PM Modi likely to visit Israel on Feb 25, hold talks with Netanyahu

While the programme around the visit is being worked out, Modi is expected to address the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and is likely to meet top Israel business leaders and the Indian diaspora.

This would be his second visit to Israel, the first being in July 2017, when Modi became the first Indian PM to do so, but did not visit the West Bank. In a separate visit in February 2018, he visited Ramallah and met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

PM Modi had expressed immediate and initial support to Israel against Hamas within hours of the attacks on October 7, 2023 and had expressed solidarity against terrorism. Later, the central government had sought to nuance its stance by talking about the two-state solution to assuage the concerns of Palestinians as well.

In the last two years, India had expressed concern at the killings of innocent civilians and had called for humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza. After Trump brokered the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which went into effect in October last year, India had supported the Gaza peace plan, but chose not to join the Board of Peace.

Now, the Indian approach has been to move forward in the relationship with Israel, after the war in Gaza ended after two years — and a fragile ceasefire is in place.

India and Israel have deep strategic ties, especially in defence and security cooperation, and the PM’s visit is expected to give a fillip to these areas of cooperation. Modi and Netanyahu are also expected to exchange notes on how to push the India-Middle-East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which is important to both countries and Israel is part of the corridor as well.

In the last year or so, several senior Israeli ministers have visited India, including Minister of Tourism Haim Katz, Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Avi Dichter, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The two countries have also signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) during Smotrich’s visit and then a Terms of Reference (TOR) leading to an FTA when Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal visited Israel in November.

In November, both nations also signed a pact to enhance defence, industrial, and technological cooperation, enabling the sharing of advanced technology to promote co-development and co-production.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Israel in December, during which he met Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Barkat to prepare for Modi’s bilateral visit.