Netanyahu warmly welcomes Modi like old friend
this feels like home. Thank you, my friend. The warmth here truly embraces my heart.
The warm Mediterranean sun glinted off the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport, but the real heat came from the embrace shared by two world leaders. It was a moment that transcended the usual stiff formalities of state visits. As Air India One touched down, Prime Minister Narendra Modi descended the steps not into a sterile diplomatic bubble, but into the open arms of his “friend,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Bibi,” as he is affectionately known, was waiting with his wife, Sara, their faces lit with genuine smiles. This wasn’t just a welcome; it was a reunion. The handshake that followed was firm, but it was the subsequent warm, back-slapping hug that told the real story. It was the embrace of two men who have spoken late into the night on phone calls, who have built a bridge not just between nations, but between their own sensibilities.
“It’s a great honour to welcome you to Israel, Prime Minister Modi,” Netanyahu said, the formal words carrying the weight of personal sincerity.
For Modi, this was a homecoming of sorts. Walking along the red carpet, flanked by an honour guard, he wasn’t just a visiting dignitary; he was a returning friend. The last time he stood on Israeli soil, nine years ago, he had helped elevate their relationship to a “strategic partnership.” Now, he was back to nurture that bond, to water the seeds of friendship they had planted together.
The welcome wasn’t confined to the airport tarmac. As his motorcade wound its way through the streets towards Jerusalem, the spirit of India followed him. At his hotel, a vibrant, colourful microcosm of the shared connection awaited. Members of the Indian community, their voices a chorus of familiar languages, waved flags and cheered. They were joined by representatives of the Jewish Indian diaspora, a living, breathing link between the two cultures. The air filled not with diplomatic jargon, but with the rhythmic beats of a dhol and the melodies of Israeli folk songs, performed by artists from both nations. It was a street festival of friendship, a spontaneous outpouring of affection that touched the visiting Prime Minister.
Later, in the quiet of a one-on-one meeting away from the crowds, the real work began. But even there, the personal touch was the foundation.
The conversation flowed from technology to water management, from agriculture to the security challenges that both nations face. They spoke of “talent partnerships”—not just economic exchanges, but the exchange of bright young minds, of future innovators who would carry this friendship forward. Netanyahu himself had earlier put it perfectly, noting that their “close personal relationship” powerfully reflects on the ties between their countries.
In a world often defined by冰冷的 political calculations, the sight of two leaders greeting each other like old friends, of a prime minister’s wife personally receiving a guest, and of a diaspora community dancing in the streets, served as a powerful reminder. Diplomacy, at its most effective, is not just about treaties and trade deals. It is about the handshake that turns into a hug, the late-night phone call between friends, and the genuine warmth that makes a foreign land feel like a second home. For Narendra Modi in Israel, that feeling was unmistakably real.