India-Israel relations; an Essay

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Abstract:

The essay focuses on bringing a deeper understanding to all readers who wish to be more informed on the special relationship between India and the State of Israel. This paper will seek to analyse certain factors concerning the cultural, economic, military, and political aspects of this so-called beneficial fellowship that has numerous national interests pursued by both Israel and India. It will also concentrate on the leaders of the two countries who did their best to develop Indian-Israel relations. However, the main perspective of this work is to find out why these two countries have grown their relations in recent years.

Introduction.

Israel is obviously one of those countries which you cannot openly be controversial with. It has a lot of diplomatic means to compel other political states to side with Israel. For example, the country has initiated a political tool called “Spyware Diplomacy” which not only helps the country get access to other parties’ territory but also makes them closer to Israel. This policy has been carried out by numerous Israeli Governments led by the likes of Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, and Yair Lapid. This type of diplomacy aims at strengthening Israel’s soft power at the international level (Melman, 2022). Nevertheless, when it comes to India, a country that is developing rapidly. The question stands “why is this relationship so special?”.

In order to answer this question, we need to take a glance at these two countries and what emotionally connects them. Both India and Israel have a common enemy. That is why they can emotionally interact with each other. It would be right for us to cite these two countries gained their independence around the same time and have gone through the same sorts of hardships such as unjustified wars with their neighbours and religious terrorism. Common trauma is something that has been engraved in the hearts of Israelis and Indians and it certainly brings these two peoples together.

After one engages in a conversation with an Indian and Israeli citizen, one realises they have both suffered from the same fates that emotionally link them. As the bombs rained over the skies of Tel Aviv, hundreds of Indians demonstrated acts of solidarity with fellow Israelis. A nation that has been suffering from Islamic terrorism and pressure coming from the neighbouring nations. We can quote, it is two of the oldest civilisations and religions of India and the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) that unify two ancient nations. However, there are other factors that we cannot deny the existence of. For example, the political or religious aspects of this fruitful relationship play a vital role in maintaining corporation between India and Israel at the highest level. This paper will convey answers and interpretations as to why these two nations of three thousand years have rapidly established mutual relations despite the fact that India only recognised the existence of the Jewish state back in 1950 after two years past from Israel’s declaration of independence and only deputised an ambassador to the diplomatic capital of Israel, Tel Aviv back in 1993 which is neither seen nor conceived as the capital city of Israel by the state itself and other political entities (Kumaraswamy,1995).  

I will divide this essay into sections which will deal with answering my research question. They will have been devoted to providing the readers with the interpretations of political, economic, military, and cultural relations between India and Israel.

Body Part.

We can perceive human interaction differently than those who major in sociology or anthropology but as scholars of political science, we are capable of making our own case to support the arguments we make. I can concur with the fact that cultures make nations. From my point of view, I have observed elements that unite people as a nation. The people make the state, and the state consists of various sorts of people with different ethnicities and backgrounds. As a person of the Hebrew faith, I was born and raised in the Republic of Azerbaijan, a country that is known for its tolerance and hospitality. That is why I embraced my identity not as an Israeli but as an Azerbaijani who has been influenced by the Mizrahi (Middle Eastern Jewish) culture. On the other hand, we can apply this technique to the political sphere to acquire positive results.

Similar cultures.

My argument for cultural links between India and Israel lies on the surface of the majority religions of these two countries. Judaism and Hinduism are the main players of cultural similarities that aims at boosting a loving relationship amongst most Indians and Israelis. Even though Hinduism does not urge to worship one single God (HaShem) it still promotes harmony and spirituality in leading a peaceful life and being a decent example for society. 

Hinduism and Judaism are two of the world’s oldest religions. Throughout both the ancient and modern worlds, there are some similarities and interactions. For instance, both cultures have a long history, with roots dating back to the Iron Age while both beliefs first appeared in the Asian subcontinent around the tenth century BCE. Some scholars even considered both religions to be ethnic religions that did not encourage conversions, unlike Christianity and Islam. Both religions share a complicated system of laws, purity codes, and dietary restrictions (no red meat consumption in Hinduism and Kosher in Judaism which is now only practised by observant Jewish populations) in order to define their communities. Brahmins and Jews who identified as “God’s chosen people.” Jews had a “Kingdom of Priests,” while Brahmins had a “community of priests.”.

There are also other tokens that assemble similarities between these two ancient religions. For example, Hinduism holds various views on the nature and identity of the gods, recognising monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, and pantheism. In Judaism, God is absolute. There are also laws, regulations, customs, and royal decrees in “the Halakhah” of the Jewish tradition and in the dhamma of the Hindu tradition binding on members of their respective communities. Hindus have also never persecuted Jews, and there is no record of Hindus facing persecution from Jews. The establishment of Zionist Israel as a Jewish state was supported by Hindu nationalists who wanted to make India completely a Hindu state. Jews have lived in India for over 2000 years and have never been discriminated against. The similarities between Judaism and Hinduism may coincide as Judaism developed independently of Hinduism. Both religions are ancient, and they arguably have so much something in common. 

