India may easily continue to stay engaged with Israel - more so under Narendra Modi.
However, New Delhi will have to maintain and rather restore a right balance to its approach to west Asia too.
India and Israel should take their ties to newer heights, a goal both nations advanced by upgrading their relationship to a "Special Strategic Partnership for Peace, Innovation, and Prosperity" during ... Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Israel in February 2026.
Expanding this alliance offers substantial mutual advantages, though it requires careful diplomatic balance.
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| Beyond Personal rapport : Modi-Netanyahu bond |
Well, India’s tilt toward Israel encompasses growing trade and defense cooperation, ideological and leadership affinities, and a focus on counter-terrorism cooperation.
But India is aware of potential diplomatic costs and Modi has spoken to various Arab Gulf leaders to coordinate positions.
The war on Gaza doesn’t appear to have significantly shifted views. A Pew Research survey published in June found that more Indians view Israel favourably (32%) than unfavourably (28%).
Hindu nationalists have long admired Israel, viewing it as a model of a nationalist state that can assert itself in a volatile neighbourhood.
Hindus probably who saw Israel as an example of how to deal with Muslims “in the only language they understood: that of force and more force”.
Narendra Modi, for his part, has cultivated a personal rapport with Netanyahu.
In 2017, he became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel, and Modi’s visit to Israel in 2026 came just 48 hours before Israel and the United States launched their attacks on Iran.
The optics of Modi hugging Netanyahu on the tarmac, coupled with New Delhi’s noticeably muted response at the outbreak of war, were a clear sign of where India’s political establishment stands.
"It has not gone unnoticed. In July, after the US vice-president, JD Vance, rebuked Netanyahu by calling the US Israel’s “only powerful ally” left in the world, Netanyahu shot back:
“We have some other friends, like a small country called India. It has 1.4bn people, and boy, do we have tremendous support there.” (The Guardian)
"Still, India has reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian cause in recent years. Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister in 2018 to visit Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. India has also increased its donations to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
These various gestures were meant to remind both internal and external audiences of India’s complicated stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." (argues Time magazine)
India has a tight rope to walk.
Thus, India has voted in favor of a U.N. General Assembly resolution that condemned Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The challenge for India ahead is maintaining the strategic defense and commercial ties with Israel while navigating its role as a Global South leader.
On to another plane, the government of India has previously declined to give a direct answer about weapons supplies to Israel.
When asked in parliament in 2024, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said that information is not in public domain and that exports of military products are guided by “national interest”.
Amnesty identified three state-owned Indian companies – Munitions India Limited, India Optel Limited and Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited – supplying Israel with weapons, which it said, could expose India to the hazard of “complicity in ongoing genocide in Gaza”.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded that India’s exports are governed by national laws and international obligations.
India has also enhanced its own arms supplies from Israel. Between 2021 and 2025, New Delhi was Israel’s largest defence customer, accounting for 29% of total arms sales, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
It's a common knowledge that basically, BJP is different from Congress. The previous regimes in Delhi were more sympathetic towards Palestine.
The ideological alignment between the two right-wing leaders - Modi and Netanyahu - has certainly been more apparent than with previous governments.
Even under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP leaders have long regarded Israel as a model religious-nationalist state to potentially build on.
ends
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