Jerusalem, February 26 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his deep gratitude to India on Thursday, while sharing a personal anecdote about his first date with Sara (now his wife) at an Indian restaurant in Tel Aviv.
Addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their talks in Jerusalem on Thursday, Netanyahu said: "Finally, I have to say at the end of this visit that I owe a great debt to India. I don't know if I told you this, Narendra... But, I owe India a great personal debt. You see, when I first met Sara, I think our first or second date was at an Indian restaurant in Tel Aviv...
"And I have to tell you, it was an amazing experience. First of all, the food was incredible, and Sara had never tasted it before. So, it was a wonderful first date... Not only that, the date itself was excellent. So, obviously, I am grateful to you, as are my children, and I want to tell you how deeply and from the heart we feel about our personal friendship and the friendship between our governments and our peoples. We hope that this will continue and flourish and strengthen, as I'm sure it will as a result of this visit," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli Prime Minister described Prime Minister Modi's visit as "short but amazing, extraordinarily productive, and moving." He also praised Prime Minister Modi for his speech in the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset.
"This was an amazing visit. It was an amazing conclusion to an amazing visit. It was short but extraordinarily productive, and also extraordinarily moving. I think there wasn't a dry eye left in Israel after your moving statement yesterday in the Knesset. I can tell you that since then, we have also had the opportunity to not only look deep into our hearts but also into our remarkable minds that we have in our two countries. We saw an exhibition of innovation that excited our imaginations beyond belief. We spoke about cooperation with the extraordinarily talented people of India and our people, and we are working this into concrete plans," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli Prime Minister stated that both countries have decided to hold a G2G meeting, which he said will give a greater boost to the enormous benefits that the two nations can bring to each other and humanity at large. He also praised Prime Minister Modi-led Indian government, terming it as "amazingly efficient."
"We have decided to have a G2G meeting in India. As soon as we can arrange it, we would like to take the distinguished ministers who are here. I have to comment to my friend Narendra, you have an amazingly efficient government. What you can do with one minister and one ambassador..." Netanyahu said.
With both countries bent on innovation, he remarked that Israel and India are "proud ancient civilisations" determined to seize the future.
"You talk about precision agriculture. You know what that means. It means you don't average irrigate a field. You target a specific part. No, you target a specific plant. You water a plant. Well, why can't you water a specific student's mind? When we talk about precision education, we have now the software and the AI to reach every young student, boy or girl, and enable them to reach their full potential. And the limitations that were constraining us in previous times no longer constrain us. That is to those who seize the future. The future belongs to those who innovate, and Israel and India are bent on innovation. We are proud ancient civilisations, very proud of our past, but absolutely determined to seize the future and we can do it better together," he said.
Prime Minister Modi is currently on a two-day State Visit to Israel. He was accorded a grand welcome by Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Later, he addressed a Special Plenary of the Knesset in Jerusalem – the first such address by an Indian Prime Minister at the Israeli parliament.
