Benjamin Netanyahu

India-Israel UPI Pact: The agreement will connect India’s Unified Payments Interface, one of the world’s largest real-time digital payment platforms, with Israel’s domestic payments framework.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed Israeli parliament Knesset during his two-day official visit

PM Modi is currently on a two-day official visit to Israel, where he was conferred with the ‘Speaker of the Knesset Medal’

He also thanked PM Modi for his support for Israel following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, saying, “after this murderous attack, you stood in such a clear way, so moral, so sharp… We will never forget this.”

PM Modi is among the rare world leaders to have received top civilian honours from both Israel and Palestine, underscoring India’s balanced and independent diplomacy in West Asia.

In a special gesture, Modi was received by the PM Netanyahu and his spouse Sara Netanyahu and accorded a ceremonial welcome at the airport in Tel Aviv

Underlining India’s long-standing stance against terrorism, PM Modi said no cause could justify the killing of civilians and recalled India’s own experience with terror attacks.

Calling PM Narendra Modi 'more than a friend, a brother,' Benjamin Netanyahu underlined the growth in bilateral ties.

This is Modi’s second visit to Israel in nine years. During his first visit in July 2017, the India-Israel relationship was elevated to a strategic partnership.

CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby, in a post on X, called the visit a betrayal of India's anti-colonial legacy

Modi earlier said he was looking forward to 'engaging in bilateral discussions and fruitful outcomes that strengthen the India-Israel friendship'

Netanyahu greeted PM Modi with a warm hug, after which the Indian prime minister was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara Netanyahu, personally received PM Modi at Ben Gurion Airport, greeting him with a hug that underscored the close personal rapport between the two leaders.

Israel accounts for nearly half of India’s air defence and sensor imports

Across Israel’s political spectrum, Modi commands respect as a leader who transformed India-Israel ties, stood firmly with Israel during moments of crisis, and yet retained India’s principled positions on Palestine and humanitarian concerns in Gaza.

This will be PM Modi’s second visit to Israel in nine years. During his first visit in July 2017, the India-Israel relationship was elevated to the level of “strategic partnership”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the visit as historic and has repeatedly referred to Modi as a “dear friend”, underscoring the personal rapport between the two leaders.

Netanyahu has proposed what he calls a "Hexagon of Alliances," a six-nation strategic framework designed to link countries in and around West Asia through security, diplomatic and economic cooperation.

Open-source assessments suggest Golden Horizon may be linked to Israel’s Sparrow missile family, which was originally developed to simulate enemy ballistic missiles for testing Israel’s Arrow missile defence system.

A source in Delhi told PTI that PM Modi's visit is 'likely to be short from February 25 to 26", but "its impact is deep given the popularity Modi enjoys not only in Israel but around the world".