Visits by Israeli PM and defence minister postponed

New Delhi, March 29  

Visits by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defence Minister Benny Gantz to India have been postponed and will be rescheduled.

The decision was made as Bennett had tested positive for Covid on Sunday evening. “Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s trip to India has been postponed and will be rescheduled,” news agency PTI said from Jerusalem quoting the PM’s media adviser.

Benny Gantz, who was also due to fly to India in the coming days, announced that he was postponing his trip. Gantz met Bennett on Sunday morning.

Had a telephonic conversation with the Defence Minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Gantz . Shared my condolences on loss of innocent lives due to terror attacks in Israel.
Terrorism is a global menace which has no place in today’s civilised world. @gantzbe

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) March 29, 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited them to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Jerusalem.

India is Israel’s biggest customer of weapons and military equipment. A report released by the Sweden-based think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on March 14 assessed a five-year period (2017-2021) to say that 37 per cent of all Israeli weapons and military equipment export was done to India.