India–Israel relations
Bilateral relations / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Since the 1990s, the Republic of India and the State of Israel have had a comprehensive economic, military, and political relationship.[1][2] In 1947, India voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, but nonetheless recognized Israeli sovereignty in 1950. Israel opened a consulate in Bombay in 1953. Collaboration gradually increased as Israel became a key Indian ally amidst the India–Pakistan conflict; Israel supplied India with armaments, ammunition, and intelligence during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1999. Full diplomatic relations were established in 1992, when India opened an embassy in Tel Aviv and Israel opened an embassy in New Delhi. Both countries are members of the I2U2 Group, formed in October 2021,[3] and have stated that they have a strong bilateral relationship, sharing similarities in spirit and facing common challenges, increasingly cooperating in the industrial and technological sectors.[4]
India |
Israel |
---|---|
Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of India, Tel Aviv | Embassy of Israel, New Delhi |
Envoy | |
Ambassador Sanjeev Singla | Ambassador Naor Gilon |
As of 2022[update], India is Israel's largest client for military equipment sales, and Israel is India's second-largest supplier of military equipment after Russia;[5] approximately 42.1% of all Israeli arms exports are received by India.[6] From 1999 to 2009, military business between the two countries was worth around US$9 billion,[7] and their strategic ties extend to joint military training as well as intelligence-sharing on the activity of various terrorist groups.[8][9]
As of 2019[update], India is Israel's third-largest Asian trade partner and tenth-largest overall trade partner – bilateral trade, excluding military sales, stands at around US$6.3 billion.[10] Relations were further expanded under Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, with India abstaining from voting against Israel in several United Nations resolutions.[11] As of 2015[update], both countries are negotiating an extensive bilateral free-trade agreement, focusing on areas such as information technology, biotechnology, and agriculture.[12][13]
Israel is represented in India through an embassy in New Delhi as well as consulates in Mumbai and Bangalore. India is represented in Israel through an embassy in Tel Aviv; the Indian government does not currently recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city (see status of Jerusalem).
In 2009, an international study on the Arab–Israeli conflict revealed that around 58 percent of Indian respondents sympathized with Israel—the most positive opinion of any country surveyed.[14]