As Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, stood up to address the Israeli Knesset on Wednesday, the house erupted with applause and chants of his name.
“Modi! Modi! Modi!” the members cried in sync.
Modi looked on, soaking up the praise.
In an event laced with hyperbole and flattery, Modi’s address and the response to it offered a window into Israel’s dependence on new alliances and partnerships beyond the West, and India’s willingness to stake its future on the partnership.
“I bring with me the greetings of 1.4 billion Indians, and a message of friendship, respect, and partnership,” Modi said.
As expected, Modi leaned into condemning the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel in some of the strongest language on the incident seen from the Indian state.
“I… carry with me the deepest condolences of the people of India for every life lost and for every family whose world was shattered in the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7,” Modi said in the first substantive clause of his address.
“We feel your pain, we share your grief. India stands with Israel firmly with full conviction in this moment and beyond,” Modi added, as the house stood again and roared with applause.
‘My brother’
At the Knesset, Modi was greeted by children waving Israeli and Indian flags. Some asked for selfies.
The Israeli press, too, leaned into the spectacle, with The Jerusalem Post carrying a prominent front-page spread dedicated to his visit.
“Modi’s visit is the moment to treat India as a top-tier strategic priority. The relationship has trust, history, and political chemistry … Now they must scale up,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial on the front page.
The night before, the Knesset itself was illuminated in the colours of the Indian tricolour, a gesture Modi expressed appreciation for during his speech.
Prior to Modi’s speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset, in which he described Modi as “my brother”.
“I am deeply, deeply moved by your visit here today. Because I have to be diplomatic, I will not rank it. I’ll get into trouble. But I’ve never been more moved than by your visit here with us, a great friend of Israel, a great champion of the Indian-Israeli alliance, and a great leader on the world stage,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu, speaking in both English and Hebrew, recalled Modi’s first visit to Israel in 2017, when the two leaders removed their shoes and waded into the Mediterranean waters in Haifa, an image that came to symbolise the public warmth of the relationship.
He praised India’s rise, referenced the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, and, like Modi, referred to the partnership as both strategic, civilisational, and personal.
For days, it was unclear whether opposition parties would boycott the session over the Knesset speaker’s refusal to include Supreme Court president Isaac Amit at the event.
Most opposition parties decided to boycott Netanyahu’s speech but returned to honour Modi.
And the reason is Gaza. According to Israeli officials, Modi was the first leader to call Netanyahu after the events of 7 October 2023.
Since then, India provided labour, arms, and diplomatic support throughout Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, where over 72,000 Palestinians have been killed.
“Israel is stronger than ever, and India is stronger than ever,” Netanyahu told Modi, adding that “after this murderous attack, you stood in such a clear way, so moral, so sharp… We will never forget this.”
It is unsurprising, then, that when Modi spoke, he made no reference to the death and destruction of Gaza, centring his support instead on US President Donald Trump’s so-called peace plan.
“The Gaza Peace Initiative that was endorsed by the UN Security Council offers a pathway. India has expressed its firm support for the initiative,” he said.
“We believe that it holds the promise of a just and durable peace for all the people of the region, including by addressing the Palestine Issue,” Modi added.
Economic and strategic ties
Over the past several years, New Delhi has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel across several sectors, including defence, agriculture, cybersecurity, and technology.
Earlier this week, negotiations on an India-Israel Free Trade Agreement resumed between the two countries.
According to economists, trade topped $3.62bn in the 2024-2025 period, and Modi said an agreement would “unlock the vast untapped potential in our trade relationship”.
For Modi, then, the relationship is strategic, economic and ideological.
The ideologies that underpin both states – Zionism and Hindutva – are both expansionist and exclusionary, and with Israel, India has an opportunity to consolidate a militaristic ethnocracy marked by supremacy.
And this is why when Modi spoke of a “civilisational affinity” and described ties as stretching back “thousands of years”, and referred to Biblical texts that purportedly mention India, the applause continued once more.
By the time he noted that he was born on 17 September 1950, the day India recognised Israel, it was as if the bromance had been blessed by God.