In an overarching recalibration of its defence strategy, Israel is turning to India as a solid and credible defence partner. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated India as a significant defence partner to seek self-reliance in terms of defence manufacturing and production. The revamp of defence policy, is deemed as a major overhaul in Tel Aviv in the aftermath of a prolonged conflict with Palestine.
Recently, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that the repercussions and the price of the Israel-Palastine conflict was massive. However, devastation and destruction are integral to a war. The massive firing of artillery and ammunition were inevitable to destroy the terror camps and terrorists who were hiding in underground secret channels, said Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Further, the Prime Minister of Israel illustrated the bottlenecks suffered by the country during the conflict in terms of shortage of weapons. The crisis in critical weapon systems was a strategic disadvantage to Israel in its mission to destroy the terror tunnels across Gaza, explained Benjamin Netanyahu. “And simply, at a certain point we did not have enough ammunition. Part of the losses suffered by Israel in the conflict was an impact of this weapon scarcity”, Netanyahu further added.
Israel resolves to carve independent arms industry
Due to the gridlocks encountered by Israel during the conflict with Hamas in terms of weapon shortage, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exclaimed that the country decided to accelerate a major revamp in its defence policy. The goal is to carve an independent and robust arms industry and seek self-reliance in terms of critical weapon manufacturing, so that there will be no crunch of the war machinery that will act as a strategic prickle to defend the national security of Israel.
In this direction, Israel aims to reduce its over dependency on the United States as a defence import destination. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that extreme dependency on the US for defence imports was a demerit to take swift actions and attacks on the terror hubs of Palestine during the intense face-off. There were many embargoes or trade barriers from the Trump administration for the export of critical weapon systems. Thus, Tel Aviv has decided to diversify its defence partnership away from the United States and seek self-reliance in terms of defence manufacturing.
Israel aims to decouple its dependency on the US
Due to the major hiccups encountered during the conflict due to the over dependency on US weaponaries, Israel has decided to anchor a major shift in its strategic posture towards defence production. In this voyage, Tel Aviv considers New Delhi as a credible defence partner. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exclaimed that as an impact of the strategic jerks faced during the Palestine conflict, he has resolved to catalyse Israel as a free economy and one of the leading economies of the world. This is crucial to seek self-reliance and strategic independence.
Netanyahu further asserted that Israel has to free itself from the American economy and its dependence on the financial aid from the United States. Within a decade, Israel has to completely decouple from the US financial aid and be a free economy, which also includes the military aid from the US, Prime Minister Netanyahu exclaimed his vision for a self-reliant Israel. He aims to make Israel a trillion dollar economy within the next ten to twelve years. This free and solid economy will act as a propellant to achieve a self-reliant defence industry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also reiterated that he wants to rephrase and redefine the Israel-US relations. It can’t be a mere aid relation where Tel Aviv is extremely dependent on the US, but it should be a partnership that benefits both the economies. “We want to shift from aid to partnership”, asserted Netanyahu. Thus, the Israel-US defence relations must shift from aid to joint investment, development and production, Netanyahu envisioned. Beyond the rephrasing of its Partnership with the US, Israel is also looking for new partners in the defence domain. In this diversification strategy of Israel, India is at the helm.
Israel deems India as a credible defence partner
As an impact of the lessons learnt from the Israel-Palestine conflict, Tel Aviv aims to diversify its defence import and partnership credentials. In this vision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deems India as a credible partner to strengthen its defence apparatus. India is at the helm of Israel’s defence diversification strategy. In this direction, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi(friend of Netanyahu) is visiting Israel in the month of February and stronger defence partnership is definitely on the agenda.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss joint production and sale of defence weapon systems with utmost priority. With India as its solid partner, Israel seeks to achieve defence self-reliance and independence so that there will be no scenario of weapons or ammunition insufficiency in the near future, as it suffered in the latest conflict with Hamas. India and Israel thus doesn’t just articulate its defence partnership with mere buyer-seller dynamics, but aims to calibrate a strong joint development and co-production partnership.
As Israel is entangled in the arms embargo imposed by the Western nations, it is looking at India as a long-term credible defence partner. In an earlier occasion, Israel had reiterated that “We have realised who our real friends are. India is indeed a friend, and we are looking at expanding our bilateral defence cooperation”. India and Israel currently have extensive defence relations which are growing at a swift scale. Both nations have shared vision in terms of counter-terrorism and carving national security, which gives a common platform to build strong defence apparatus.
For example, Israeli drones such as Heron UAV, missiles such as Barak-8 were used in Operation Sindoor to defend the national security of India. Israel has advanced cutting-edge technology and an in-depth research paradigm in missile systems, drones, ammunitions and expertise in cyber warfare as well. India, on the other hand, has vast manufacturing potential with skilled man power and other resources. This provides a perfect niche and win-win scenario for both the countries to ramp up joint defence development and production, to carve a strong national security apparatus amidst geopolitical uncertainties.
Stronger Israel-India defence partnership will yield a fertile strategic ground for both the nations to interdict national security threats. The defence relations between India and Israel is indeed a positive sum game across the geopolitical chessboard to shield against distorted defence policies of the globe and seek self-reliance and strategic autonomy. Israel is confidently marching in this direction, considering India as a credible partner and New Delhi is ofcourse reciprocating with clear strategic vision and pragmatism.
