Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Israel on Wednesday for a two-day go to whilst India has asked all its citizens to vacate Iran. The Middle East is scorching scorching, and India is selecting this second to ship a shape-defining hit, albeit with a goldsmith’s hammer. This goes to be a exact and delicate signalling of its strategic place.
The go to is essential for Netanyahu and Israel. The Israeli PM is dealing with rising stress — at house over “authoritarian tendencies”, and overseas over the Gaza disaster. At this second, Israel stands as a near-pariah nation.
In India, Modi’s go to is being criticised by some for “compromising” the nation’s ethical management and the balanced stand on the Israel-Palestine concern. Again, it’s all concerning the timing. New Delhi hosted one of the biggest international delegations, together with many international locations with a said anti-Israel stance, simply days in the past on the India AI Impact Summit.
India is not a pariah state however one which has a calibrated overseas coverage, dealing on the similar time with the US, China and Russia, together with Iran and Israel. So, when Modi meets Netanyahu, it’s a chief of a non-aligned nation assembly his counterpart of one in all its greatest strategic and defence companions. This under no circumstances stymies its two-state stand on Palestine.
Our reminiscences are woefully brief, particularly once we are in criticism mode. Remember, it was solely Israel that unflinchingly stood by India throughout Operation Sindoor. Cutting-edge Israeli weapons added to India’s navy muscle because it engaged in a mini-war with Pakistan in May 2025.
Israel is one in all India’s most dependable safety and defence companions. In its Budget for 2026-27, India elevated its defence allocation by 15.19%, taking it to an all-time high of Rs 7.85 lakh crore ($87 billion). This as Pakistan, which signed a ceasefire with India after the May 2025 four-day battle, is on an arms procurement overdrive.
An settlement on safety cooperation is prone to be signed throughout Modi’s journey, which might give attention to the switch of superior weapon applied sciences. The famed Iron Dome and the Iron Beam, which is a high-energy laser weapon that shoots down drones at simply a few {dollars} per shot, is being talked about on this regard in safety skilled circles.
Israel is not essential simply as a defence ally, it is without doubt one of the building blocks of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). The IMEC is India’s reply to China’s Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI) as New Delhi positions itself as a China+1 various.
The IMEC will give India unhindered logistical entry to European markets and combine it higher with world provide chains. It is, due to this fact, essential to its plans of turning into the manufacturing facility of the world.
Modi’s go to to Israel additionally has tacit help for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India’s closest Arab ally. Since 2020, when the UAE signed the Abraham Accords, it has deepened its cooperation with Israel. It has maintained deep ties regardless of the battle in Gaza, which prevented Saudi Arabia, the Sunni regional powerhouse, from signing the Donald Trump-mediated accord.
India, Israel, the US and the UAE have cooperated for investments and regional stability underneath the I2U2 Group, dubbed the West Asian Quad.
Israel’s ties with the UAE have change into extra vital with Saudi Arabia signing a defence pact with Pakistan, which permits the usage of Pakistani nuclear weapons for Riyadh. Turkey, a Nato member with an enormous standing navy, is in search of a tripartite defence cope with Saudi and Pakistan. Turkey supplied drones and navy technicians to Pakistan through the May 2025 battle.
This context makes Netanyahu’s plans for a Hexagon security alliance, which incorporates India, very fascinating. India merely does not have a lot of a alternative with China, Pakistan and Turkey within the different camp. A Hexagon alliance, due to this fact, makes greater than sixth sense.
Even as alliances get solid within the Middle East, PM Modi’s go to, most significantly, is a strategic signalling to the US, Israel’s closest ally.
After twenty years of elevated ties with New Delhi, DC has taken an Islamabad tilt underneath President Donald Trump. He is banking on Pakistan to ship its troopers to Gaza as a part of the International Stabilisation Force. The Rawalpindi-Islamabad hybrid regime, scared of the home backlash, has been dithering on committing its troops, however is equally scared of offending Trump.
This is Modi’s refined messaging to Trump: India will do on your all-time and all-weather pal Israel what your fair-weather pal Pakistan cannot and will not.
Political insurance policies, like financial ones, should be versatile and regulate to world realities. The US, a champion of free trade, has become a protectionist, whereas Communist China has change into the most important backer of a free economic system as a result of they go well with their present pursuits. Being versatile and pragmatic in overseas and financial insurance policies is the one technique to develop.
India, like every sovereign nation, has solid an unbiased overseas coverage. Be it in vitality commerce or defence partnerships, it has all the time saved its finest pursuits and strategic autonomy as its priorities. It has balanced Trump’s tariffs with Russian trade. Such has been New Delhi’s coverage that neither Israel nor Iran — two sworn enemies — questioned its ties.
Modi’s go to to Israel is not only a present of help for a trusted ally who has stood by thick and skinny; additionally it is a strategic signalling to the world of a nation that is not shy of taking sides with its finest pursuits in thoughts.
– Ends
