Netanyahu in India LIVE: Modi a Revolutionary Leader, Jews Never Experienced Anti-Semitism In India, Says Israel PM

"The Jews of India never experienced antisemitism in 2000 years. This is a tribute to India's great civilisation, tolerance and democracy. Personally, my wife and I are excited to visit Bollywood and see it first-hand ourselves," says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. 

"India and Israel have thousands of years of history. You are a revolutionary leader Narendra Modi, you have revolutionised India. Three things bind our countries - we have an ancient past, vibrant present and a quest to seize a promising future," says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We will strengthen existing pillars of cooperation in areas that touch the lives of our peoples. These are agriculture, science and technology and security.We exchanged views on scaling up the Centers of Excellence that have been a main-stay of agricultural cooperation," says PM Narendra Modi.

"Today and yesterday we reviewed progress in our relations and renewed our relations on the opportunities that beckon us. We have imparted our shared impatience to the implementation of our earlier decisions. The results are already visible on the ground. Our discussions today were marked by convergence to accelerate our engagement and to scale up our partnership," says PM Narendra Modi.

"I have a reputation for being impatient to get results and so do you PM Netanyahu. We will strength our cooperation in areas that affect the lives of our people i.e. agriculture, science and technology and defence. I welcome Israeli companies to come take advantage of the liberal FDIs in India's defence sector. We will also fecilitate the flow of ideas between both sets of people. We will bring our people closer, with a Indian culture center opening in Israel and we will have an annual programme, wherein 100 young people travelling from India to Israel and vice versa to exchange ideas," says PM Narendra Modi.

"It is a great honour to welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India on his first trip here. This is a long-anticipated moment in the diplomatic relations between India and Israel. I was overwhelmed by the warmth shown by Israel during my visit," says PM Narendra Modi.

Nine MoUs signed between both countries, including one on cyber security, science and technology.

The joint press conference between PM Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu begins.

PM Narendra Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu hold delegation level talks at Hyderabad House in Delhi:

PM #Modi and PM #Netanyahu hold delegation level talks at Hyderabad House in Delhi #NetanyahuInIndia pic.twitter.com/p3ke9qSiUd

— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2018

Benjamin Netanyahu and PM Modi will initially have a one-on-one meeting for the first half an hour, which will be followed by delegation-level talks, reports CNN-News18's Maha Siddiqui.

PM Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu hold bilateral talks at Delhi's Hyderabad House.

Visuals of Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sara Netanyahu at Rajghat:

Delhi: Israel PM #BenjaminNetanyahu and wife Sara Netanyahu at Rajghat pic.twitter.com/E02bhC1OJ8

— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2018

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu lay a wreath on Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat.

"This is the dawn of a new era in the friendship between India and Israel. PM Modi set the ball rolling with his historic visit to Israel, which created tremendous enthusiasm and it continues with my visit here. Our visit to India has been deeply moving for my wife, me and the entire people of Israel. I think it heralds a flourishing partnership to bring prosperity, peace and progress for both our people," says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has now left Rashtrapati Bhavan and is now travelling to Rajghat to lay wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial.

This is the dawn of a new era in the friendship between India and Israel, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu meeting top diplomats and Defence officials at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Israeli PM, in turn, is introducing his visiting delegation to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Ceremonial Reception For Netanyahu#

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being given a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan, as his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and other ministers watch on. The President's bodyguards are giving a Guard of Honour to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu will be accompanied by a 130-member delegation from various sectors including cyber, agriculture and defence.

On Thursday, Netanyahu will have a power breakfast with Indian CEOs and attend a business seminar. He will also lay a wreath at Taj Hotel Mumbai and pay a visit to Nariman House - Chabad Centre. He will also reach out to Bollywood personalities in an exclusive 'Shalom Bollywood' event, that aims at exploring business opportunities for Indian filmmakers in Israel.

On Tuesday around 11 am, Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara, will leave for Agra to see Taj Mahal. On the same day, he will visit Delhi and participate in the Raisina Dialogue, where he is scheduled to deliver an inaugural speech at 4:30 pm. Netanyahu will leave for Ahmedabad on the fourth day of his tour and visit Sabarmati Ashram at 11 am. The minister will also attend an event at the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) at 12:30 pm. He will later visit the Centre of Excellence, Vadrad at 3:30 pm. On the same day, the minister will leave for Mumbai.

What he is able to take back from India for Israel will be crucial to showcase his leadership.

The attack on Chabad House and other locations like the Taj Hotel left 166 people dead. Moshe was rescued by his nanny and he later moved to Israel, where he stays with his grandparents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Israel in July last year, had invited Moshe to Mumbai. "He (Moshe) will be accompanying the prime minister (Netanyahu) and there will be a ceremony in Chabad House in Mumbai. There might be other elements of participation of Moshe who has gone through a terrible tragedy and his coming here," Carmon said.

Eleven-year-old Moshe Holtzberg will visit the Chabad House in Mumbai next week, where his parents were killed in the 26/11 terror attacks, and attend a ceremony there with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's envoy to India Daniel Carmon said on Friday. Moshe was two-year-old when his parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, who were serving as Directors at Chabad House, were killed along with six others when the place was attacked by Pakistani terrorists during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In a video posted on the Congress twitter handle on the day Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in Delhi for his six-day visit, Modi's famous hugs with various world leaders are ridiculed.

The video starts by dubbing Modi’s interactions with other premiers “as awkward”, using old footage of his meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to drive home the point. It goes on to lampoon his meetings with several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkey’s Reccip Erdogan. Special attention, however, was reserved for Modi’s ‘Titanic Hug’ with former French President Francois Hollande and ‘barely there’ hug with Netanyahu. While Congress saw nothing wrong with the video and said it fairly represented Modi’s failed foreign policy, it left the BJP fuming.

The Congress party on Sunday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘hugplomacy’, or his penchant for giving hugs to heads of state during diplomatic meets, kicking off a war of words with the BJP. In a video posted on the Congress twitter handle on the day Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in Delhi for his six-day visit, Modi’s famous hugs with various world leaders are ridiculed with gifs and satirical descriptions.

In December last year, India voted in favour of a resolution brought by Turkey and Yemen in the UN opposing the United States' decision recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Advocating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India to boost and deepen bilateral economic relations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Israel is changing so rapidly. We are creating industries. We have just created a car industry in just last five years. We have 500 start-ups dealing with automation of car." He further added, "And there are other areas like water, agriculture, energy, health, transportation. There is a whole world that is erupting, exploding. Future belongs to those who innovate... Israel is an innovation nation. India has innovations. In Silicon Valley, there are two dialects you hear - Hindi and Hebrew and only a little English."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was disappointed by India’s vote, but predicted the growing friendship to soon reflect in all UN votes soon. “This visit is a testimony that our relationship is moving on so many fronts, be it political, technological, tourism, security and so many other areas. Ultimately you see it reflected in all UN votes, not just now but soon," he added. In December last year, India voted in favour of a resolution brought by Turkey and Yemen in the UN opposing the United States' decision recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The resolution was approved with 127-9 at the UN General Assembly.