New Delhi: Breaking protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday personally went to the airport and received his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu who arrived here on a six-day visit to India.


Modi greeted Netanyahu with a warm hug and shook hands with his wife Sara.

Netanyahu is the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit India since Ariel Sharon came in 2003.

Modi and Netanyahu will hold a bilateral summit here on Monday following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed.

Netanyahu will also visit Gujarat and Mumbai.

Meanwhile, not disheartened by India's vote against Israel at the UN General Assembly on the issue of Jerusalem, Netanyahu has expressed hope that bilateral ties would receive a further boost during
his milestone visit to the country.

India in December voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the US for its decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Netanyahu said: "Well I would have preferred a different vote to be frank but I don't think it materially changes the tremendous flowering of relations between India and Israel".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited the Jewish state in July,becoming the first Indian premier to do so.

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  • PM Narendra Modi may go to airport to receive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu


Netanyahu to gift water desalinisation jeep to Modi

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present a special gift - the Gal-Mobile water
desalinisation and purification jeep - to his friend Narendra Modi during his visit to India starting January 14, according to sources.

Netanyahu and Modi waded into the Mediterranean Sea and rode the "buggy" jeep on the coast during the latter's visit to Israel in July last year.

Now Netanyahu is going to gift the same jeep to Modi, informed sources said.

As Netanyahu prepares for his six-day visit to India, sources confirmed that the jeep has "indeed" left for India and "would be arriving on time" to be presented by the Israeli Prime Minister to Modi.
The jeep is said to cost around 390,000 shekels (approximately USD 111,000).

(With additional information from Agencies)