The new India-Israel Special Strategic Partnership for Peace, Innovation and Prosperity should be read not only as a step forward in India–Israel relations, but as an opening for a wider strategic conversation. It gives New Delhi and Jerusalem a stronger framework for cooperation in technology, innovation, security, agriculture, water, health and economic development. But its greater significance for both countries may lie in what it makes possible beyond the bilateral relationship.
The next step should include Japan.
India and Japan have already built one of Asia’s most important strategic partnerships. During Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s official visit to India from July 1-3, Tokyo and New Delhi issued a new annual summit joint statement and several outcome documents, including declarations on economic security, artificial intelligence and energy resilience. Japan’s Foreign Ministry noted that the two leaders also discussed the Indo-Pacific, China, North Korea, the Middle East and the need for free and safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
While Israel has long-standing and deepening ties with India, its relations with Japan hit a roadblock on Oct. 7, 2023.
It’s not surprising that Jerusalem, which tends to focus on bilateral ties, sees these two very different relationships as separate and disconnected. But India and Japan do not think only in bilateral categories. In fact, their latest summit again showed that Tokyo and New Delhi see their partnership as part of a wider Indo-Pacific network that links economic security, supply-chain resilience, maritime stability, energy security, technology cooperation and coordination with other partners.
This is where Israel could fit in.
Israel is not an Indo-Pacific power in the traditional maritime sense. But Israel brings assets that India and Japan both need: rapid innovation, defense technology, cyber capabilities, water and agricultural expertise, emergency resilience, health technologies, AI applications and an ability to move quickly from problem to prototype.
For India, Israel is already a proven strategic partner. The relationship has moved far beyond defense procurement into innovation, food security, water management, homeland security and high-tech cooperation. For Japan, Israel offers access to a dynamic innovation ecosystem and a battle-tested form of resilience. For Israel, India and Japan offer something equally important: a path into the Indo-Pacific that is not dependent on any single great power.
A Japan-India-Israel framework could start with practical projects in economic security. Japan and India are already focused on resilient supply chains, critical minerals, semiconductors, energy security and advanced manufacturing. Israel could contribute niche technologies that strengthen the system: cyber protection for infrastructure, sensors, water technologies for industrial use, AI-enabled logistics and dual-use innovation relevant to ports, energy and transport networks.
India brings scale, geography, market depth and strategic weight, while Japan brings capital, industrial capacity and infrastructure expertise.
In the area of maritime security, Israel has technologies relevant to maritime domain awareness, unmanned systems, port security, communications and protection of critical infrastructure. In the countries from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, such technologies would bring added value.
Food, water and climate resilience solutions from Israel could benefit both India and Japan. India faces enormous agricultural and water-management challenges. Japan is dealing with aging infrastructure, climate pressures and food-security concerns. Israel has decades of experience in drip irrigation, desalination, wastewater reuse, precision agriculture and desert farming. A trilateral platform could turn these capabilities into projects in India, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
In the field of AI and emerging technologies, the Japan-India summit produced a joint statement on such cooperation, including work on large language models and frontier AI. Israel should be part of that conversation because it has strong AI diffusion across its defense, business, health and research ecosystems.
The question to address is where Israeli capabilities can serve trusted partners by building a working platform where each brings something distinct that contributes to each country’s economic and national security, leading to greater resilience and increased strategic autonomy.
India brings scale, geography, market depth and strategic weight in the Indian Ocean. Japan brings capital, industrial capacity, infrastructure expertise and a mature economic-security agenda. Israel brings innovation, agility and technologies tested under pressure. Together, the three can create a mutually beneficial, practical middle-great power architecture.
In an international system that is becoming more contested, in which supply chains are increasingly vulnerable and maritime routes less secure, technology now sits at the center of national security. A Japan-India-Israel framework could allow the three countries to capitalize on each other’s strengths to enhance economic security. By sharing trusted technology, the trilateral could open sea lanes and foster food and water security, innovation and stable connectivity.
For Israel, the strategic lesson is especially important. Israel can no longer afford to think about Asia through separate files: India in one folder, Japan in another, and the Gulf states somewhere else. The Indo-Pacific is increasingly connected to the Middle East. The Red Sea, the Strait of Hormuz, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea are not separate strategic theaters. Disruption in one affects the others.
India and Japan understand this. Their latest summit made clear that their partnership is not only about their own relationship. It is about the wider regional environment. Israel should understand the same.
Israel does not need to become an Indo-Pacific power to matter in the Indo-Pacific. It needs to become a serious, reliable and useful partner to the countries shaping the region.
India and Japan are the places to start.
