India's defence ties with Israel key in wake of the Ukraine conflict: Expert

In an interview with ETV Bharat's Chandrakala Choudhury, Prof Harsh V Pant, Head of Strategic Studies, ORF said, “India-Israel ties have been going upwards and progressing well. And the defense relationship, in particular, is going to be very important for India as India decides to diversify its defense relationships."

New Delhi: With Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz set to visit India next week, amid the Russian-Ukraine crisis, ETV Bharat sought the reaction of Professor Harsh V Pant, Head of Strategic Studies, ORF on the same. “India-Israel ties have been going upwards and progressing well. And the defense relationship, in particular, is going to be very important for India as India decides to diversify its defense relationships. The Ukraine crisis has brought forth the problem of India’s extreme dependence on Russia."

Earlier in April this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Israeli counterpart and held a detailed discussion on recent geopolitical developments, including the situation in Ukraine. They also reviewed ongoing bilateral cooperation initiatives. "Increasingly, India will have to figure out how to respond to the challenges with Russia getting bogged down in Ukraine. So, India needs partners that can help the country overcome the void that Russia will end up creating in India’s defense matrix. Therefore, Israel is going to be an important partner and it has already been growing in stature in India’s defense sector. The ties are likely to improve in the future," added Professor Pant.

India and Israel elevated their bilateral ties to a strategic partnership during the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017. India is the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest supplier of military equipment to India after Russia.

When asked if the unresolved Palestine issue will negate the partnership between the two countries, Harsh Pant opined that the Palestine issue is not going to be a big obstacle and said, “India has a de-hyphenated relationship with Israel and Palestine and I think, India is maintaining a relationship with Israel, which is independent of India’s relationship with Palestine. And that’s what one of the achievements of the past few years has been.”

Elaborating further, he adds, “While the Palestine issue remains an important one for India, it is not going to be a constraint in developing defense ties or other ties with Israel. India is not only looking at Israel bilaterally in West Asia but also if you look at the Middle Eastern ‘Quad’ that came into being last year with India, the US, Israel, and UAE, India's relationship with Israel is also impacting India’s multilateral engagements in the Middle East. As the Middle East itself undergoes a ‘transformation’ with Abraham accords and America’s changing strategic posture in the region, India is certainly going to look at Israel as a very important partner.”

The military and strategic ties between India-Israel extend to intelligence-sharing on terrorist groups and joint military training. The relationship has gained momentum recently with the focus on the joint development of weapons systems.

In a special video message on the completion of 30 years of full-fledged diplomatic relations between India and Israel, Modi said this period has been very important for both countries. Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has earlier described the deep relationship between India and Israel as one coming from the heart and not being about interests and asked Prime Minister Modi to work together to take the bilateral ties to a whole new level.