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India–Israel relations

Bilateral relations between India and Israel

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By 2019, India was Israel's third-largest Asian trade partner and tenth-largest overall trade partner – bilateral trade, excluding military sales, stood at around US$6.3 billion. As of 2015, both countries are negotiating an extensive bilateral free-trade agreement, focusing on areas such as information technology, biotechnology, and agriculture. As of 2022, India is Israel's largest client for military equipment sales, and Israel is India's second-largest supplier of military equipment after Russia; approximately 42.1% of all Israeli arms exports are received by India. Between the 1999 Kargil war and 2010, India has spent $9 billion on defense purchases from Israel. By 2022, Israel has spent $3.2 billion on crude oil and diamonds from India. Their strategic ties extend to joint military training as well as intelligence-sharing on the activity of various terrorist groups. Israel provided humanitarian aid to India after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, India has reportedly been providing significant military assistance to Israel. One key area of support has been the provision of Hermes 900 drones. With increased tension between Iran and Israel in 2024, there has been a geopolitical shift by India away from Iran and towards Israel.

Israel is represented in India through an embassy in New Delhi as well as consulates in Mumbai and Bangalore. India is represented in Israel through an embassy in Tel Aviv; the Indian government does not currently recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city (see status of Jerusalem). In 2009, an international study on the Arab–Israeli conflict revealed that around 58 percent of Indian respondents sympathized with Israel—the most positive opinion of any country surveyed. In 2023, a survey revealed that Israelis hold the most favorable views of India among all countries surveyed. According to the data, 71% of Israeli respondents expressed a favorable opinion of India, while 20% held unfavorable views and 9% did not express an opinion.

History

Ancient relations

Excavation at Tel Megiddo shows evidence of Indo-Mediterranean trade relations from mid-second millennium BCE between the Indian subcontinent- and southern Levant-based on the presence of turmeric, banana, sesame, all originating from the Indian subcontinent. Geographical analysis suggests that the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) may be talking about India, where the trade of animals such as monkeys and peacocks existed. According to Chaim Menachem Rabin, the connection between ancient Israel and the Indian subcontinent was recorded during the reign of King Solomon (10th century BCE) in Book of Kings 10.22. Ancient trade and cultural communication between India and the Levant is documented in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and the accounts surrounding Queen of Sheba in the Hebrew Bible. Jews who have settled in Kochi, Kerala, trace their origin back to the time of King Solomon and are called Cochin Jews. Later on, Paradesi Jews migrated to Kochi, Kerala, during the 15th and 16th centuries following the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian peninsula (comprising both Spain and Portugal).

Trade relations can be traced back to 1,000 BCE and earlier to the time of the Indus Valley Civilization of the Indian subcontinent and the Babylonian culture of the Middle East. A Buddhist story describes Indian merchants visiting Baveru (Babylonia) and selling peacocks for public display. Similar, earlier accounts describe monkeys exhibited to the public. Trade connections between India and Palestine and Mediterranean Jewish communities continued, and later, the languages of these cultures started to share linguistic similarities.

Judea played a minor role in trade between the Roman Empire and India during the period of Roman rule in Judaea. It is known that there were expensive garments in the Temple in Jerusalem imported from India via Alexandria (in present-day Egypt).

Non-recognition period (1948–1950)

Hermann Kallenbach (1 March 1871 – 25 March 1945) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. Kallenbach was introduced to the young Mohandas Gandhi while they were both working in South Africa and, after a series of discussions, they developed a long-lasting association. As a Zionist, Kallenbach planned to accompany Gandhi to India in 1914, but with the outbreak of World War I, he was interned as an enemy alien at detention camps and shifted to the Isle of Man as a prisoner of war from 1915 until 1917. After the war he returned to South Africa, where he resumed his work as an architect and continued to correspond with Gandhi. The rise of Nazism and Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic propaganda shocked Kallenbach into a rediscovery of his Jewish roots. He became a Zionist and served on the executive board of the South African Zionist Federation and planned to settle in Palestine ("Eretz Israel" in Hebrew). He wanted society there to involve no state, military, or industry, in order to avoid colonialism through Zionist settlements. At the request of Moshe Shertok (Sharett), Kallenbach visited Gandhi in May 1937 to enlist his sympathy and support for Zionism. The architect once again became a simple man, participating in all the activities of Gandhi's ashram life. Kallenbach wrote, "I join the whole programme... It is 'almost' as the old joint life, as if the 23 years, with all the events that affected millions of people, had disappeared." Kallenbach disagreed with Gandhi over Zionism and the need to violently resist Hitler. Nevertheless, Kallenbach continued his deep friendship with Gandhi, visiting him again in 1939

India's position on the establishment of the State of Israel was affected by many factors, including India's own partition on religious lines, and India's relationship with other nations. Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi believed the Jews had a good case and a prior claim for Israel, but opposed the creation of Israel on religious or mandated terms. Gandhi believed that the Arabs were the "rightful occupants" of Palestine, and was of the view that the Jews should return to their countries of origin. Albert Einstein wrote a four-page letter to Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 June 1947, to persuade India to support the setting up of a Jewish state. Nehru, however, couldn't accept Einstein's request, and explained his dilemma stating that national leaders "have to unfortunately pursue policies that are essentially selfish". India voted against the partitioning of Palestine plan of 1947 and voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations in 1949.

