India, Israel agree to combat radicalisation and terror
Both the countries signed 7 agreements and MoUs in space, water management
JERUSALEM: India and Israel on Wednesday decided to scale up their relationship in the fight against terror, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the two countries have “agreed to do much more to protect our strategic interests” and to combat rising radicalisation and terrorism including in the cyber-space.
On the second day of the first visit by a Prime Minister, Modi, after discussions with host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sought to balance New Delhi’s traditional ties with Israel’s neighbours by saying India hoped that “peace, dialogue and restraint” will prevail in West Asia.
Modi is making a stand-alone visit to Israel and not combining it with a trip to Palestine. In his briefing, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said India favoured a negotiated, peaceful settlement of the Palestine issue.
Besides concurrence on strategic issues, India and Israel signed seven agreements and MoUs in space, water management and conservation and agriculture cooperation.
One accord provides for setting up of $40 million fund to be spent over five years for technological innovation.
Netanyahu said the two leaders recognised that their countries faced forces of terror which seek to undermine peace and stability.” We have agreed to cooperate in this field as well,” he said.
The two leaders addressed the media after one-on-one and delegation level talks, with Jaishankar describing it as an “upbeat conversation as between two peoples and two cultures who can work together”.
A joint statement issued after the talks said “...strong measures should be taken against terrorists and terror organisations and all those who encourage, support and finance or provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups”. This, Jaishankar said, was a fairly clear and expressive description on the issue of terror and it was possible to reduce it to three words — cross border terrorism — which a reporter said was missing in the joint statement.
In his remarks, Modi said India and Israel live in complex geographies. “We are aware of strategic threats to regional peace and stability. India has suffered first hand the violence and hatred spread by terror. So has Israel.”
“Prime Minister and I agreed to do much more together to protect our strategic interest and also cooperate to combat growing radicalisation and terrorism, including in cyber space.
“We also discussed the situation in West Asia and wider region.
It is India’s hope that peace, dialogue and restraint will prevail.”
Netanyahu said “we also recognise that we are charged by forces of terror who seek to undermine our countries’ peace and stability.
We agreed to cooperate in this field as well”. Modi said he and Netanyahu had productive discussions covering an extensive menu of issues not just in areas of bilateral opportunities but also on how their cooperation can help global peace and stability. “Our goal is to build a relationship that reflects our shared priorities and draws on enduring bonds between our peoples.”
Observing that Israel was among the leading nations in the field of innovation, water and agriculture technology, which were also his priority areas, Modi said he and Netanyahu agreed that efficiency of water and resource used, water conservation and its purification and productivity in agriculture were key areas in deepening bilateral cooperation.