A Strategic Partnership for a Secure Future

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The world is at present undergoing a global reset! In these shifting sands of time, World leaders are traversing across continents, mapping their global geostrategic alliances - bilateral, trilateral or even multilateral, keeping in mind their national security interests. In this edition of SP’s Land Forces, we bring some of such recent events, visits, meetings with a specific emphasis on India-Israel bilateral equation.

In the lead story, Ranjit Kumar covers the recent visit of the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to India on May 9, 2023 where he had constructive meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others. While a common path for the strategic partnership of the two countries was discussed, especially on the pillars of agriculture, water, defence & security, mutual cooperation for the benefit of Arab nations was also underlined. Buoyed by becoming a part of four nation West Asian alliance I2U2 (India, Israel, USA, United Arab Emirates), both India and Israel are set to play a bigger role in the Arab World.

Major General Atanu K. Pattanaik (Retd) details the foundations of India Israel relations remembering the 61st Cavalry Regiment in the Indian Army that still celebrates the battle of Haifa every year in the memory of soldiers who laid their lives to liberate Haifa during World War I and some other significant moments. Recently, India and Israel marked 30 years of excellent ties and relations between India and Israel have really grown over the last 3 decades and there is a broad consensus between both the countries on further strengthening the bilateral strategic and defence cooperation. The ‘India–Israel Vision on Defence Cooperation’ adopted by both countries to enhance cooperation on futuristic defence technologies opens up tremendous opportunities to take the Indo-Israel partnership to infinite heights.

Lt General P.C. Katoch (Retd) shares a report on the recent three-day visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin that definitely could not go unnoticed especially by the United States, given that America’s Joe Biden administration had “warned” China not to militarily support Russia in Ukraine. The Ukraine war has also seen the NATO membership of Finland being pushed through expeditiously. This is being covered in another report that also includes the realignment in relations taking place in the Middle East with China playing the mediator. This edition also includes glimpses from the official talks of the Indian Prime Minister with the Japanese counterpart during the latter’s visit to India. The IndiaJapan bilateral strategic relations, is one of the success stories of Indian diplomacy in the first two decades of the 21st century, which the world is watching closely. All this and more in this issue of SPs Land Forces!

JAYANT BARANWAL Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

After extensive discussions with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and NSA Ajit Doval on bilateral, regional and international issues, besides a courtesy call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Indian external ministry talked in glowing terms about the evolving India Israel defence and strategic partnerships. A MEA statement said, “Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s India visit provided further impetus to the bilateral cooperation that has remained on a qualitatively higher trajectory since the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in 2017.”

India and Israel, which till a few years ago, kept the relations behind the curtains, now have matured to the level that both now openly talk of their deepening relations, irrespective of sensitivities in the Arab world and the minority community in the country.

Post Covid and post Russia Ukraine conflict, the geopolitical alignments will drastically change and will lead to a new wave of militarisation, which offers a golden opportunity to a very unique India Israel strategic and defence partnership for fulfilling the needs of military systems of various friendly countries. From Europe to Africa to Asia, countries are now gearing up to modernise their military systems. This will raise the worldwide demand for new defence hardware. Keeping this in mind, the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh discussed the issue with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eliyahu Cohen, and acknowledged the cooperation being extended by Israeli companies.

In response to Rajnath Singh’s suggestion, the Israeli Minister affirmed continued cooperation of Israel in India’s endeavour for indigenisation and conveyed the willingness to cooperate & partner in advanced technologies. During the meeting the defence minister Rajnath Singh acknowledged the completion of 30 years of diplomatic rela- tionship between the two countries and looked forward to further strengthening the bilateral ties. Without any reference to changing international dynamics, the Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh asked Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen for coproduction of weapon systems in tune with the ‘Make in India’ policy to promote defence industry in India. This is a relevant proposal as Israeli technology and Indian human resources together can do wonders. An Israeli branded defence product can find easy access in world’s arms market. The Israeli Indian joint ventures can not only meet huge Indian defence requirements but can also find attractive market in European and Latin American countries but also in African and Asian region also.

Glad to have met Foreign Minister of Israel @elicoh1. We discussed ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation in priority areas of agriculture, water, innovation and people-to-people ties.

Productive and wide-ranging discussions with Foreign Minister @elicoh1 of Israel this afternoon. The main pillars of our Strategic Partnership - Agriculture, Water, Defence & Security - are taking our ties forward. New agreements in water & agriculture today underline the potential to do more. Noted the progress in I2U2 and cooperation in multilateral forums. Exchanged perspectives on our respective regions, Ukraine and Indo-Pacific. Initialed an agreement in the area of mobility.

Interacted with Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Eli Cohen in New Delhi today. A wide range of issues came up for discussion during our meeting.

Besides US, Russia and France, Israel has not only been a major supplier of defence equipment but also transferred some of the most critical defence technologies, which helped India gain self-dependence in many defence systems, which would have either been denied to India or sold at a huge price. India Israel relations which deepened and expanded on the strong pillar of defence, has now been extended to agriculture, economic and trade, education and water conservation etc.

During the visit, both the countries signed a very significant mobility agreement, which will allow 42,000 Indian workers to work in the Jewish state in the fields of construction and nursing. While meeting Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, Cohen touched upon various aspects of bilateral cooperation, including connectivity, mobility, academic and scientific research, fintech, agriculture, water, trade, etc, and agreed to further diversify the basket of collaboration. They also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, including cooperation under the framework of I2U2, the ongoing conflict in Sudan, developments in West Asia, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, etc. SP