the Centre for Israel Studies at the O P Jindal Global University, Haryana.
The India Israel Centre said that while defence, agricultural and technological dimensions of the India-Israel partnership have received considerable scholarly and policy attention over the past three decades, its public-perception dimension has been less systematically examined.
The study focuses on the generation born after India and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1992.
“For Gen Z, the India-Israel relationship is just a normal part of the world they grew up in, but no one had really asked them what they make of it. That is the gap we wanted to fill,” Aakash Guglani, a non-resident fellow at the India Israel Centre, said.
“The findings, from how they see Israel and Russia as key partners to the strong support for closer ties, show a generation that is paying attention,” he added.
Among the key findings, 48 per cent of respondents associated Israel with defence and military strength, making it the most commonly cited attribute, while 35 per cent linked it with innovation and technology.
On a Top-2-Box measure, 51 per cent rated Israel as technologically advanced.
Across four trust-related indicators – whether Israel understands India’s security challenges, respects its strategic autonomy, would stand by it in a crisis and is a trustworthy partner – the scores ranged from 44-47 per cent.
The question whether Israel’s actions reflect democratic values received the lowest score, 36 per cent.
The survey also found that 41 per cent of the respondents favoured deepening India-Israel ties, while 20 per cent preferred a more cautious approach or reduced engagement.
Asked which country is most helpful to India today, the respondents ranked Russia first at 52 per cent, followed by the US at 22 per cent and Israel at 14 per cent.
The India Israel Centre said the findings reflect a generation for whom the partnership has been an established feature of India’s foreign policy landscape. PTI PLB ARI ARI
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