Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Statement at his Meeting with Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Monday, 15 January 2018), met with
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and issued the following statement:

"Thank you my friend, Prime Minister Modi, Narendra. Thank you for your
exceptional friendship and hospitality that you showed me, my wife, and our
delegation. I was deeply moved today in the celebration at the ceremony. It
was an expression not only of the honor you showed me but the honor you
showed the people of Israel and the State of Israel. You are a revolutionary
leader in the best sense of the word 'revolution'. You are revolutionizing
India. You are catapulting this magnificent state into the future and you
have revolutionized the relationship between Israel and India.

I'm the son of a historian. Our peoples have had thousands of years of
history. India and Israel are two of the most ancient civilizations on earth
and yet it is an amazing fact that until you visited Israel no leader of
India in 3,000 years of our own sovereign existence and our history has
visited Israel. You are the first leader of a state, of an Indian state to
do this. So it was a groundbreaking visit. It excited the imaginations of
all Israelis and of course of the many Israelis of Indian descent, of
origin, who came and were…how shall I say this…well I thought I was in a
rock concert but it was a historic event as well.

We are ushering today a new era in our relations. We've had diplomatic
relations for 25 years but something different is happening now because of
your leadership and because of our partnership. There are three things that
bind our countries together: The first is that we have an ancient past. The
second is that we have a vibrant present. And the third is that we are
seizing together a promising future. We are proud of our past, our rich
histories, our peoples' contributions to human civilization in language, in
literature, in mathematics and medicine, in philosophy and faith. The
greatest texts that human beings produced are in Sanskrit and in Hebrew.
None greater and none more enduring and we never forget this.

More recently, you mentioned, just a century ago, brave Indian soldiers
played a vital role in the liberation of the State of Israel and the land of
Israel. This led to our Independence. And yesterday I was again deeply moved
as we paid tribute to these brave Indian fighters and commanders who gave
their lives in that historic fight. We honor their memory as you mark today
Indian Army Day. We are proud of our present, of our resilient democracies.
Our people are free to say what they want, do what they want, believe what
they want and these values and our diversity are not a source of our
weakness but the source of our strength. Evidence of this abounds in India
where you hear a symphony of dozens of languages and dialects and where
Jews, and you mentioned this yesterday Prime Minister, you mentioned the
fact that makes India stand out in the community of nations because over
2,000 years the Jews of India have never experienced anti-Semitism as our
people experienced in so many other lands. This is a tribute to your
civilization, to your tolerance, to your humanity.

Israelis and Indians are bound by the kinship of free peoples but I believe
that democracy cannot be taken for granted. Despite the doubts, despite the
challenges, India and Israel are living proof not only that democracy works
but they demonstrate something deeper – the intrinsic value of freedom which
I believe is the intrinsic value of life. Citizens thrive ultimately it is
the free citizens who thrive because they are free and when they are free.

Finally, we are proud that we are seizing the future so we can make a better
life for our peoples and for others around the world. Our commitment to do
so is reflected in the manifold agreements that we sign today in cyber, in
aviation, in energy, even in cinema. My wife and I are very happy that we
are going to Bollywood, we'd like to see it firsthand, and so many other
areas.

Israel is a fountainhead of innovation. It's a global force of technology.
India abounds with creativity, with ingenuity, with scientists, with
mathematicians and I think that when we join our respective talents together
we can achieve tremendous things for our people. We can actually achieve…you
say we want more…Prime Minister Modi and I are the same. We want more for
our people, we want it now, we want it yesterday. But one of the things that
Israel brings to this world of innovation is that we achieve more with less.
More crops with less water, more energy with less expenditure of money. More
with less. We want more, a lot more and we can do that even more
productively by cooperating.

When you and I walked shoeless along the Mediterranean shore, we drank sea
water that was purified before our eyes using technology that will save
untold lives. India and Israel are working together to provide clean water,
to increase crop yields, to keep our people safe from terrorism and other
challenges to the future we both seek.

You mentioned the areas: Agriculture where I presented to Prime Minister
Modi an idea of revolutionizing Indian agriculture as we're revolutionizing
Israeli agriculture – precision agriculture that goes down to the individual
plant. Some plants need more water, some less. We can see it today with big
data, with drones, with other instruments of technology to make farmers
produce much more crops. More crops with less. We're talking about
cooperation in science and technology in every field and we're talking about
cooperation in defense so that our people are always safe and always secure.

Indians and Israelis know too well the pain of terrorist attacks. We
remember the horrific savagery in Mumbai. We grit our teeth, we fight back,
we never give in.

My friend last night you again showed us your tremendous hospitality and
when you hosted Sara and me at your home so graciously it was brilliantly
lit, illuminated by the national colors of India and Israel and I thought at
that moment about your honesty, your passion, you vision, your commitment
and it fills me with hope, hope that this new era of India-Israel relations
will bring unprecedented benefits to India, to Israel, to all humanity.

And finally and this is perhaps the most important statement that I can make
here – my friend Narendra, any time you want to do a yoga class with me it's
a big stretch but I'll be there. Trust me.

Thank you very very much. Thank you my friend."