Speaking before a special session of the Knesset in honor of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the visiting leader as “even more than a friend, a brother.”
“When you were here last, we were both on the Mediterranean coast. I suggested we take off our shoes and go into the water, the same water we wanted to desalinate, and indeed, we did so using Israeli technology,” Netanyahu said, according to an English translation provided by his office.
“With all due respect to our Christian friends, they said we didn’t just wade in the water, we walked on water. That isn’t true,” Netanyahu said. “We didn’t walk on water, but we have performed miracles since then.”
India and Israel have doubled trade, tripled cooperation and quadrupled their “understandings in ways I cannot begin to describe, and in certain ways that I should not describe,” the Israeli premier said. “But it is a wonderful friendship, both personally between the two of us, between our two countries and between our two peoples.”
Netanyahu added that “India is a giant power of 1.5 billion people” and “Israel is a bit smaller.”
“But Israel is a giant, too. It is a superpower. It is a giant in spirit, a giant in deeds, capable of performing miracles,” he said. “The alliance between us is a massive multiplier of the strengths of each of our countries. It is a multiplier of spirit and a multiplier of actions and capabilities.”
He added that Israel will never forget how India stood with the Jewish state after Oct. 7, clearly, morally and sharply.
Modi began his remarks by saying, “Shalom. Namaste.” Like Netanyahu, he described the long histories spanning many centuries of Israel and India.
“I bring with me the greetings of 1.4 billion Indians and a message of friendship, respect and partnership,” he said.
He added that he was the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel years ago and was now the first one to address the Knesset. “We feel your pain,” he said of Oct. 7 and its aftermath. “We share your grief.”
“India stands with Israel firmly, with conviction, in this moment and beyond,” Modi added, to a standing ovation and applause.
“Countering terrorism requires sustained and coordinated global action, because terror anywhere threatens peace everywhere,” he said.
It is important to maintain hope even after major challenges in the region followed the optimism of the Abraham Accords, according to Modi, who said that India has expressed “firm support” for the Gaza peace initiative endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.
“We believe that it holds the promise of a just and dutiful peace for all the people of the region, including by addressing the Palestine issue,” he said. “Let all of our efforts be guided by vision, courage and humanity. The road to peace is not always easy, but India joins you and the world for dialogue.”
