India and Israel- A win-win collaboration that’s all ‘sababa’

As India and Israel celebrate 30 years of their official relationship—ambassador Naor Gilon marked the day on January 29 with a message in Hindi in which he spoke about the “pyaar and gehri dosti” (love and deep friendship) between the people of the two nations—there is a quiet consensus that it’s time to let people and innovation take the wheel.

Set up last year, the I2U2 Group consisting of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, also bats for this line. A joint statement released by the four nations on July 14 last year states that they aim to cooperate on “joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.”

In 2021, the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Indian Oil) and Phinergy, an Israeli start-up specializing in hybrid lithium-ion and aluminium-air/zinc-air battery systems, set up a joint venture (IOC Phinergy Private Limited). It plans to use and reuse the abundant aluminium in India to manufacture electric batteries for green mobility. Phinergy has also signed an agreement with the Aditya Birla group. Maruti Suzuki and Ashok Leyland.

WaterGen, a company that produces water from moisture in the air, has already sold Genny units that look like a traditional water dispenser, to ICICI bank. ITC, Taj , GMR and Max, and is in talks with Indian companies based in cities with high humidity levels. It’s ditto for the developers of Tethys, a system that uses solar energy to clean water of all impurities, including salt. Dr Moshe Tshuva, one of the co-founders and head of the school of mechanical engineering at Afeka Collge of Engineering in Tel Aviv, is keen to set up his plant in an Indian school.

Mashav, the Hebrew acronym for the Agency for International Development Cooperation, has set up 30 centres of excellence in the field of agriculture, dairy and horticulture in various parts of India. An agency representative says the importance they give to India can be guaged from the fact that out of their six water experts, one is stationed in India.

Israel, whose diplomats never fail to remind you that the country is the size of Mizoram, for perspective, receives 800-odd Indian students every year.

Narsingh Rao Nirala from Babhua in Bihar has filed a patent in the US for a bio sensor that helps you diagnose disease in the cattle at a very early stage. Anita Kumari from Palampur came to ARO, Volcani Center, as a post-doctoral researcher when her daughter was an infant. Today her daughter, home with her husband in Himachal Pradesh, is three but Anita is keen to continue her work here, for she is on the verge of a breakthrough in treating plant fungus. She is a benefactor of the post-doctoral research fellowship.

“Every year, we issue a call. Most of the candidates come from India on academic merit,’’ says Naama Rosenberg, the Volcani spokesperson. Although the scholarship of 8,500 shekel a month (it adds up to INR 2 lakh) covers only two years, most of these scholars manage to get funds from the industry that sets up their labs as well. Pawan Kumar, who has developed a variety of heat-tolerant tomatoes, for instance, is being funded by the Michal Liberhan-Lazarovich lab.

People-to-people ties

For long, Israeli youngsters have been heading to India, called ‘Indo’ by many locals, to “cool off” after their army conscription. Revital Zegelstain, director of Marketing and Business Development – India at Israel Aerospace Industries in Tel Aviv recounts how she spemnt a couple of months in India after she completed her army stint several years ago. Erel Margalit, funder of JVP Foundation and Margalit Startup City in Jerusalem, tells you how he is keen to partner with India, for his three daughters are very fond of the country. PM Narendra’s Modi’s friendhsip with PM Benjamin Netanyahu is all too well known.

Over 70,000 Indian Jews settled in Israel also link the two nations. Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, whose husband hails from the Kolkota family behind the Nahoum bakery—it was founded in 1902 by Nahoum Israel Mordecai, a Baghdadi Jew—says you are sure to get a free treat at Nahoum’s if you tell them about her.

In its infancy, Israel had attracted the likes of Jai Prakash Narayan and Vinoba Bhave–the latter came down specially to visit a kibbutz, a community Israeli settelement where all are equal.

The Tandoori restaurant run by celebrity chef Reena Pushkarna, 63, opposite the Dzingodff fountaoins at the centre of Tel Aviv, was the venue for some of the Norway-facilitated peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in 1993. Later, it was here that soon-to-be-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to meet his future wife Sarah.

Ambassador Sanjeev Singla, who is doing a second stint in Israel, points journalists to Reena Pushkarna, born to Iraqi-Jewish mother and Punjabi father in New Delhi, when you ask him about the Indo-Israeli ties. The celebrity chef and restauranteur was among the 21 recipients of this year’s prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians.

Pushkarna, fondly called mummyji by her customers, hosted a meal for PM Narendra Modi at the home of PM Netanyahu in July 2017. Her restaurant has hosted the likes of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and President Shimon Peres among others. Little wonder she was part of PM Ariel Sharon’s delegation to India in 2003.

Of late, Israeli series have also caught the fancy of Indian viewers. No wonder Fauda’s lead Lior Raz is such a rage in the country. The TV series has also inspired an Indian spinoff called Tanav.

But what is most heartwarming is the affection for India in Israel. Ask Israelis on the street about relations with India, and the one word answer is sure to be ‘Sababa’ (great).