The Indian leader’s second visit to the country comes amid protests over allegations of genocide in Gaza
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on a two-day visit to Israel on Wednesday amid protests over allegations of genocide in Gaza.
Modi is slated to deliver a speech in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
Netanyahu is keen to bring Modi and India into a proposed ‘Hexagon of Alliances’, a strategic pet initiative of the Israeli leader aimed at targeting what he terms as radical adversaries.
Modi himself has championed causes close to opponents of radical schools of thought, but may not play ball on Netanyahu’s outreach, as it could pose difficult geopolitical constraints to New Delhi’s Arab partnerships.
Balancing act
India has enjoyed warm ties with many Gulf nations but has had traditionally lukewarm links with Israel. New Delhi recognized Israel in 1950, but it took more than four decades to establish full diplomatic relations – in 1992.
It was during Modi’s first visit to Israel in 2017 that ties began to warm up between New Delhi and West Jerusalem. The relationship was then given an upgrade to a strategic partnership.
The main thrust of the Modi government’s Israeli initiative has been defense, communication, and trade ties in an essential balancing act that Modi governments have had to perform in order to manage the sensitivities of Arab allies as much as Israeli suitors.
In business terms, Indian direct investment to Israel increased significantly from 2000 to 2025, including the 2022 acquisition of the port of Haifa, Israel’s largest, by the Adani Group.
During the period, India ranked as Israel’s second-largest Asian trade partner, with bilateral commerce dominated by diamonds, petroleum, and chemicals. Commerce gradually expanded to electronics, communications, medical equipment, and high-tech products.
Netanyahu’s ‘Hexagon’ initiative
The Israeli leader envisages a bloc comprising Israel, India, Greece, Cyprus, and as yet unnamed Arab and African nations that focuses on trade and security.
But Netanyahu’s broader aim is to forge a coalition against what he terms the broader Shia and Sunni axis, with Iran at the core.
Iran has long been considered a traditional Indian ally, one which New Delhi cannot dump for the sake of Israel, without ruffling feathers with its international friends, including Moscow. Russia, it should be noted, is also a traditional ally of India.
Iran’s backing of Hezbollah, which Israel sees as the Middle East’s biggest non-state threat in Lebanon, is at the core of this animosity. Iran-backed Shiite groups are vocal about their backing for Hamas, which again is Israel’s archenemy.
Despite perceived fundamental ideological opposition to such radical outfits, Modi is likely not inclined to be caught in the crossfire between these geopolitical foes.
The Modi dispensation would instead go all out to secure the cooperation of Israel in all sectors, ranging from trade to technology, but is unlikely to openly thrust itself into the vortex of a raging antagonism between Israel and its foes that is at the core of the conflict that has been engulfing the Middle East.
Modi will offer Netanyahu all the attention at the leaders’ discussions that will be held at Fattal Lounge, Ben-Gurion Airport. Indian envoy to Israel J P Singh is on record as saying the talks there are expected to be “very free-flowing” and will cover “bilateral, plus regional and global issues.” The meeting is a closed-door one, open only to official photographers.
Modi’s scheduled Knesset speech is Netanyahu’s gift of attention, making Modi the first Indian prime minister to have that distinction and placing him in a group with US President Donald Trump, late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Argentine President Javier Milei.
Israel has entered into arms deals worth $8.6 billion this year. Now defense talks will happen, but the sides are also pushing for a free trade pact, which may take shape this year itself.
Opposition roadblocks
The opposition in Israel as well as India are up in arms against the Modi visit, though for fundamentally different reasons.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid has said his bloc will boycott the address as Knesset chair Amir Ohana has not invited Supreme Court President Issac Amit. Backdoor diplomacy to solve this issue could happen, as the boycotting bloc doesn’t consider Modi an adversary.
Unlike the Israeli opposition, Modi’s political opponents in India are fuming over the alleged genocide in Gaza. Ideological opposition to Israel and overwhelming backing for Palestine is at the core of this political stance. But the most vehement criticism of the Indian prime minister’s Israel trip has come from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which holds sway in a southern state where local polls are to be held in May.
Modi’s embrace of Zionist Israel amidst its relentless genocidal assault on Palestine is a betrayal of India’s anti-colonial legacy and our long-standing position in support of the right to self determination of the Palestinian people, reaffirmed by UN resolutions that India has…
The Palestine issue is a vote-grabber in the state, hence the visible posturing by the ruling party that is desperate to maintain dominance in the only state in which it is in power. The main opposition Congress is mostly muted in its criticism, with only a lower-profile lawmaker voicing opposition to the controversial trip.
Thus, opposition to an Israel visit by an Indian prime minister cannot be strident in Modi’s government, which has enjoyed the unflinching backing of its Hindu majority. As long as Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party hold sway over large swaths of the population and demography, the protests linked to the Palestine issue cannot attract nationwide attention to inflame political passions.
Criticism of Modi’s embrace of Israel has thus only been subtly camouflaged for the optics of a votebank, and not to suit a larger political arena.
