Note: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel visited Israel during 14-16 January 2018. This was the second visit from India since the normalization of relations in January 1992 and in September 2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited India. Netanyahu’s visit comes within months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in July 2017. Editorials from the international media on the visit are reproduced here. Editor, MEI@ND.

Netanyahu’s visit to India

The Jerusalem Post

Editorial

India and Israel, 9 January 2018

There are a number of reasons for the change of India’s attitude toward Israel. Once upon a time India’s leaders were hesitant to make public displays of ties with the Jewish state. But since the rise to power of Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, this has changed. For the fulltext

ISRAEL HAYOM

Tel Aviv, Editorial, 15 January 2018

Common threats and Shared interests

In a joint statement at the close of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to Israel in July 2017, he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that ties between the two countries had been upgraded to a "strategic partnership”. In a move indicative of the substance of the statement, Netanyahu rushed to reciprocate the visit with an official trip to India just six months later. For the fulltext

ISRAEL HAYOM

Tel Aviv, Editorial, 15 January 2018

Bonds of blood and Diplomacy

What is huge India doing with a tiny country in the Middle East, whose entire population could fit into New Delhi alone twice over? It cannot be taken for granted that this great nation has rolled out the red carpet and the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has chosen to deviate from ceremonial guidelines and stop by to surprise our own prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. For the fulltext

HAARTEZ

Tel Aviv, Editorial

Bibi’s India Visit Shows That the Business of Israel Has Become Business, 19 January 2018

The Palestinians and Iran took a backseat to commerce and tech. Compare that to Sharon’s India visit in 2003 when terrorism was the issue. The contrast between Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to India winding up Friday and the last one by an Israeli prime minister 15 years earlier couldn’t be greater. For the fulltext

HAARETZ

Tel Aviv

Can India Really Play 'Best Friends' to Israel, Palestine and Iran at the Same Time? 15 January 2018

Netanyahu calls India - Israel relations a 'marriage made in heaven'. For the arms trade and public relations, it certainly is. But as Modi won't betray the Palestinians or renounce the Iranians, it resembles more an open marriage - and that might be far less sustainable. For the fulltext

THE JERUSALEM POST

Editorial

Can Israel Replicate its ties with India with the Saudis? 19 January 2018

Until the Palestinians are ready for peace, we should all stop repeating what has repeatedly evaded this land since the Oslo Accords some 25 years ago. In 1990, David Ivry, the legendary ex-commander of the Israel Air Force, flew to London for an off-the-books meeting with India’s defines Minister V.P. Singh. For the fullltext

SUNDAY GAURDIAN LIVE

New Delhi, Editorial,

A Mature Relationship, 13 January 2018

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not the most popular Head of Government on the globe. There are countries where he would not be entirely welcome, were he to visit their capitals. And there are countries such as the United States and India, the two largest democracies in the world that are certain to give him a cordial and heartfelt welcome. For the fulltext

People’s Democracy

New Delhi, Editorial

Netanyahu Not Welcome, 14 January 2018

The prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting India from January 14. His official visit is not something which is to be welcomed. The coalition headed by Netanyahu is the most right-wing government that Israel has had. It consists of ultra-right Jewish parties who openly advocate expulsion of the Palestinian people from the occupied territories and treating the Arabs within the borders of Israel as second-class citizens. For the fulltext

The Print

New Delhi, Editorial

Talk Point: How is Pakistan Reacting to the Israel-India Bromance? 15 January 2018

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in India on his first and a historic visit. The two nations are signing commercial agreements in the areas of cyber-security, military, agriculture, energy, water and health. The visit also marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the two countries. For the fulltext

Millenium Post

New Delhi, Editorial

Netanyahu’s India Sojourn, 15 January 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in India for a six-day visit on Sunday and held bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Modi on Monday at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. A range of MoUs was signed in the fields of oil and gas, renewable energy, amended protocol for airports, cyber security and co-production of films and documentaries. For the fulltext

The Tribune

Chandigarh, Editorial, 15 January 2018

Netanyahu Comes to Delhi

An alliance of common antipathy. Once, the Indian passport barred its holder from travelling to South Africa and Israel. South Africa reversed its status as a global pariah by turning its back on apartheid but Israel was forced to claw its way into the world mainstream by playing on its strengths. Though left and Muslim organizations have geared up to provide token opposition to the six-day visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it has become obvious that the protest has no edge. For the fulltext

The Pioneer

New Delhi, Editorial

Friend in Deed, 16 January 2018

India and Israel established full diplomatic relations only 25 years ago but their ties are stronger than most. The reciprocal visit to India by Benjamin ‘Bibi' Netanyahu after Narendra Modi's historic trip as the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel last year cements the strong relationship between these two nations, so alike yet so different. For the fulltext

The Times of India

Mumbai, Editorial

Six-day tango: Netanyahu’s visit should elevate New Delhi- Tel Aviv beyond Defence, 16 January 2018

Prime Minister Narendra Modi breaking protocol and personally receiving his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu as he landed in Delhi exemplified the bonhomie between the two leaders – shading over into bromance – that is powering bilateral relations today. Netanyahu’s on-going six-day visit to India comes just six months after Modi had made a historic trip to Israel, becoming the first Indian premier to do so.  For the fulltext

The Indian Express

New Delhi, Editorial

Business above Politics, 17 January 2018

Delhi and Tel Aviv must now focus on the economic dimension of India’s engagement with Israel. Two quick prime ministerial visits between India and Israel during the last few months complete the normalization of bilateral relations that began in 1992. This is a good moment for India to end its excessive politicization of the relations with Israel. For the fulltext

The Hindu Bunsinees Line

Chennai, Editorial, 17 January 2018

Realpolitik with Israel, 17 January 2018

The bonhomie between Modi and Netanyahu will not interfere with their respective countries’ options on the world stage. Long before he landed in New Delhi, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made it amply clear he wasn’t about to allow small matters like a UN vote or a cancelled defines deal ruin his burgeoning bromance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the fulltext 

The Hindu

Chennai, Editorial

On a new Keel: Netanyahu’s visit to India, 20 January 2018

With Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, India and Israel have fully normalized bilateral ties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India this week was the final step in the process of fully normalizing the bilateral relationship. For the fulltext

The Economic Times

Mumbai, Editorial

11. For a friendship that brokers peace, 19 January 2018

It is welcome that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, which commemorates 25 years of diplomatic ties between India and Israel, has seen further deepening of bilateral relations and that India’s vote against Israel at the UN (opposing US President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital) has not come in the way. Israel has been a supplier of critical military technology. For the fulltext

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats, to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy