Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to India on a day-long visit on September 9 to meet his counterpart Narendra Modi, just eight days before an unprecedented repeat polls in the Jewish State. “The (Israeli) Prime Minister will be in India only for a few hours on September 9, during which he will be meeting Modi. Sources said that the Indian Prime Minister’s Office had suggested August 25 for the visit, but the Israeli side pushed for an early September visit which has finally been confirmed for September 9, exactly sixteen years after then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon created history by becoming the first Israeli Premier to visit India. The first request for an invitation for Mr. Netanyahu to visit New Delhi was made in January during the visit of Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Sabbath to India. Mr. Netanyahu visited India in January 2018 while Mr. Modi travelled to Tel Aviv in 2017, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to tour the Jewish state, where Mr. Netanyahu received him at the airport.

Source: The Hindu July 21, 2019 11:37 UTC