News Analysis India

Tag: India Israel ties

  • India and Israel to set up Task Force to work on roadmap for new areas in defence cooperation

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: India and Israel have decided on Friday to set up a new Task Force during the 15th India-Israel Joint Working Group meeting in Tel Aviv. The decision to form a sub-working group was also taken in the meeting.

    “India-Israel Joint Working Group (JWG) on Bilateral Defence Cooperation has agreed to form a Task Force to formulate a comprehensive Ten-Year Roadmap to identify new areas of cooperation,” said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.

    The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and the Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Defence, Maj Gen (Retd) Amir Eshel.

    During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the progress made in Military to Military engagements including exercises and industry cooperation. The co-chairs were also appraised on the progress made by the Sub Working Groups (SWG) on Defence Procurement & Production and Research & Development.

    It was also decided to form a SWG on Defence Industry Cooperation and in this regard a Terms of Reference was signed between the two sides.

    “The formation of this SWG would enable efficient utilisation of bilateral resources, effective flow of technologies and sharing industrial capabilities. It was also decided to schedule the Service level Staff talks in a specific time frame,” said the Ministry of Defence.

    The JWG is the apex body between the Ministry of Defence of India and Israel’s Ministry of Defence to comprehensively review and guide all aspects of Bilateral Defence Cooperation. The two sides agreed to hold the next JWG in India on mutually convenient dates.

    Meanwhile, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and an Indian Air Force (IAF) team on Friday jointly flight tested indigenously developed Long-Range Bomb (LRB) successfully from an aerial platform.  The LR Bomb, after release from the IAF fighter aircraft, guided to a land-based target at a long-range with accuracy within specified limits. All the mission objectives were successfully met.

    “The flight of the bomb and the performance was monitored by a number of range sensors including Electro Optical Tracking System (EOTS), Telemetry and radar deployed by the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.” the Ministry of Defence said.

    The LR Bomb has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), a DRDO laboratory located at Hyderabad in coordination with other DRDO laboratories.

  • Looking forward to working with PM Modi to further develop ‘unique and warm relations’: New Israeli Premier Bennett

    By PTI
    JERUSALEM: Israel’s newly elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday that he was looking forward to working with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to further develop the “unique and warm relations” between the two democracies.

    Bennett, the 49-year-old leader of the right-wing Yamina party who on Sunday became the new premier ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power, said this while responding to Prime Minister Modi’s congratulatory tweet.

    Bennett took oath of office on Sunday after the Knesset (Parliament) elected him as the 13th Prime Minister of Israel.

    Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also said that Israel’s new government will work to “advance strategic relations” with India.

    “I look forward to working together to advance the strategic relations between our countries and hope to welcome you to Israel soon,” Lapid tweeted on Monday in response to a congratulatory message from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

    Jaishankar earlier in a tweet congratulated his new Israeli counterpart.

    “Congratulate APM & FM @yairlapid of Israel on his appointment.

    Look forward to working closely together to further advance our multifaceted strategic partnership,” Jaishankar wrote.

    Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, would take over premiership in September 2023 under a power-sharing deal with Bennett, serving for two years till the end of the term.

    In his tweets, Modi also conveyed his “profound gratitude” to Netanyahu, whose long tenure as Israeli prime minister ended on Sunday.

    Modi thanked Netanyahu for his “personal attention” to India-Israel strategic partnership.

    “As you complete your successful tenure as the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I convey my profound gratitude for your leadership and personal attention to India-Israel strategic partnership @netanyahu,” Modi tweeted.

    The personal chemistry between the two leaders has often been talked about in the Israeli media and Prime Minister Modi got a royal welcome during his historic trip to the Jewish state in July 2017 when Netanyahu accompanied him almost like a shadow during his entire visit.

    The gesture then extended to Modi is reserved for very few people in Israel.

    The new national unity government – an unprecedented coalition of ideologically divergent political parties drawn from the Right, the Left and the Centre, along with an Arab party – has a razor-thin majority in a 120-member house.

    The formation of the new government ended the political impasse in the country that saw four elections in less than two years leading to inconclusive results.

  • PM Narendra Modi congratulates new Israel PM Naftali Bennett

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Naftali Bennett on being sworn in as Israel’s new prime minister, and said he looked forward to meeting him and deepening their countries’ strategic partnership as they celebrate 30 years of the upgradation of diplomatic ties next year.

    As you complete your successful tenure as the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I convey my profound gratitude for your leadership and personal attention to India-Israel strategic partnership @netanyahu.
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 14, 2021

    In his tweets, Modi also conveyed his “profound gratitude” to Benjamin Netanyahu, whose long tenure as Israeli prime minister ended on Sunday. “As you complete your successful tenure as the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I convey my profound gratitude for your leadership and personal attention to India-Israel strategic partnership @netanyahu,” he said.

    Bennett was on Sunday sworn in as Israel’s new prime minister, ending Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power and the political uncertainty that gripped the Jewish nation for months after inconclusive elections.

  • Will deploy all resources to punish Embassy attack culprits: PM Modi to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to convey his strong condemnation of the terror attack near the Israeli Embassy here on January 29 and asserted that India will deploy all its resources to find and punish the perpetrators.

    A PMO statement said that in his conversation with Netanyahu over phone, Modi assured him that India accords the highest importance to the safety and security of Israeli diplomats and premises.

    Our close and valuable security cooperation will continue. We also discussed our healthcare cooperation in the context of Covid-19.
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 1, 2021

    Later in tweets, Modi said, “Spoke to my friend PM @netanyahu and assured him that the attack near the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi will be fully investigated and perpetrators brought to justice. Our close and valuable security cooperation will continue. We also discussed our healthcare cooperation in the context of COVID-19.”

    A low-intensity blast had occurred outside the embassy on January 29. No one was injured. Both leaders, the PMO said, expressed satisfaction about the close coordination between Indian and Israeli security agencies in connection with the blast probe.

    Some cars were damaged in the explosion that occurred about 150 metres away from the embassy on Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in the very high-security Lutyens’ bungalow zone. The Israeli foreign ministry said all its diplomats and embassy staff in Delhi are “safe and sound”.