India's Friendship with Fellow Democracies Deepens

David Michaels

India is the world's largest democracy, second most populous nation, and one of the foremost emerging powers -- a member of the so-called BRICS group (which also includes Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa). It is highly influential at the United Nations, where it has historically been a leader of the "non-aligned" states.

Over recent years, bilateral Indian relations with both Israel and the United States have deepened significantly—and an Indian administration in place since 2014 offers promise of a substantial further flourishing of these ties. As with predecessors of his, B'nai B'rith joined in meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The prime minister is scheduled to return to the United States later this month for the opening of the 70th session of the body.

India's growth has been dramatic, and this growth, notwithstanding varied challenges, stands to continue. No less, India is at once a vital partner in the struggle against international terrorism (a scourge that notoriously struck across Mumbai, including its Jewish Chabad House, in 2008) and home to unparalleled demographic diversity. India's Jewish community—increasingly small and overshadowed in a society of 1.2 billion members, and itself fragmented into distinct subgroups—is among the world's oldest and most unique, with outsize contributions to the history of India, which takes pride in its relative lack of indigenous anti-Semitism.

Although Delhi's traditional Middle East policy has in the past created some distance between India and Israel—a reality perhaps reinforced by Britain's early endorsement of Jewish statehood, and the presence of far more Muslim citizens in India than in any country in the Arab world—these two democracies have come to develop an array of common interests in the economic, cultural, scientific and defense spheres. Modi, who has developed a close relationship with his Israeli counterpart, has taken to periodically tweeting greetings in Hebrew. Although India utterly dwarfs Israel in size, travel to India has also become a rite of passage for many young Israelis, particularly following their mandatory military service, so much so that Hebrew signage is to be found in certain areas of the country.

More substantively, in several months Modi is expected to become the first sitting Indian premier to visit the Jewish state. Before then, President Pranab Mukherjee will be the first Indian head of state to do so. Notably, over the recent period, India has declined to vote in favor of several anti-Israel votes at the United Nations. While expressing continued support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, India's external affairs minister recently referenced Israel as an "ally country."

Meanwhile, with extensive shared interests in Asia as well as globally, America's friendship with India has been further developing of late. The United States., Israel and India can each gain substantially from the growing partnership between them.

As a global Jewish organization long invested in strengthening ties to India, and celebrating its contributions to intercommunal coexistence, B'nai B'rith will redouble its efforts to expand wide-ranging engagement with this vital country, its leadership and society.

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David J. Michaels is Director of United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs at B'nai B'rith International, where he began working in 2004 as Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President. A Wexner Fellow/Davidson Scholar, and past winner of the Young Professional Award of the Jewish Communal Service Association of North America, he holds degrees from Yale and Yeshiva University.To view some of his additional content, Click Here.