Indo Israel Ties: Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been sworn in as the Prime Minister of Israel on Thursday. India-Israel strategic ties are likely to get a further boost after a brief hiatus, with Benjamin Netanyahu returning as Israel’s prime minister. Netanyahu is in favor of a strong relationship between India and Israel.
Prime minister Narendra Modi Netanyahu, a personal friend of Israel, has formed his sixth government after winning a comfortable majority in parliament with right-wing allies. Along with this, political instability has also ended in the country.
Modi’s historic journey
The 73-year-old leader of the Likud party is the second Israeli prime minister to have visited India in January 2018. PM Modi also made a historic visit to Israel in July 2017 and he was the first Prime Minister to do so. During this, the ‘affinity’ of both the leaders was the subject of discussion. Netanyahu is the longest serving Prime Minister of Israel. When Modi visited Israel, Netanyahu was with him like a ‘shadow’. Such an honor is usually reserved in Israel for the US President and the Pope.
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The picture of Olga Beach created a buzz
A picture taken of the two leaders standing barefoot in front of each other on Olga Beach had been the subject of discussion on social media. During Modi’s visit to Israel, the two countries expanded their ties to a strategic partnership. Since then, the two countries have focused their ties on knowledge-based partnership, discussing innovation and research, and ‘Making in India’. Initiative involves encouragement.
Netanyahu’s election campaign
Netanyahu used his proximity to world leaders, including Modi, as his platform during the election campaign and demonstrated that no one else could secure Israel’s interests on the international stage except him. During an election campaign of his Likud party, his picture with Modi has been used prominently.
Netanyahu fought the Yom Kippur war
Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv. He moved to America when his father, the prominent historian and Jewish activist Benzion, was offered an academic position. He returned to Israel at the age of 18 and served in the army for five years as captain of the elite commando unit Sayret Matkal. Netanyahu took part in the 1968 Beirut airport raid and in 1973 Yom Kippur war was fought. After completing his military service, he returned to the United States and earned a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Netanyahu was appointed Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1984 and was elected to parliament after his return in 1988. Done and made Deputy Foreign Minister. He later became the chairman of the Likud party and became the first directly elected prime minister in 1996.