JERUSALEM<\/p>\n
India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a two-day visit that both countries have cast as a chance to deepen relations, as regional concerns mount over the risk of military conflict between the United \u00a0States and Iran.<\/p>\n
In an address to the Israeli parliament, Modi told lawmakers that India stood with Israel \u201cwith full conviction\u201d as he shared his nation\u2019s condolences over the October 2023 Hamas attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike you, we have a consistent and uncompromising policy of zero tolerance for terrorism, with no double standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Both Modi and \u00a0Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who also addressed the parliament, spoke of terrorist attacks that their nations had faced, with Netanyahu saying India and Israel both faced the challenge of confronting \u201cradical Islam\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some opposition lawmakers briefly walked out of the special session, protesting at the speaker\u2019s decision not to invite the head of the Supreme Court, but returned for Modi\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing government, to which the speaker belongs, has had a confrontational relationship with the court.<\/p>\n
Modi, an Hindu nationalist, became the first prime minister in India\u2019s history to visit Israel in 2017, during which he and Netanyahu took a barefoot stroll on a beach in the northern port city of Haifa.<\/p>\n
Both still in power nearly nine years later, the two leaders, who describe one another as friends, were expected to hold talks on artificial intelligence as well as defence at a time when Israel is seeking to increase its military exports.<\/p>\n
An Israeli government official said Modi\u2019s visit would \u201cpave the way for new partnerships and collaborations across many fields.\u201d Bilateral ties were on the cusp of a significant upgrade, an Israeli foreign ministry official said.<\/p>\n
Modi is visiting as the United States deploys a vast naval force near Iran\u2019s coast ahead of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic, with the two countries at an impasse in talks over Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme. The Pentagon has also deployed an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean, bound for Israel\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n
A US attack on Iran could draw Iranian retaliation against Israel as well as US military facilities in Gulf Arab countries, where millions of Indians live and work and send home billions \u00a0of dollars of remittances each year.<\/p>\n
In his speech to lawmakers, Modi vaguely spoke about the challenges facing stability in the region, acknowledging that the landscape had become more challenging in recent years, but made no mention of the US military build-up, or of Iran.<\/p>\n
He backed the US plan to end the war in Gaza, telling the parliament that it could lead to peace \u201cfor all people of the region, including by addressing the \u00a0Palestinian issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe road to peace is not always easy. But India joins you and the world for dialogue, peace and stability in this region,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n
Kabir Taneja, of the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think-tank, said that New Delhi did not want to see conflict in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure those kind of messages have been delivered in the past and will be delivered during this visit as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Israeli foreign ministry official said discussions with a \u201cregional \u00a0aspect\u201d would likely take place during the visit.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a cabinet meeting this week, Netanyahu described India as being part of a future \u201caxis\u201d of like-minded nations that see eye-to-eye in confronting \u201cthe radical Shia axis\u201d and \u201cthe emerging radical Sunni axis.\u201d Iran is governed by a Shia theocracy that is allied with various Shia-dominated militias across the region.<\/p>\n
By \u201cSunni radical axis,\u201d the Israeli premier was referring primarily to Hamas but could also be including Syria\u2019s radical Sunni Islamists in power.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Our) cooperation can yield great results and, of course, ensure our resilience and our future,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
Taneja said that, while \u00a0India was interested in buying Israeli military equipment, New Delhi would hesitate at joining any formal alliance given its history of non-alignment in international affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a two-day visit that both countries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-311069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}