It is well known that the early Hebrews had twelve tribes with clearly defined boundaries in their social structure. These two religions are the basis of several other religions. Religions like Christianity, Islam, and Mormonism are descended from Judaism, while Hinduism is from Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Jewish and Hindu groups face countless hate on social media platforms. Both Hebrew and Hindu literature have literary and linguistic significance. The ritual nature of both Hinduism and Judaism is notable in its own way. After looking into all these facts about similarities between Hinduism and Judaism, we can say these are spiritual religions loved by the worshippers of other Gods as well but unfortunately the believers of both Hinduism and Judaism are often targeted by radical Muslims in Israel, India and elsewhere. That is one of the unifying factors of these two beliefs. It is unfortunate to state radical Islam forced Hindus and Jews to even come closer as two peoples (Pruthi, 2019).

Political relations.

Democracy is a fragile form of government. When you happen to find yourself in complex regions such as the Middle East or Southeast Asia, you can find it challenging to reinstate a democratic state that has core principles such as freedom of religion and speech. Nevertheless, India which has a population of 1.3 billion people can still manage to be the biggest democracy in the world (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/). Other non-democratic nations such as China and Afghanistan (106 kilometres from the Kashmir region) failed to have democracies in the region while the Chinese Communist Party established a regime that is said to be more successful than democratic India. Therefore, many political scholars and experts advise Indian leaders to learn from the success story of the Chinese Communist Party (Kulkarni, 2021). On the other hand, Israel has also managed to bring democracy to the darkest region on planet earth. As a matter of fact, Israel remains to be the only democracy in the Middle East according to the Economist intelligence unit’s charter (2020). In order to protect and cherish this democracy, Israel has had to fight for its freedom numerous times with its neighbours who have done their knavish deeds to deprive Israel of its liberties.

Besides being democratic and principled these two nations happen to believe in the same ideologies. Conservatism is a predominantly well-embraced ideology that both Indians and Israelis look up to while heading to the polling stations. Which is another reason why both countries have been reigned by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Likud-led coalition of right-wing parties for years now. Even after former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition, the country did not get to be ruled by anyone of the left-wing ideologies but by a far-right statesperson Naftali Bennett. These Israeli and Indian right-wing politicians pledge to bring stability and security to their countries which favour them to be elected by the war-seen generations of both Israel and India. Their personal relations also bring a positive approach to establishing diplomatic ties to further develop relations between these two countries. For instance, when the Indian PM Narendra Modi refused to visit Ramallah, it was former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu who accidentally revealed the reason why he rebuffed to do so also proving the close relations between these two Prime Ministers (2017).

Economic relations.

Economic dependence and bilateral trade agreements are the indicators of truth between two countries. Trade has also drastically grown and benefited both nations. For example, since the two countries’ diplomatic ties were established in 1992, the volume of their bilateral trade and commercial interactions has increased significantly. From US$ 200 million in 1992 (primarily made up of diamonds), the merchandise trade diversified and reached US$ 7.86 billion (excluding defence) during the years 2021–2022, with India benefiting from the trade balance.

 India is Israel’s second-biggest commercial partner in Asia and its ninth-largest internationally. Though bilateral commerce is driven mostly by diamonds and chemicals, recent years have seen a surge in trade in sectors such as electronic machinery and high-tech items; communications systems; medical equipment, and so on. India remains a ‘priority’ nation for the Israeli government’s expanded economic endeavours. India and Israel have resumed discussions for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with the goal of concluding it by 2022. 

Pearls and precious stones, chemical and mineral goods, machinery and electrical equipment, textile and textile items, plastics, rubber, plants and vegetable products, mineral products, rubber and plastic products, base metals, and transport equipment are among India’s major exports to Israel while pearls and precious stones, chemical and mineral goods, industrial and electrical equipment, basic metals, military, manufacturing, and transport equipment are among Israel’s major exports to India (https://commerce.gov.in/). These positive developments in trade between India and Israel are supported by the data reports of DGCIS (Ministry of Commerce and Industry DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE) trade figures. 

There have also been recent developments to even invest more capital in Israel since the Port of Haifa was sold to India’s Adani Ports for 1.2 billion USD. This news was also welcomed by the Finance Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman as he quoted: “the privatization of the port of Haifa will increase competition at the ports and lower the cost of living”. However, Adani will have a majority 70% stake and Gadot (the Israeli firm) will hold the remaining 30%, according to an industry official (Rabinovitch and Saul, 2022). Such positive news once again proves the fact that these two nations are willing to increase the volume of foreign trade and investment between each other.

Indo-Israel Military Cooperation.

When it comes to defence, Israel is the only country that does not need to be lectured about how to defend itself from foreign, terrorist attacks and catastrophic atrocities such as bombardments of major cities which are everyday activities in Israel. All citizens of the country are used to going to shelters within seconds. After all, it is not a blessing to have a physical border with Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. It is one of the reasons that Israel has developed air defence systems such as “the Iron Dome”, “David’s Sling/Magic Wand” and “Arrow/Hetz”. This military equipment not only saves the lives of thousands of innocent Israeli Jews, Arabs and Druze but also proves to be effective in high demand for those who want to purchase these systems and their batteries. 

