Indian President Pranab Mukherjee addresses the Knesset during the first official visit to Israel of an Indian leader, October 14, 2015. (Courtesy of Knesset Spokesman)
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee left Israeli lawmakers baffled on Wednesday when he waxed lyrical about Hamas at a Knesset session in his honor, but consternation soon turned to relief when they realized he was praising the much-loved chickpea dish of hummus.
Mukherjee told the special plenary session that the Indian people enjoy the taste of hummus, Indian’s NDTV media outlet reported, but he pronounced the word so that it sounded like “Hamas” — the name of the Islamist terror group that rules the Gaza Strip and has fought Israel in three bloody conflicts since 2008.
Meeting President Reuven Rivlin earlier Wednesday, the Indian leader condemned the current wave of terrorism striking Israel, saying that his country is “disturbed by the recent violence.”
India, he said, “attaches high importance to its relationship with Israel.”
Illustrative photo of the ubiquitous Israeli pita-and-hummus meal (Chen Leopold/Flash 90)
The trip comes amid ongoing efforts to boost ties between India and Israel. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took office last year, has made developing cooperation with Israel a focus for his government’s diplomatic policies.
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Mukherjee also met Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the two leaders “discussed bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, technology, innovation and agriculture.”
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