Why Modi’s Israel visit really matters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made history earlier this month by becoming the first Indian premier to visit Israel.

According to Forbes magazine, the state visit was rightly hailed a resounding success by both sides, with India and Israel formalising the multidimensional strategic partnership the two countries have embarked upon in recent years. Modi's trip constitutes the final, long overdue step toward India fully normalising its relations with the Jewish state, a process that belatedly began 25 years ago.

India and Israel's shared post-independence history was characterised by an absence of full diplomatic relations despite sharing several similarities.  India adopted an unsympathetic, if not outright hostile posture toward the Jewish state soon after achieving independence. Cold War politics, a fear of alienating India's large Muslim populace and a desire to maintain strong ties to the Arab world were key factors explaining why.

Moreover, most of India's founding fathers harboured stringently anti-Zionist views, condemning Jewish aspirations in Palestine and drawing unfavourable comparisons between partition of the subcontinent to the creation of the Jewish state.

As Gandhi once famously declared, "Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs."

The abrupt end of the Cold War laid bare the anachronistic assumptions underlying India's imbalanced and ideological Israeli-Palestinian policy. New Delhi realised that its zero-sum approach had reaped few dividends and that engaging Israel on its own terms conferred many strategic, economic and diplomatic benefits on India. As a result, in 1992 India extended full diplomatic recognition to Israel, the last major non-Muslim nation to do so.

Since then, the two countries have quickly made up for lost time. Bilateral ties have flourished in virtually every arena, with defence and security cooperation representing the cornerstones of the relationship. Both states quickly realised they share a congruence of interests in a host of different realms ranging from counterterrorism to water security to everything in between.

Although collaboration was robust and thriving, India preferred to conduct cooperation with the Jewish state behind closed doors and largely out of the public eye for many of the same reasons that had motivated its Israel policy during the Cold War. India also seemed reluctant about expanding its political relationship with Israel even though other facets of the bilateral were rapidly moving forward. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited India in 2003, but an Indian head of state had yet to make a reciprocal visit despite repeated invitations from the Israeli leadership over the years.

Against this backdrop, Modi's trip to Israel was the final step in fully normalising ties between India and Israel. It signalled that India was willing and able to pursue independent relationships with both the Israeli and Palestinians, but not through the prism of the conflict. In a significant break from its past practice, India would finally dehyphenate the two from one another.

Experts predicted that Modi's election as India's prime minister in 2014 would prompt a diplomatic renaissance in India-Israel relations. Modi had visited Israel in 2006 as chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat and was effusive in his praise for the Jewish state and its people. His right-wing views and muscular approach to Islamist terrorism aligned him closely with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ties between India and Israel had previously blossomed and reached their most visible phase under Modi's BJP predecessor, AB Vajpayee.

The predictions proved prescient. Once in office, Modi lost little time in recalibrating India's foreign policy posture toward Israel, thrusting the bilateral relationship into the international spotlight. During his maiden visit to the United States in September 2014, Modi met with officials from the American Jewish Committee and pledged to visit Israel sometime soon.

Israel literally rolled out the red carpet for Modi upon his arrival and Netanyahu and his entire cabinet were on hand at the airport to personally welcome the Indian premier to Israel. The honour is exclusively reserved for Israel's closest friends and most distinguished guests, including the US president and the Pope. The strong personal chemistry between the two prime ministers was palpable from the outset and the two were virtually inseparable for the duration of Modi's three-day visit.

For his part, Modi made clear that he was ushering in a new, more conspicuous phase of India-Israel relations that would privilege the form of the relationship just as much as the substance. Indeed, Modi and Netanyahu literally took a walk on a beach together to cement their new friendship.

India's de-hyphenation efforts were most clearly evidenced by Modi's decision not to meet with any Palestinian officials during his trip, a huge departure from traditional practice. Indian officials normally visit Ramallah when travelling to Israel to preserve the delicate balance that it has traditionally sought to maintain. Even more significantly, the joint statement Modi and Netanyahu conspicuously omitted any mention of a two-state solution.

It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that India has abandoned its century-old relationship with the Palestinians. In May, Modi hosted a state dinner for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New Delhi and reaffirmed India's support for the Palestinian cause, expressing his hope that peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians would resume and will be fruitful.

But at the same time, the message he delivered in Israel was unambiguous: with the Modi government in power, the days of downplaying India's ties with Israel or hyphenating them with the Palestinians were now a vestige of the past.