Historic Visit: Indian Prime MInister Lands In Israel

Indian PM Nirada Modi landed in Israel this afternoon (Tuesday). This is the first time that an Indian PM is visiting Israel, and the historic visit comes at a time when Israel and India are celebrating 25 years of diplomatic relations.

At a welcoming ceremony held on the tarmac, Netanyahu welcomed his Indian counterpart and said, “We welcome you with open arms, we love India and are fascinated by your culture, history and democracy, and your dedication to advancement. We see you as kindred spirits in the mission to provide a better future for citizens and to the world”.

Modi also took to the podium and declared in Hebrew, “Shalom, I am happy to be here” and then embraced Netanyahu.

Expressing the historic moment of the visit, Netanyahu told Modi, “We waited for you almost 70 years, this is a great historic day”.

Earlier today during a ‘Mekor Rishon’ convention Netanyahu remarked that “this evening the Indian PM will be arriving here for an historic visit, this is the first such visit by the power. Since the establishment of the state an Indian PM never visited here, and together we will lead Israel-India cooperation to new heights”.

Netanyahu is expected to escort Modi on most of his trip, which will last until Thursday. “I will accompany the prime minister at many events during his visit, as befits the leader of the largest democracy in the world” Netanyahu said Monday during a weekly cabinet meeting.

The two PM’s are also expected to sign on large economic and defense deals, ranging in the Billions of dollars.

In 1992 when diplomatic ties were established, bilateral trade was set at about $200 million. Today it reaches $5 billion, one fifth of which is in Israeli defense export.
About 12,000 non-Jewish Indian nationals currently live and work in Israel, as well as some 80,000 Israeli Jews with at least one parent of Indian origin. Only 5,000 Jews remain in India today.

In Tel Aviv, Modi is also scheduled to meet Moshe Holtzberg, the now 12-year-old son of two Chabad emissaries, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who were killed in a November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. He is also expected to meet with Sandra Samuel, Moshe’s nanny at the time, who rescued the boy on the day of the attack.

The attack on the Indian city’s Chabad House was part of a mass attack in the city by a Pakistani Islamist group that left 166 dead and hundreds injured. In addition to the Holtzbergs, four other Jewish visitors to the Chabad House were killed in the attack.

Translate by Eli B. –‘Times of Israel’ contributed to this story

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