India as a close ally of the Jewish State has also been active in obtaining Israeli-made military equipment. It is no secret that New Delhi is now the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment, while Israel is India’s largest customer after Russia. Israel is the sort of country which opposes radical fundamentalism while supporting nations that are in danger of terrorism. It also wants to increase its trade in Asia to diversify export markets in response to potential trade sanctions in Europe, while India is keen to buy cutting-edge Israeli arms and access new technology to help upgrade its ill-equipped armed forces. India is one of Israel’s largest clients for unarmed drones, and analysts believe Tel Aviv is eager to capitalise on its lead over competitor manufacturers like the United States to expand sales to Delhi (Wilkes, 2015).

Conclusion.

At the end of my essay, I would like to look back at the four main factors which I analysed to bring a deeper understanding of Indo-Israel relations. These four factors were vital in establishing a fruitful relationship for both parties. However, what I need to mention is the role of these two countries’ leaders is also undeniable as they did their best to strengthen and boost India-Israel relations. Since PM Narendra Modi was elected, these relations have initiated a new process of growth in trade and military corporations which brought massive amounts of exchange of capital and military equipment to India. Whilst Israel also enjoyed purchasing new goods and attracting lots of investors to fund numerous projects in Israel. The former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu also contributed to the growth of relations between India and Israel by inviting his Indian counterpart to bid on a visit to Israel. That is how Narendra Modi became the very first Indian PM to step on Israeli soil (Suri, 2017). 

Political leaders characterise their nations. In order to maintain this abundant relationship from Jerusalem to New Delhi, it takes more than two PMs to shake hands. The vibrant people of these countries have always believed in harmony and fought against the foes who want to see both India and Israel wiped off the surface of the planet. Nonetheless, the determination displayed by both nations has helped them build outstanding international reputations that are an example for all other countries with enormous potential that needs to be unleashed. India-Israel relations are essential in the age of cyber security and military alliances. From the tech sector to logistics, India and Israel intend on cooperating and benefiting from one another’s rare resources. 

Today, India holds the record of being a close ally of the State of Israel but there is also another way to support the Jewish State. It is to relocate the Indian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I genuinely believe this would spark bright lights for the further advancement of Delhi’s support and endorsement of the legitimacy of the Israeli capital. 

Citations.

1. Melman, Y. (2022) Israel’s spyware diplomacy is an extension of its long bloody history of arms sales, Haaretz.com. Haaretz. Available at: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/2022-02-03/ty-article/.premium/israels-spyware-diplomacy-is-an-extension-of-its-long-bloody-history-of-arms-sales/0000017f-f882-ddde-abff-fce787ac0000 (Accessed: October 7, 2022).

• Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.31, No.1, January 1995, pp.124-138 PUBLISHED BY FRANK CASS, LONDON.

• Pruthi, B. (2019) ‘Hinduism and Judaism should come together’, Return to frontpage. The Hindu. Available at: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/hinduism-and-judaism-should-come-together/article29263943.ece(Accessed: October 10, 2022).

• Kulkarni, S. (2021) As China’s Communist Party turns 100, Indian leaders would do well to learn from its success, Scroll.in. Scroll.in. Available at: https://scroll.in/article/996921/as-chinas-communist-party-turns-100-indian-leaders-would-do-well-to-learn-from-its-success Accessed: October 11, 2022).

• (2014) India: the biggest democracy in the world. Brussels: European Parliament https://www.europarl.europa.eu/. 

• Global democracy has another Bad Year (2020) The Economist. The Economist Newspaper. Available at: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/01/22/global-democracy-has-another-bad-year (Accessed: October 11, 2022).

• Benjamin Netanyahu accidentally reveals why Narendra Modi did not visit Palestine during Israel trip (2017) India Today. India Today. Available at: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/benjamin-netanyahu-reveals-why-narendra-modi-did-not-visit-palestine-1025662-2017-07-21 (Accessed: October 11, 2022).

• Ministry of Commerce and Industry DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, WANA EXIM (2018-19 to 2019-20), Bilateral Trade Statistics, https://commerce.gov.in/about-us/divisions/foreign-trade-territorial-division/foreign-trade-wana/?hilite=%27israel%27

• Saul, J. and Rabinovitch, A. (2022) Israel sells Haifa port to India’s Adani Ports, Israel’s Gadot for $1.2 bln, Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/business/indias-adani-ports-israels-gadot-buy-haifa-port-israels-finmin-2022-07-14/ (Accessed: October 12, 2022).

1. Wilkes, T. (2015) Israeli defence minister lands at India airshow to boost arms sales, Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airshow-india-israel-idUSKBN0LM0WL20150218 (Accessed: October 12, 2022).

1. Suri, M. (2017) Indian prime minister makes historic visit to Israel, CNN. Cable News Network. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/04/asia/indian-prime-minister-israel/index.html (Accessed: October 12, 2022).