Israeli arms sale to India revived

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By CGTN's The Point

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wrapped up his six-day visit to India. One thing that stood out during his visit was the major weapons contract between Israel and India that was put back on the table after the Indian government had originally dropped the 500 million US dollar deal.

“The government wants to review them not only from the standpoint of how the deals were done, but also about the new technologies. Are these technologies still suitable? Does the supplier have the ability to upgrade those technologies?” asked Saibal Dasgupta, a China correspondent for The Times of India when asked to explain the reasons behind India’s cancellation of the deal in the first place.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu / Xinhua Photo

Meir Javedanfar, a Middle East analyst, thought the significance of the deal is that Israel finds a new important customer for its weapons industry. “Israel wants to use the defense sector, as well as its agriculture sector and cyber security as the lynchpin for future improvements in terms of relations with India,” he added.

Netanyahu brought a delegation with him that included 130 Israeli businesspeople, representing some 100 companies in cyber security, the military, water, energy, and agricultural industries. Nine deals were signed following Netanyahu and Modi's meeting on Monday.

Netanyahu described the ties with India as a "marriage made in heaven.” (Incidentally, he made the same comment on relations with China during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last year!)

Javedanfar joked that this was Prime Minister Netanyahu trying to impress his host. “Both countries are very important for Israel. It cannot ignore its friendship with either China or India, for different reasons,” he concluded.

The Point with Liu Xin is a 30-minute current affairs program on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 9.30 p.m. BJT (1330GMT), with rebroadcasts at 5.30 a.m. (2130GMT) and 10.30 a.m. (0230GMT).