New Delhi: The Israeli Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, on Friday listed six core values that make the Israel-India relationship special.
Azar termed the relationship between Israel and India as very special and unique and noted that it has to do with six core values.
He named ‘civilizational resilience and national revival’ as the first core value of both nations, saying that both civilisations were attacked by foreign powers for centuries.
“Our identity was targeted, and there was, throughout history, an effort to try to strip us of our identity. But despite the ordeal that we had to pass through in modern millennia, we survived; our identity survived. And this is what we have in common,” he stated in the video message shared on X.
He named the fight against terrorism as the second core value, saying that both nations face a wave of extremism around the world, especially coming from ‘radical Islam.’
“We have worked together for decades now to develop the means that we need to cope with that threat,” Ambassador Azar highlighted.
He said that the democratic values of both nations are the third core value, and stated that “India is the greatest democracy in the world.”
“This notion of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of entrepreneurship, this free spirit is something that is very strong within our systems and makes us very strong,” he emphasised.
He attributed innovation and competitiveness as the fourth core value and said that “in order to achieve the economic level of life that we need, we have to allow not only freedom, but we have to succeed in innovating, in making our world a better place. Israel and India have been a source of innovation and together we are working in order to make a more competitive environment that will allow us to become stronger and more prosperous.”
He highlighted tolerance and spiritual heritage as the fifth core value and noted that India and Israel are ancient civilisations which have ‘a very beautiful tradition of accepting the other.’
“Jews have felt very comfortable in India for millennia. There was never antisemitism in this country. And we have a common heritage because of the Jews that have been living here, but also because we have this tradition of accepting the other religions, allowing freedom of worship and freedom of religion,” said Ambassador Azar.
He noted that the sixth and final core value that makes the India-Israel relationship special is ‘sustained and inclusive development.’
“The fact that we work hard in order to bring all those people that either were unprivileged because they didn’t have an opportunity or because they are different from us, because they have a limitation, whether physical or mental, we want to include them in the economy,” the Ambassador highlighted.
He also said that “in the relations that we have with many other countries, we don’t have these commonalities. We may have common interests, but we don’t necessarily share common values. And with India, Israel shares common values.”
The Israeli Ambassador noted that it is important to concentrate on the promotion of these values and when both countries work together.
(IANS)
