India and Israel have had diplomatic relations for 25 years. In the past however, the relationship has always been a balancing act given India's sizeable Muslim population and the country's dependence on oil imports from Arab countries and Iran, the BBC said.
Calling Narendra Modi's visit to Israel a "complete turning point", senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Prakash Karat on Tuesday said it was a part of an overall Hindutva ideology which was coming into play both domestically and in terms of foreign policy.
Ex-CPI-M General Secretary also added that Modi's visit was also an open declaration that India doesn't stand by the Palestinian cause any more.
"What Modi Government is doing within India, this foreign policy is an extension of that," said Karat at a public meeting organized by Palestine Solidarity Committee, stressing there was a need to oppose this direction of foreign policy as well as the strategic alliance between India and Israel "which betrays Palestinian cause".
Binu Mathew, Editor of Counter Current, points out that Modi is not visiting Ramallah, the headquarters of Palestine Authority, which is a clear message to the Muslims of the world and to Muslims back home in India.
Mathew continues to say: "In Israel Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has found a natural ally and a role model who put their grand vision to fruition. In Modi's embrace of Netanyahu we see the marriage of two evil ideologies, Hindutva and Zionism. Israel with its tried and tested military technologies and tactics to subdue the freedom strugglers of Palestine, will be ever ready to pass on their know how to Modi. Muslims, dalits and other minority groups in India, beware of this deadly embrace."
India-China boarder standoff
Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel comes at a time when there is a standoff between Indian and Chinese troops along Sikkim-Tibet border sector.
All India Congress party has accused the Modi government of not taking "Chinese incursions" seriously and asked it to take proper steps to counter a possible attack or speedily engage with Beijing through diplomatic channels.
Accusing the Modi's ministers of only delivering speeches, a senior Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken asked how the govt intended to combat repeated "incursions", when it was "downgrading" the threat as "transgressions".
On the one hand, the Prime Minister is on foreign visits and the government itself is not taking the incursions seriously, Maken said.
Tellingly, an article on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) website warned on Tuesday that India's armed forces will not have the upper hand if the military standoff in Sikkim sector triggers an "armed conflict" with China.
The article, written by strategic analyst Wang Dehua, recalled the 1967 conflict in the same region and said Chinese army had launched "2 destructive" counterattacks against Indian armed forces.
"Indian side didn't get the upper hand in the past. And it won't get an advantage today when Chinese military has made remarkable progress on modernization over the past few decades," Wang, head of Institute of South and Central Asia, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, wrote in the piece titled "Expert: no winner in armed conflicts".
China would be forced to use a "military way" to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India "refuses to listen" to it, another Chinese expert warned.
As the standoff at the Doklam area continued for the third week, the longest between 2 countries, the official media and the Chinese think-tanks have said that "war is possible if the conflict between India and China is not handled properly".
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