Obama Talks About Trade Deals With India, But Israel's Ties With India May Be Stronger

Over the past few days, Obama has been in India emphasizing the US-India relationship:

President Barack Obama announced a host of new trade deals with India supporting tens of thousands of US jobs Saturday as he began a 10-day trip through Asia on a determinedly domestic note.

Intent on demonstrating his attention to the sluggish US economy even while overseas, Obama also told a meeting of US and Indian executives that the US would relax some export regulations that have complicated trade between America and this fast-growing country of 1.2 billion people.

“As we look to India today, the United States sees the opportunity to sell our exports in one of the fastest growing markets in the world. For America, this is a jobs strategy,” the president said in a speech to the US-India Business Council. The remarks also were aimed at US voters who punished Democrats in the midterm elections in part over continued high unemployment.

But while Obama may see India as a market, according to an article in Reform Magazine, India and Israel have a strong, ongoing relationship:

Some 40,000–50,000 Israelis travel to India each year (many of them “unwinding” in the country after completing military service), and are a very visible presence in the country. In some outlying locations Israelis comprise a dominant percentage of foreign visitors. Even in central sites such as the main market in Old Delhi it is not uncommon to see Hebrew signs and meet merchants who can converse with Israeli customers in fairly fluent Hebrew.

This is no doubt due to the fact that Israel and India share quite a few things in common:

• Both Indians and Jews have ancient, illustrious civilizations which deeply impact their respective national mindsets, and a reverence for their past heritage which is evident in many aspects of public and private daily life.
• Both nations achieved independence from British colonial rule in the late 1940s.
• Both have contended with threats to national security from neighboring countries (India from China and Pakistan; Israel from the Arab states), terrorism, political assassination (Itzhak Rabin in Israel; Indira and Rajiv Gandhi in India), periods of economic hardship, and ethno-religious rivalries (both having significant Muslim minorities which at times have displayed animosity to the non-Muslim majority).
• Both nations—despite these dangers—have never wavered in their commitment to democracy.
• Both are committed to a knowledge-based society emphasizing learning, science, and technological advancement.
• Both have received financial and political support from their highly successful diaspora communities (particularly in the U.S.), which are loyal to their host countries while maintaining a strong affinity with the homeland.

So it really should not come as a big surprise that according to a study done last year, India was ranked as the most pro-Israel country in the world:

According to the study, which was unprecedented in scope and was undertaken by an international market research company, 58% of Indian respondents showed sympathy to the Jewish State. The United States came in second, with 56% of American respondents sympathizing with Israel.

It is true that Israel may not be able to rival the $15billion in deals Obama announced with India with the tens of thousands of jobs that are expected to be created--but India is clearly both an important trading partner for Israel and a developing ally as well.

Hat tip: Yaacov Lozowick

Technorati Tag: India.