{"id":2630,"date":"2025-09-09T00:36:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T00:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/israel-india-sign-investment-deal-as-smotrich-welcomed-in-new-delhi\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T00:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T00:36:17","slug":"israel-india-sign-investment-deal-as-smotrich-welcomed-in-new-delhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/israel-india-sign-investment-deal-as-smotrich-welcomed-in-new-delhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel, India sign investment deal as Smotrich welcomed in New Delhi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>India\u2019s finance minister calls for greater collaboration in \u2018cybersecurity\u2019 and \u2018defence\u2019 between the two countries.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Israel and India have signed a bilateral investment agreement to expand mutual trade during far-right Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s trip to the South Asian country, which deepened its ties with Israel under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement, signed in New Delhi by Smotrich and Indian Minister of Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, aims to boost trade and investment flows between the two countries. Sitharaman stressed the need for greater collaboration in \u201ccybersecurity, defence, innovation and high-technology\u201d.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/8\/banksy-mural-shows-judge-beating-protester-amid-palestine-action-crackdown\">Banksy mural shows judge beating protester amid Palestine Action crackdown<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/8\/will-trumps-new-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-end-israels-genocide\">Will Trump\u2019s new Gaza ceasefire proposal end Israel\u2019s genocide?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/8\/israeli-strikes-kill-five-in-lebanon-in-latest-ceasefire-breach\">Israeli strikes kill five in Lebanon in latest ceasefire breach<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/8\/spain-imposes-total-arms-embargo-on-israel-to-stop-genocide-in\">Spain imposes total arms embargo on Israel to stop \u2018genocide in Gaza\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The deal marked \u201can important strategic step for our joint vision\u201d, said Smotrich, who has been sanctioned by several Western countries for his links to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe agreement reached today between Israel and India reflects our economic growth, innovation and mutual prosperity,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis agreement will open new opportunities for investors in both countries, strengthen Israeli exports, and provide businesses with the certainty and tools to grow in one of the world\u2019s largest and fastest-growing markets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s Ministry of Finance described the deal as a \u201chistoric milestone\u201d, adding that it will foster cooperation in \u201cfintech innovation, infrastructure development, financial regulation, and digital payment connectivity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Bilateral trade stood at $3.9bn in 2024, while current mutual investments are worth about $800m, according to official figures. But the bulk of the trade between the two countries is in the domain of defence and security, with New Delhi being Israel\u2019s largest weapons buyer.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Indian firms also sold Israel rockets and explosives during Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2024\/6\/26\/india-exports-rockets-explosives-to-israel-amid-gaza-war-documents-reveal\">Al Jazeera investigation<\/a> revealed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3934365\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3934365\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP24153452260379-1757372958.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Gaza protest\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3934365\">A woman holds a placard denouncing India\u2019s supply of weapons to Israel, during a protest in New Delhi on June 1, 2024 [Altaf Qadri\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The agreement comes as New Delhi moves closer to Israel, even as Israel faces growing political isolation over its genocidal war on Gaza. India was one of the first countries to reach out to Israel after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel led by Hamas, condemning it as \u201can act of terror\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Indian authorities have cracked down on pro-Palestine protests, even criminalising them in some cases, while <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/10\/25\/pro-israel-rallies-allowed-in-india-but-palestine-solidarity-sees-crackdown\">allowing pro-Israel rallies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>India still supports the so-called two-state solution for the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but it has abstained from several United Nations resolutions that have been critical of Israeli rights violations against Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, India also abstained from a UN General Assembly vote calling for an \u201cimmediate, unconditional and permanent\u201d ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Indians make up the largest group of foreign students in Israel, while Israeli construction companies have sought permission to hire up to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2024\/1\/24\/undeterred-by-gaza-war-thousands-of-indians-turn-up-for-jobs-in-israel\">100,000 Indian workers<\/a> to replace Palestinians whose permits were revoked after Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza in October 2023.<\/p>\n<p>India has also refused to condemn Israel\u2019s war on Iran, and declined to support the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/6\/16\/why-india-refused-to-join-sco-condemnation-of-israels-attacks-on-iran\">Shanghai Cooperation Organisation\u2019s<\/a> (SCO) condemnation of Israeli attacks. But after United States President Donald Trump\u2019s 50 percent tariffs on India, which took effect late last month, New Delhi this month signed an SCO declaration that condemned the US-Israeli bombing of Iran.<\/p>\n<p>India has also moved to mend its ties with rival China, in a setback for years of US policy using New Delhi as a counterweight to Beijing.<\/p>\n<p>China and India should be partners, not rivals, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Modi on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s finance minister calls for greater collaboration in \u2018cybersecurity\u2019 and \u2018defence\u2019 between the two countries. Israel and India have signed a bilateral investment agreement to expand mutual trade during far-right Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s trip to the South Asian country, which deepened its ties with Israel under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi. &#8230; <a title=\"Israel, India sign investment deal as Smotrich welcomed in New Delhi\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/israel-india-sign-investment-deal-as-smotrich-welcomed-in-new-delhi\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Israel, India sign investment deal as Smotrich welcomed in New Delhi\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}