Challenge is to bring more value to relations in the next 30 years

Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion was an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolent approach to attain freedom.

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

INTERVIEW: Naor Gilon, Israel ambassador to India

He practised yoga and embraced Gandhian philosophy to the extent possible. Today, Gandhi’s portrait hangs in his bedroom at his home (where he died) in Sde Boker in Israel as his country leaps into the future, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preparing a roadmap for the next 30 years of India-Israel ties. Both countries established full diplomatic relations in 1992, and the friendship has changed into a pragmatic strategic partnership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking to THE WEEK, Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon said that under new minilaterals and trilaterals, both countries are trying to reinvent themselves and rise together by overcoming the paralysed world order. Excerpts from the interview:

Q/ Do you think political ties between Modi and Netanyahu are at an all-time high? How do their mindsets match?

A/ I think it is true. Foreign policy is also very personal. Leaders are usually lonely people. They cannot be friends with too many, because people are looking towards them as leaders. So, they either stick to old friends or the chemistry has to be so strong that they forge new bonds. There are some historic pictures of Modi and Netanyahu standing in the Mediterranean Sea in 2017, which speak volumes of their friendship….