When Hamas militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people, the first call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came not from Washington or Europe, but New Delhi.
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, used the conversation, confirmed by two people with knowledge of the exchange, to express his support for Israel. “Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel,” he posted on X afterwards. “We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.”
Modi’s gesture epitomised the strong bond that has developed between him and Netanyahu over the past 12 years, rooted in what both men cast as their shared fight against terrorism, as well as their visions of their nations as homelands for their religious majorities.