Israel’s ambassador to India, Naor Gilone, has described India as a “key partner” for his country, while the prime minister’s visit is expected soon after the election. Israel will see an election on 1 November to elect members of parliament or the Knesset. While the elections will be held on November 1, the final election results will be published on November 9. Speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent Siddhant Sibal, Gillon said, “India is a key partner for us, a very close friend and ally. We do a lot together and I believe that since we do a lot together, so a PM’s visit is a missing element in the relationship”. Voting took place globally and in Israeli missions in Delhi, ahead of elections in the West Asian country.
Several Israeli diplomats, including Ambassador Gilone, his wife and their daughter, voted at the embassy on Thursday. More than 4,500 diplomats and their families from nearly 100 Israeli missions around the world began voting today.
Israel’s election in November follows a political deadlock and 4 previous elections held in April 2019, September 2019, 2020 and 2021. But that hasn’t stopped bilateral or multilateral ties from moving forward, with the I2U2 or West Asian Quad between India, the US, Israel and the UAE meeting and announcing a range of projects on food security, renewable energy, and more.
Siddhant Sibal: If you can give information about elections in Israel, how big is the process?
Naor Gillon: We are a country of about 10 million people who are eligible to vote, citizens over the age of 18, and about 6.7 million permanent residents. We are voting (at the Israel Embassy) about 10 days before the general election, so that our ballots can be counted with the general public on November 1st when they vote. For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have more than 100 representations and ballots, each embassy and consulate has one ballot. This includes 3 in India, one in Delhi and 2 in Bangalore and Mumbai. In general, abroad, not all Israeli citizens are allowed to vote, Israeli citizens who are representatives of the government, spouses and children up to a certain age.
Siddhant Sibal: Here in Delhi, we saw the polling place, what are the measures taken at the time of polling, and have you voted?
Naor Gillon: Yes, I have voted, my wife has voted and my daughter has voted for the first time in her life, since she turned 18 a few months ago. We all voted this morning. Same measure around the world, you get the ballot box, you get the list of people entitled, you get the authorization, and everyone has to get their authorization, even if we know the people, you have to bring ID. We live together, we know each other but the law requires you to do that, and that’s it. Immediately after the election, all ballots will be sent back to Israel by diplomatic mail. We are voting in double envelopes here abroad so that nobody can vote twice. For example, he can go to Israel on November 1, and he can vote which is illegal.
Siddhant Sibal: Israel witnessed political instability and now democratic processes, but democracy is a link between India and Israel. Your view on shared values and the political system?
Naor Gillon: When I speak, I don’t like to speak about instability, political instability in Israel. I want to talk about a very vibrant democracy, so vibrant that we have already voted 5 times in the last 3 years. The system is like this and when the population is divided into 2 groups, either one group or another, the difference between them is relatively small. I think the main similarity between India and Israel in the political system is that we are both very heterogeneous societies. 20% or more of the voters are Muslim Israelis or Arab Israelis as you can call them, they vote, some of them vote for general parties, they have their own party. We have ministers from a minority group, and the last coalition on the party, was a Muslim party. You have Muslims, Christians, Orthodox, any Orthodox, newcomers, immigrants, so it’s a very heterogeneous group, a lot like India.
Siddhant Sibal: India and Israel are celebrating 30 years of ties, so once the new government takes over, what are we expecting? Can we look forward to a Prime Minister-level visit from Israel to India?
Nour Gillon: The desire for a visit, the need for a journey is even stronger there but first we need a government. It is a process that can take 6-7 weeks in Israel, once we have a government, we have a prime minister. Hopefully it will happen, we have stability and no re-election. We will put the need for a visit to India very high on the agenda. India is for us a major partner, a very close friend and ally. We do a lot together and I believe that since we do so much together, a PM visit is a missing element in the relationship. Not everything is up to that, it is part of the issue, especially now that we are celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations, 75 years of India’s independence and 75 years of Israel independence because we were a few months apart. I think it is needed because the relationship is very good, and I hope the next Prime Minister will accept it and do it relatively early in his term.
Siddhant Sibal: I2U2 is one such group that has taken off, what is the update in terms of initiatives especially on the agriculture front?
Naor Gillon: The last time the semi-hybrid summit was held, when the US was visiting Israel and PM Modi also attended virtually. He announced 2 major projects, one in the clean energy sector, a very large construction project and the other in agriculture, farms and food security, these are projects for large scale cooperation between 4 countries. In New York, during the General Assembly, another meeting of the group’s Sherpas discussed ongoing projects, implementation and potential projects that the group could take. Big projects, involving 4 countries, companies doing something in infrastructure that helps countries and the world to be a better place.