Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu Thanks PM Narendra Modi for UN Vote

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday for voting in its favour at United Nations’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), preventing the Palestinian ‘human rights’ organisation ‘Shahed’ from getting an observer status at the world body.

Shahed had applied for a UN observer status in January and quickly cleared the first stage at ECOSOC within a matter of weeks. The Israeli move to apply brakes in the process came in March when it designated Shahed as a terrorist organisation over its alleged links to Hamas and the Iranian-inspired Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

“Thank you @NarendraModi, thank you India, for your support and for standing with Israel at the UN,” Netanyahu tweeted, posting flags of Israel and India, signifying friendship.

Marking a departure from its long-standing position, India voted in favour of the Israeli proposal, helping the Jewish state to score a win by 28 votes against 14. Besides India, other key countries which backed Israel included US, France, Germany, Japan, UK, South Korea and Canada. Prominent countries that voted against Israel were China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

This is the first time that India has voted on a UN resolution that is being perceived as pro-Israel.

Earlier, Modi government had indicated a shift in its policy by abstaining during voting at the UNHRC in 2015 on a resolution related to violence in Gaza. The move was termed as “significant” as it signalled that strategic ties were getting stronger between the two countries.

Since 2014, the trade ties between Israel and India, especially in defence and agriculture sector, have grown exponentially and the country has emerged as the second biggest arms supplier to India after Russia.

Last year, India awarded Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) an additional $770 million contract to supply Barak 8 long-range surface-to-air missile systems (LR-SAM) to the Indian Navy after concluding a $630-million deal between IAI and BEL, for the supply of four Barak 8 LR-SAM systems and a $2 billion deal for the medium-range surface-to-air (MRSAM) missile defence systems — a land-based variant of the Barak 8 for the Army.

Source: DNAIndia

Image Courtesy:AFP PHOTO / Thomas COEX