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India and Israel to commemorate 30 years of full diplomatic relations

As India and Israel commemorate 30 years of establishing full diplomatic relations, both nations have said that they would give further impetus to this rapidly evolving engagement as Noar Gilon, Israel’s envoy to India has said “there is no anti-Semitism in India; this phrase doesn’t just exist,”.

2022 also marks the 5 years of strategic partnership which was established during the first visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel.

As anti-Semitism is now on the rise again in the West, the Israeli ambassador said, “Jews have lived in India for over 2000 years in total equality and peacefully, and as someone who arrived after serving quite an extensive period in Europe, I was very much surprised at how much love and appreciation there is in India towards Israel,”.

Sanjeev Singla, the Indian envoy to Israel, who was also present at the event, said, “our two peoples are connected by civilizational bonds that go beyond trade and economic ties. The Jewish people have thrived in India for centuries and, in fact, enriched the composite culture of India. Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar saved the lives of several Jewish children during World War II by providing them with shelter and taking care of them.”

The Indian envoy then went on to talk about the large India-Jewish community which he called an organic link and said, “organic link and bridge that continues to grow between the two sides,”.

At present, there are approximately 85,000 Jews of Indian origin in Israel who are Israeli passport holders and the majority of them are from Maharashtra (Bene Israelis), Kerala (Cochini Jews), and Kolkata (Baghdadi Jews) and some Indian Jews from the North-Eastern states of India (Bnei Menashe) have been immigrating to Israel.

He said, “2022 provides us an opportunity to not only look back and take account of the bilateral achievements of the past 30 years, but also the last 5 years when the relationship was put on a qualitatively high trajectory.”

On January 29th, 1992, under then Indian Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, India, and Israel established full diplomatic relations, and this year both sides will commemorate 30 years of ties that have led to rapidly evolving engagement in all kinds of fields.

At a virtual event on Monday (January 25), a commemorative logo was launched that features the Star of David and the Ashoka Chakra and forms the numeral 30, depicting the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations.

Calling relations between India and Israel “exceptional,” Israeli envoy to India Naor Gilon said, “relationships did not start just 30 years ago” and “more than 900 Indian soldiers are buried in the land of Israel, those who fought during the First World War as part of the Indian British army, to liberate the area which later became Israel.”

The role of the Indian soldiers during the 1918 battle of Haifa only got recognition recently when during the 2018 visit of the then Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the name of Delhi’s Teen Murti Chowk was formally rechristened as Teen Murti Haifa Chowk in his honor.

As part of the 30-year celebrations, several high-level visits including the median visit by Israeli PM, Naftali Bennett who travel to India later this year celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations.

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