Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel on 25 and 26 February should be seen in the context of the current international strategic environment, which is highly challenging for India.
The United States, with which India had been building a strong relationship since the 1990s, has decisively turned against India in President Donald Trump’s second term. The US is now single-mindedly circumscribing India’s freedom to pursue its interests, slapping sanctions for non-compliance at the drop of a hat.
Israel, on the other hand, offers all that Modi wants to implement his foreign and domestic agendas, and does so without asking questions or attaching conditions. For example, while the US forbids India from buying oil from Russia, Israel has done nothing of that kind. While the US is frowning on Indian investments in Iran, Israel seems unconcerned, even though it is virtually at war with Iran.
Given Trump’s tariffs on Indian goods and the grossly unequal US-India tariff framework agreement, certain sectors of India’s economy are at risk, exacerbating the already strained overall economic situation. The Indian economy has not lived up to the promises made by Modi over the last decade. Investment is sagging and unemployment is increasing. The political opposition is becoming more strident by the day.
In view of these pressures, there is a pressing need for Modi to make a show of strength by keeping up military pressure on Pakistan and using strong-arm methods to keep the Muslim minority in check, as well as snooping on and deploying investigative agencies to rein in opposition parties.
Both can be done with the help of Israel, which is seen by the Indian ruling class as a role model, given the way it has ruthlessly subdued Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and kept political opposition firmly under control.
Another advantage in cultivating Israel is that the India-Israel relationship will not antagonise the US. The US has given Israel elbow room to pursue its interests and indulge in any action it deems fit in pursuit of its goals. That latitude will come in handy for Israel in its bid to cultivate close relations with India.
Another strong plank in India-Israel relations is the fact that Zionism and Modi’s ideology of Hindutva have similar worldviews. Both see Muslims as intruders. The Zionist opposition to Islam and the strong-arm methods Zionist Israel has used against Palestinians can be replicated in India.
Further, the national security state that Modi has assiduously created since coming to power in 2014 requires Israeli snooping equipment such as Pegasus, which was allegedly used against opposition leaders and top journalists in the past.
Growing Military Ties
India has turned to Israeli firms for aircraft, sensors and weapons that now sit at the centre of several major modernisation efforts. Over the past two years, New Delhi has moved forward on tanker aircraft conversions, advanced radar installations, precision-guided munitions and joint production ventures that embed Israeli technology directly into Indian platforms. Today, Israeli systems help power Indian fighter jets, extend their range and improve strike accuracy.
According to Military.com, India’s current fleet of Russian-built Il-78 tankers is ageing and becoming costly to maintain. To address this gap, the Indian Air Force is moving towards acquiring converted Boeing 767 aircraft that can serve as multi-mission tanker transport planes, the website said. This work is expected to be handled by Israel Aerospace Industries, which specialises in converting commercial jets for military refuelling roles.
The proposed deal covers six aircraft and is valued at roughly $900 million. These tankers would allow Indian fighters such as the Rafale and Su-30MKI to remain airborne longer and operate farther from base, a critical capability in any extended air campaign.
Israel Aerospace Industries has also indicated that it can meet New Delhi’s “Make in India” requirement by doing part of the work in India itself.
Israeli technology is already embedded inside Indian fighters. India’s domestically built Tejas light combat aircraft incorporates Israeli avionics, including advanced radar and electronic warfare components, Military.com said. These upgrades bring the jet closer to the capabilities of modern Western fighters. Israel Aerospace Industries and Indian firm DCX Systems recently announced a joint venture focused on advanced aerospace electronics and radar technologies.
History of Arms Procurement
It was in the early 2000s that India became one of Israel’s largest buyers of defence equipment. But it was in 2014, when Modi came to power, that India’s ties with Israel witnessed a sharp upturn; the hesitancy of the past was shed once and for all, Al Jazeera noted.
In July 2017, Modi visited Israel, becoming the first Indian prime minister to do so. A year later, in January 2018, Netanyahu visited New Delhi. In 2021, under Modi, the Indian Air Force participated in a multilateral air force exercise called Blue Flag-2021 in Israel.
Israeli defence companies such as Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems have also established partnerships with Indian firms, including Adani Group and Tata Advanced Systems.
India and Israel established diplomatic relations only in 1992, but defence ties existed even before that, albeit clandestinely. During the 1962 India-China war and the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan over Bangladesh, Israel secretly supplied military equipment to India. Help also came during the Kargil war in 1999, though India had already established diplomatic ties by then.
When war broke out between India and China in 1962, then Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion wrote to Jawaharlal Nehru, offering his sympathies and weapons. India accepted Israeli weapons and munitions but requested that the ships supplying them not bear Israeli flags, so as not to antagonise New Delhi’s Arab allies.
Through India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country began procuring Israeli arms via Liechtenstein. Israeli prime minister Golda Meir wrote to Indira Gandhi seeking diplomatic recognition for Israel in return, but India demurred. Israel said it would respect India’s decision.
In 1999, Israel helped India during the Kargil war, when Indian troops were trying to force out Pakistan’s military and Kashmiri rebels who had occupied strategic positions on the Indian side of the de facto border between the two countries, known as the Line of Control, or LoC. Israel supplied laser-guided bomb kits and missiles, Al Jazeera reported.
Economic Ties Advance
Trade relations between India and Israel have also strengthened under the Modi government. India is currently Israel’s second-largest trading partner in Asia, after China.
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, trade jumped from $200 million in 1992 to $6.5 billion in 2024. India’s main exports to Israel include pearls, precious stones, automotive diesel, chemicals, machinery and electrical equipment, while imports include petroleum products, chemical machinery and transport equipment.
The two countries signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty last September. Israeli companies have sought to hire more workers from India in recent years. After Israel suspended work permits for thousands of Palestinians following the October 2023 Hamas attack, Israel hired thousands of Indians to work in their place.
There is, however, a danger that India’s relations with the Arab world and Iran could be adversely affected by the increasingly open and public embrace of Israel.
But India does not envisage a destructive fallout, arguing that the Arab and Islamic worlds have themselves been equivocal on the issue and none the worse for it. This is an era of multi-alignment and strategic autonomy, approaches countries have been pushed into adopting as they seek resilience amid Trump’s disruptive second term as US president.