Various proponents of Hindutva supported or sympathised with the creation of Israel. Hindu Mahasabha leader Veer Savarkar supported the creation of Israel on both moral and political grounds, and condemned and deplored India's vote at the UN against Israel. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar admired Jewish nationalism and believed Palestine was the natural territory of the Jewish people, essential to their aspiration for nationhood.

Informal recognition (1950–1991)

On 17 September 1950, India officially recognised the State of Israel. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru stated, "We would have [recognised Israel] long ago, because Israel is a fact. We refrained because of our desire not to offend the sentiments of our friends in the Arab countries." In 1953, Israel was permitted to open a consulate in Bombay (now Mumbai).

During the Six-Day War India took a pro-Arab stance. Israel supported India during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Israeli arms manufacturer Shlomo Zabludowicz provided India and the Bengali nationalist and Bangladeshi independence organization Mukti Bahini with mortars, ammunition and instructors. India's opposition to official diplomatic relations stemmed from domestic and foreign considerations. Domestically, politicians in India feared losing the Muslim votebank (motivated in large part by Muslim appeasement and pseudosecularism) if relations were normalised with Israel.

Additionally, India did not want to jeopardise its citizens working in Arab states of the Persian Gulf, who were helping India maintain its foreign-exchange reserves. India's domestic need for energy was another reason, in order to safeguard the flow of oil from Arab nations. India's foreign policy goals and alliances also proved problematic to formal relations with Israel, including India's support for the pro-Palestine Liberation Organization Non-Aligned Movement, India's tilt towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and India's desire to counter Pakistan's influence with the Arab states. On an ideological level, the dominant political party in India during this era, namely the Indian National Congress, opposed Israel due to their perception that it was a state based on religion, analogous to Pakistan.

Although there was no formal relationship for several decades, meetings and cooperation took place between both countries, including figures such as Moshe Dayan. Israel also provided India with crucial information during its multiple wars.

Full recognition (1992–2022)

After decades of non-aligned and pro-Arab policy, India formally established relations with Israel when it opened an embassy in Tel Aviv in January 1992. Ties between the two nations have flourished since, primarily due to common strategic interests and security threats, particularly from terrorism. In 1999, Israel supported India in the Kargil war by providing arms and ammunition. The formation of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which allegedly neglected the sentiments of Indian Muslims, and the blocking of India by Pakistan from joining the OIC are considered to be the causes of this diplomatic shift. On a diplomatic level, India and Israel have maintained healthy relations despite India's repeated condemnations of Israeli military actions in Palestinian territories, which are believed to be motivated by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Since his election in 2014, the Modi government has maintained a de-hyphenation policy, where it keeps its relations with Israel and Palestine independent from each other. At the height of the 2014 Israel–Gaza war, India blamed both sides and asked Israel to "stop disproportionate use of force." External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj insisted that there was no change in India's policy of supporting the Palestinian cause while maintaining good relations with Israel. Nevertheless, India joined other BRICS nations in voting at the United Nations Human Rights Council for a probe into alleged human rights violations in Gaza, which generated mixed response among media and analysts in India. When the UNHRC report alleging that Israel had committed war crimes was tabled for vote, India abstained from voting, one of five countries to do so. Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon thanked India for not supporting what he described as another anti-Israel bashing resolution.

India–Israel relationship has been very close and warm under the premiership of Narendra Modi since 2014. In 2017, he was the first ever Prime Minister of India to visit Israel. India was the largest arms customer of Israel in 2017. Defence relations between the two countries are longstanding.

India voted in favour of Israel's resolution to deny observer status to Palestinian non-governmental organization Shahed at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 6 June 2019.

In August 2022, President Isaac Herzog joined the Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv for its 75th Independence Day celebrations. In his speech, he welcomed India's rise as a regional and global power and described Israel and India as two modern republics proudly bound together by creativity and democracy, by ingenuity coupled with deep respect for timeless faiths and belief systems. Meeting Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Herzog underscored his personal commitment to strengthening the India–Israel relationship.

Post-7 October 2023

Despite Indian leaders' opposition to Israel in the past, India in 2025 is a strong ally of Israel. India was one of the first countries to condemn the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian groups designated as terrorists. Three weeks after the attack, India abstained in the vote on UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/21 calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire because it did not explicitly condemn Hamas. In 2025, the opposition Indian National Congress criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his stance on the Gaza war.

Israel condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack on 22 April 2025 and expressed support for India. On 7 May 2025, Israel publicly praised India's airstrikes on terrorists, which were launched in retaliation for the Pahalgam massacre. The Israeli government described the operation as a "measured and decisive response to terrorism" and reaffirmed its support for India's right to self-defence, adding, "Israel supports India's right for self defense". Terrorists should know there's no place to hide from their heinous crimes against the innocent." The airstrikes, part of what was reported as Operation Sindoor, targeted terrorist launchpads and infrastructure across the Line of Control.

Military aid

India has reportedly been exporting rockets, drones like Elbit Hermes 900, explosives and other military equipment to Israel during the Gaza war. A cargo ship, laden with over 30 tons of such supplies intended for the Israeli Defense Forces, was reported off the coast of Spain. This ship, which had set sail from southeastern India, was en route to Ashdod. However, Spain refused to give the ship a port call.

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