MODI AVOIDED THE PALESTINE ISSUE, SAYS ISRAELI MEDIA

Minister Narendra Modi has not publicly referred to the Palestinian issue during his visit to Israel even as he held discreet talks on enhancing security cooperation to counter international terror groups such as the Islamic State, the Israeli media reported on Thursday.

Media reports also focussed on the rock star-welcome given to Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu during an event organised at the Convention Center in Tel Aviv.

The Jerusalem Post noted in a report that 30 years after India became the first non-Muslim state to recognise the state of Palestine, Modi and Netanyahu signed off on a joint statement on Wednesday that “mentioned the Palestinian-Israel diplomatic process, but made no reference to a two state solution”. The report also noted that “not only will Modi not be visiting the Palestinian Authority” but the “first day and a half of the visit passed without him once publicly referring to the Palestinian issue”.

An unnamed senior Indian official told the Post it was not New Delhi’s “style to engage in ‘megaphone diplomacy’, or go to other countries and lecture them on what they need to do”. The official said this was because, to a large degree, “India does not like it when other countries come to India and lecture it about relations with Pakistan”.

The Times of Israel reported that the public aspect of Modi’s visit had focused on economic and technological cooperation as New Delhi is “said to be keen to de-emphasise defence ties, in order not to hurt India’s economic links with Iran and other countries hostile to Israel”.