Op-Ed: Observations on Israel-India relations

Arutz Sheva ^ | 19/1/16 | Dr. Shalom Solomon Wald

[Eleutheria5]

Asia’s growing economic clout is already translating into greater political and military strength. Jews and Israelis have taken longer to grasp the importance of this shift for their own future. There are historical and political reasons for this, including Israel and the Jewish people’s privileged links with the United States, although Israel is now making efforts to strengthen its relations with Asia, including India.

India fascinates many and confuses many more. Its growing importance is not always understood. In 2015, India’s population stood at 1.28 billion, with a very young median age (27 years – China’s was 36 years). In 20 years, India’s projected population of 1.5 billion will exceed China’s. It will have the world’s youngest population, and its young will be better educated, ambitious and mobile.

There are many other reasons why India is attractive. It has considerable “soft power” across the world, and it is a gateway to many of its Asian neighbors with whom it shares culture and history. Being seen as a friend of India can confer non-material benefits. But India’s neighborhood, like Israel’s, is also a source of many dangers, and both countries are often victims of terrorism. This has created first a tacit, but now an increasingly open convergence of strategic interests...

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[Eleutheria5]

EMA (Eastern Minorities Alliance). It's inevitable. Note: Population of India presently exceeds that of Muslims worldwide, though not if you subtract the Indian Muslims from the total.