S Jaishankar to Embark on Three-day Visit to Israel, Cement Ties with New Govt Led by Naftali Bennett

Union External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will be on a three-day visit to Israel from Sunday in the first high-level engagement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi government and the Israeli government led by Naftali Bennett. The visit is seen towards cementing diplomatic and political ties between the two countries in the post-Benjamin Netanyahu era.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the External Affairs Minister is reaching Dubai on Sunday and will leave for three-day Israel trip from October 19-21. During the visit, he will meet the top officials of the Israel coalition government including Israeli PM Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata.

As PM Modi has restricted travel due to Covid-19 and domestic commitments, the task of connecting with close allies have been left to Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval, the report said. The security relationship with both UAE and Israel are handled by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

It added that the focus of the Indian diplomacy is to connect with countries like Mexico, Greece, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and others, which have been missed by previous governments. The visit comes after Jaishankar’s recent visit to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

India and Israel have traditionally enjoyed close ties and has developed close “cooperation” in intelligence sharing and “counter insurgency” operations over the last few years. It also has a security relationship with Israel that ranges from top-of-the-line drones, loitering ammunition, radars, state-of-the-art missiles and border sensors.

The purpose of the trip is seen to engage the new coalition government in Israel and provide a fresh impetus to bilateral ties with Tel Aviv.

The report also said that the External Affairs Minister will be halting for a day in Dubai and will hold meeting with the leadership over regional environment including situations in Afghanistan and central Asia.

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