Netanyahu: Modi visit is part of effort to create alliance against radical Sunni, Shiite axes

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Israel on Wednesday for an official visit that will result in closer “economic cooperation, diplomatic cooperation, and security cooperation,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“I also note another special area of cooperation,” Netanyahu continues, “we will advance cooperation in high-tech, in AI and in quantum.”

Modi is set to address the Knesset that afternoon at 4:30 p.m., and both leaders will visit Yad Vashem and attend an innovation event in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu says that Israel “will create an entire system — essentially a kind of hexagon of alliances — around or within the Middle East,” listing India, Greece, Cyprus, and unnamed Arab, African and Asian countries.

“The intention here is to create an axis of countries that see reality, the challenges, and the goals in the same way, in contrast to the radical axes,” he says. “Both the radical Shiite axis, which we have hit very hard, and also the emerging axis — the radical Sunni axis. All these countries share a different outlook, and cooperation between us can yield very great fruits and, of course, also ensure our strength and our future.”