Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a visit to the US in the last week of June and a lot of excitement was generated around his maiden meeting with the incumbent American president – Donald Trump. But that trip was certainly not the most significant foreign visit that Modi made in 2017. It is rather his visit to Israel on July 4 which needs to be seen as D visit.
Israel has sensed the significance of Modi's visit and has termed him as the most important prime minister of the world. The Jerusalem Post has also run a separate category called "Modi's Visit" to underscore the importance of the visit – the first-ever by an Indian premier to Israel.
From India's perspective, the visit to Israel holds tremendous significance because of one reason: Defence. It is just the issue of homeland security which binds New Delhi and Tel Aviv more than anything else and India clearly has a major purpose to serve by getting closer with Israel to gain the expertise on its world-famous defence skills.
In fact, India is planning to bolster its defence by integrating the defence skills acquired both from the US and Israel to upgrade its counter-terrorist and military deterrence capacity.
India, like Israel, has a hostile neighbourhood with two nuclear-armed countries with which it is never at peace. It, therefore, becomes an imperative for India to develop a defence mechanism which can create a credible deterrence against its foes and nothing other than the solid Iron Dome defence system of the Israelis can prove to be the best for New Delhi's interest.
How Israel's iron dome defence works
The Iron Dome is an air defence mechanism through which Israel intercepts and destroys short-range rockets and mortars fired by the enemies from a distance of upto 45 miles. The mechanism consists of a three-piece system of interceptor batteries that target rockets flying in.
A radar tracks the advancing rocket, a software sees its path and then Tamir interceptor missiles are fired to neutralise the enemy missiles to save common people's lives. The Iron Dome rockets are made by Rafael. In 2014, there were reports that the security at Rafael had been breached with use of devices having origins in China. Though there was no solid evidence on the matter.
Israel has been using the Iron Dome defence mechanism since March 2011, five years after Hezbollah's raining rockets killed 44 in their country. The rockets cost around nearly $100,000 and because of their expenses, Israel targets rockets that target human settlements and not those headed for open areas.
According to Israeli officials, the Iron Dome defence had intercepted up to 85 per cent of the rockets fired from Gaza in November 2012 when it had clashed with Hamas. Israel is often accused of killing more people but what the critics fail to see is that Israel saves its own people more successfully than others, thanks to the impenetrable Iron Dome.
Besides the military gains, there is also a strategic advantage that this system offers. Since the country has a foolproof defence, its political leadership has the confidence to go after the enemy without fearing a backlash. It even behaves rigidly at times, overruling domestic pressure to end the conflict permanently.
If India can replicate this defence mechanism, there will be an irreversible change in its own defence and a lot of soldiers' lives can be saved. India has been bleeding because of the non-stop cross-border terror and with Israel's cooperation in defence, it can put into place something like the Iron Dome that will see minimum human conflicts and more software-driven defence.
It is the defence and constant loss of human lives that hurts the Indian Army. India steadily receives arms from countries like the US, Russia and Israel but it is the defence which can prove to be a game-changer for New Delhi in the power game vis-a-vis Pakistan and China.
New Delhi has learnt to prioritise its relation with Israel, something it had not done earlier. It has dissociated Israel from Palestine keeping in mind the realpolitik and has dumped the calculations for domestic political gains. These are undoubtedly positive steps taken by New Delhi vs-a-vis Israel. Now, can Modi bring home a defence structure from Israel which will give the policy-makers in South Block a crucial lead while dealing with Pakistan and China?
