We are seizing together a promising future: Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu here on Monday identified democracy, civilisation and freedom as the links his country has with India. With his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi beside him, he also asserted that democracy cannot be taken for granted. "Despite the doubts, despite the challenges, India and Israel are living proof not only that democracy works, but they demonstrate something deeper — the intrinsic value of freedom, which I believe is the intrinsic value of life," he said.

Netanyahu further talked about significance of being free citizens. "Our people are free to say what they want, do what they want, believe what they want and these values and our diversity are not a source of our weakness but the source of our strength," he said.

He said evidence of this is abounding in India, where one hears a symphony of dozens of languages and dialects. He said India was perhaps the only country where Jews over 2,000 years have never experienced anti-Semitism as our people experienced in so many other lands. "This is a tribute to your civilization, to your tolerance, to your humanity," he said.

"We are proud of our present, of our resilient democracies. Our people are free to say what they want, do what they want, believe what they want and these values and our diversity are not a source of our weakness but the source of our strength," the Israeli PM added.

Describing himself the son of a historian, Netanyahu said India and Israel were two of the most ancient civilizations. Praising Modi, he said no leader of India in 3,000 years of India's sovereign existence and our history has visited Israel. "You are the first leader of a state, of an Indian state to do this. So it was a groundbreaking visit. It excited the imagination of all Israelis and of course of the many Israelis of Indian descent, of origin, who came and were…how shall I say this…well I thought I was in a rock concert but it was a historic event as well," he said.

He maintained that even though both nations had set up diplomatic relations 25 years ago, under Modi something was happening new. "There are three things that bind our countries together: The first is that we have an ancient past. The second is that we have a vibrant present. And the third is that we are seizing together a promising future. We are proud of our past, our rich histories, our peoples' contributions to human civilisation in language, in literature, in mathematics and medicine, in philosophy and faith," he recalled.

He also found a linkage between the ancient language of Sanskrit and Hebrew, saying the greatest texts that human beings produced are in these languages. He further mentioned that his country owes its origin to brave Indian soldiers who played a vital role in the liberation of his country. "Our commitment to do so is reflected in the manifold agreements that we sign today in cyber, in aviation, in energy, even in cinema. My wife and I are very happy that we are going to Bollywood, we'd like to see it firsthand, and so many other areas," he said.

Describing Israel a fountainhead of innovation, he offered to cooperate with India. "We want more for our people, we want it now, we want it yesterday. But one of the things that Israel brings to this world of innovation is that we achieve more with less. More crops with less water, more energy with less expenditure of money. More with less. We want more, a lot more and we can do that even more productively by cooperating," Netanyahu said.

Israeli PM said he presented an idea of revolutionising Indian agriculture to the PM Modi that included — precision agriculture going down to the individual plant. "Some plants need more water, some less. We can see it today with big data, with drones, with other instruments of technology to make farmers produce much more crops. More crops with less. We're talking about cooperation in science and technology in every field and we're talking about cooperation in defense so that our people are always safe and always secure," he added.