New Delhi: With Naftali Bennett appointed as the new Prime Minister of Israel-a strange new coalition, which ousted Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years, ETV Bharat spoke with former Indian ambassador and former Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, who served as the Deputy Chief of Mission in India’s embassy in Israel from 1995-1999, to understand what Bennett’s leadership means for India-Israel relations.
“India-Israel ties are unlikely to witness any change with the formation of the new government because both the countries are heavily invested in the substantive areas of the ties. After Bennett took over as the PM of Israel, the congratulatory messages sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EAM Jaishankar’s has evoked a warm response from Bennett as well as Alternate PM and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. They have reciprocated to further strengthening bilateral ties particularly strategic ties. Therefore, I do not see anyone rocking the boat of bilateral ties”, former ambassador Pinak Ranjan told ETV Bharat in an interview.
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India’s multifaceted relations with Israel transformed into a strategic partnership in 2017, a quarter-century after the establishment of full diplomatic relation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on a state visit to the West Asian country, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so. Moreover, Israel is India’s largest supplier of defence equipment, though Russia continues to take the first slot.
Further, when asked about Bennett’s approach in tackling issues like the Palestinian conflict, Chakravarty said that no movement on the Palestinian issue can be expected from the new leadership.
“The new Prime Minister is known to be the right-wing of Israel society and some say even more right-wing than the Former PM Netanyahu. Therefore, I do not think that Bennett would be able to pursue the agenda of the right-wing because the whole coalition is now composed of the left-wing including for the first time an Arab party.
A huge challenge will be to maintain ties with the Arab party. Moreover, Bennett will be PM only for two years. Hence, it is very unlikely that he can take any new initiatives. I think the Palestinian issue will remain frozen and no new initiatives will be taken. More or less the status quo might be maintained “, he said.
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On being asked if Netanyahu will continue to be in the limelight and try every possible way to form a coalition govt in the future, Chakravarty said that Netanyahu remains the leader of the largest opposition party-the Likud with almost 30 seats in the Knesset.
“Hence, he will be remembered as the leader of the opposition and will certainly not going to fade away. He will try his very best to bring down the new government which is a coalition of eight parties with a lot of contradictions between them. Netanyahu may try very hard to break the coalition”, he added.
Former Ambassador Jitendra Tripathi said that India-Israel ties will not change because the relations are based on defence, security, intelligence requirements, scientific and agricultural cooperation.
“India has always recognized and fought for the cause of two-nation theory when it comes to the Palestinian crisis. But India opposed the terrorist attack by Hamas. India’s relations with Palestine are different from the relations with Israel. Our relations with Palestine is based on the political principle of self-determination but the relations with Israel is on a different platform. Relations between India and Israel are not built on personal friendship but solid strategic compulsions”, Tripathi explained.
The bilateral ties between India and Israel have grown over the years and the relationship will remain intact despite Netanyahu’s absence. It is worth noting that Netanyahu had invested a considerable amount of efforts to strengthen the ties with India and ever since that, the ties between the two nations have witnessed immense growth in various sectors be it strategy, technology or agriculture etc. Similarly, India attaches utmost importance to ties with Israel.
The bonhomie between PM Modi and Former Israeli PM Netanyahu has been quite famous in India.
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The bilateral relation even got stronger during the pandemic, with Israel extending support and aid to India which has been hit hard by the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
India’s abstention during the recent vote at the UN Human Rights Council for an independent inquiry into the violations by Israel in Gaza was welcomed with appreciation in Israel.
Hence, whether it is Netanyahu-the longest-serving Israeli leader or Bennett or any other Israeli politicians all want close ties with India. But it would be interesting to watch the balancing skills of the new leadership in Israel in the next two years.
