New Delhi: The India-Israel relation completed 30 years of its diplomatic ties and on this account, Masada Fortress in the Southern District of Israel was illuminated with the flags of both the countries merging in together. In a video shared by Ambassador of Israel to India, Naor Gilon, the Masada Fortress can be seen lit with a trail of golden lights on the top while flags of two countries come together. “30 years of India-Israel friendship” could be seen written on the rocks in Hebrew, Hindi, and English languages.
Watch the video here.
As the iconic Masada Fort was illuminaed in Israel, historic monuments in Inida were also lit up to mark the three decades of the diplomatic ties,. Gateway of India in Mumbai and Teen Murti Haifa Chowk in New Delhi were also illuminated.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a special video message on completion of three decades of the ties, said that there could not have been a better time to set new goals for taking forward India-Israel relations. He added that the cooperation between both the countries have played a key role in the growth stories of both the nations.
PM Modi’s Israeli counterpart Naftali Benett also thanked his Indian counterpart for his “deep commitment” to the "strong and robust friendship", as both nations marked 30 years of establishment of diplomatic ties.
India recognised Israel on September 17, 1950 while full fledged diplomatic relations between both the nations were established on January 29, 1992.
The 30th anniversary of the India-Israel diplomatic relations come at a time when a report by New York Times claimed that India bought snooping software, Pegasus spyware as a part of $2 billion defence deal with Israel in 2017. The report has triggered much controversy as the Opposition alleged that the government indulged in illegal snooping that amounted to “treason.”
(With inputs from PTI)