The Arab news site "The New Arab" wrote: In a move to consolidate ties with the newly elected Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar was in Tel Aviv last month.
Taking place at a time when strategic partnerships like the 2020 Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain could potentially change the Middle East, this meeting had a special significance. During the talks, Bennett spoke about developing “the unique and warm relations between the two democracies”.
Just two weeks later, a landmark 10-year defence collaboration was announced in Tel Aviv at the 15th meeting of the India-Israel joint working group (JWG) by Indian Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Director-General of the Israeli Defence Ministry, Major General Amir Eshel (retd).
Over the years, the focus of Indo-Israel ties has been on military-security cooperation, so the development is not surprising. A long-term plan can synchronise their joint capabilities even further.
Military roadmap
“Though India and Israel have been cooperating on intelligence matters, particularly since the China-India border war in 1962, bilateral military cooperation has become very strong after establishing formal diplomatic relations in 1992,” Ashok Swain, Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at the Uppsala University in Sweden, told The New Arab, commenting on the 10-year military roadmap.
“Israel’s improved ties with Gulf countries have taken away India’s little hesitation to go for an open alliance with the Jewish nation. India is the second-largest arms buyer globally, and it has been trying hard to move away from its traditional dependence on Soviet/Russian arms,” he said.
“Israel has not only come forward in selling high-quality military equipment to India, but it has also been increasingly engaged in technology transfer and assisting India to achieve self-reliance in arms manufacturing,” he added. “Israel has already become almost the second largest arms market for India. The militaries of both countries also often carry out joint training.”
According to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Israel has been one of India’s top three weapons suppliers for the past five years, accounting for 13% of New Delhi’s arms imports. Tel Aviv has also had collaborative technology transfers with New Delhi for nearly three decades.