Closet relationship now in full public bloom
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's announcement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Israel soon marks an important, even if largely symbolic, course correction in Indian foreign policy. No Indian Prime Minister has visited the Jewish nation till date, even though bilateral ties have grown from strength to strength. India and Israel are each other's biggest defence partners, the foundation for this robust relationship having been laid during the Kargil conflict when Jerusalem sent New Delhi military assistance.
Today, the Indian Navy is preparing to testfire the jointly developed Barak 8 missile, and Israel's Phalcon Airborne Warning And Control System serves as the Indian Air Force's eye in the skies. In agriculture, Israel's drip technology has enlivened the deserts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, while Israeli desalination plants are revolutionising water supply in Tamil Nadu. Bilateral trade has also grown from a modest $200 million in 1992 to more than five billion dollars now. At the people-to-people level, there is widespread admiration in India for the manner in which Israel has not just survived existential threats but thrived. From the other side, thousands of young Israeli tourists come to India each year, safe in the knowledge that they will not be threatened by anti-semitism, which is again on the rise in the West.
Yet, despite this all-round rapid growth in bilateral ties, the warmth and friendship between the two nations had not been reflected at the political level. The Indian foreign policy establishment and notable sections of the Indian public inherited a strong anti-Israel bias from the early independence years. Struggling to protect its vote-bank from the Muslim league, the Congress sought to appease the minority community by shunning Israel; the Mahatma misunderstood the Zionist movement as an imperial mission; and Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter courted the Arab powers
Today, much of that bias has been erased. But official changes to state policy take time and political gumption. These two factors never quite came together under previous regimes, mostly led by the Congress. Though it was a Congress Prime Minister, PV Narasimha Rao, who established diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992, and the bilateral expanded under the Congress-led UPA regime in this past decade, Congress-ruled New Delhi was still reluctant to acknowledge the partnership. The Modi Government, however, is unencumbered by old ideological constraints. Besides, the BJP has traditionally had a pro-Israel policy.
It was BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who broke the diplomatic ice between the two countries and almost all senior BJP leaders have travelled to Israel. Ms Swaraj was chief of the parliamentary committee on India-Israel friendship and, under Mr Modi's chief ministership, Gujarat established strong trade links with Israel. In fact, ever since the prospect of a Modi-led BJP Government emerged on the Indian political horizon, there had been speculation about a prime ministerial visit. Thus, while Ms Swaraj's announcement on Sunday is not breaking news, the official confirmation is welcome. The dates for the prime ministerial tour are yet to be finalised; Ms Swaraj has stated she will be travelling to Israel as well as to Palestine and Jordan later this year.