The Bibi doctrine drives India-israel bonhomie

Netanyahu is facing a lot of heat back home and this trip will provide campaign footage for the upcoming polls

In power since 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has developed his own doctrine governing Israel’s foreign relations: the Bibi Doctrine. It’s a doctrine in which India plays an important role.

Since 1948, a number of different doctrines have governed Israel’s foreign relations. The first was named after Israel’s first PM, David Ben-gurion. This doctrine held that given the country’s hostile neighbourhood, Israel would have to build alliances with non-arab countries on its periphery: Iran, Turkey and Ethiopia. Another doctrine in the 1990s was that Israel’s relations with the world would significantly improve as peace would blossom with the Palestinians.

But now, with Iran implacably hostile, Turkey downright unfriendly, and with no peace process with the Palestinians on the horizon, the Bibi Doctrine is built upon a different basis altogether: what Israel has to offer the world.

“We’re in the midst of a great revolution, a revolution in Israel’s standing among the nations,” Netanyahu said at the UNGA in September. “This is happening because so many countries around the world have finally woken up to what Israel can do for them.”

India is a case in point. The relationship between the two countries has soared not because of a sudden change of heart in New Delhi regarding the Palestinian issue, but rather because of a realisation that Israel has a great deal to offer.

Netanyahu’s doctrine is simple. The world wants Israeli technology, and needs its expertise in fighting terrorism. But Israel’s intelligence capabilities and technological developments are expensive.

Netanyahu’s visit it part of an effort to open markets around the world. Israeli diplomatic outreach in Asia and Latin America have been accompanied by similar efforts in Africa, but there the focus is less on opening markets, and more on changing voting patterns. In this doctrine, India is important both because it is a massive potential market, and also because of the prospect of it changing its voting pattern, something that could influence others from the ‘non-aligned’ bloc.

Netanyahu’s trip, however, is important to him for another reason. With scandals swirling around him and his family, with rivals making his political life difficult, this trip cast him in his favourite light: world statesmen.

He wants the media at home to focus on what he is best at — meeting world leaders, delivering speeches, articulately defending Israel. This is what he wants the Israeli public to see and remember — especially since polls may be held within the year. If so, this trip to India will provide valuable campaign footage.