India's foreign policy toward Israel is a subject of deep dispute. Throughout the twentieth century arguments have raged over the Palestinian problem and the future of bilateral relations. Yet no text comprehensively looks at the attitudes and policies of India toward Israel, especially their development in conjunction with history. P. R. Kumaraswamy is the first to account for India's Israel policy, revealing surprising inconsistencies in positions taken by the country's leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and tracing the crackling tensions between its professed values and realpolitik. Kumaraswamy's findings debunk the belief that India possesses a homogenous policy toward the Middle East. In fact, since the early days of independence, many within India have supported and pursued relations with Israel. Using material derived from archives in both India and Israel, Kumaraswamy investigates the factors that have hindered relations between these two countries despite their numerous commonalities. He also considers how India destabilized relations, the actions that were necessary for normalization to occur, and the directions bilateral relations may take in the future. In his most provocative argument, Kumaraswamy underscores the disproportionate affect of anticolonial sentiments and the Muslim minority on shaping Indian policy.

India and Israel contextualises the varied aspects of the partnership between India and Israel, with a specific focus on the dominant driver -- the defence engagement between the two sides, forged in the context of mutual complementarities. India's broad-spectrum relationship with Israel transformed into a strategic partnership in 2017, a quarter century after the establishment of full diplomatic ties. India and Israel have successfully steered the relationship forward, despite the baggage of fraught and convulsive neighbourhoods. The contributors to this volume include policy makers and military leaders who played an important role in the growth of the relationship, as well as academics who have closely followed its growth, shedding important light on the transformation of the India-Israel bilateral relationship into a strategic partnership over the course of past tumultuous 25 years. Chapters highlight Israel's increasing engagement with India's diverse federal polity, the de-hyphenation of the India-Israel ties from India's relationship with Palestine, as well as the role played by US non-state (pro-Israel US-based interest groups) and sub-state (US Congressmen) actors in shaping India-Israel ties. The concluding chapter examines Israel's relationship with the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), given that both the PRC and India established diplomatic ties with Israel almost simultaneously. India and Israel will be of great interest to scholars of strategic studies, international relations, Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Studies, as well as those working in diplomacy, government and the military. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Strategic Analysis.

India's relationship with Israel has been one of the most sensitive and controversial issues in New Delhi's diplomatic history. India first decided to recognize Israel in 1950 but deliberately deferred the establishment of diplomatic relations. Then, in January 1992, New Delhi abruptly modified its no-relationship policy and exchanged diplomatic missions with Tel Aviv. In the spate of only two decades, the two countries have developed significant economic and especially defense relations. Why did India only decide to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992? And how have Indo-Israeli relations moved from almost naught to a rapid and substantial development in certain sensitive sectors like defense cooperation in only a few years? Breaking with conventional wisdom, this book looks at how India's Israel policy was actually contested from the start and evolved over time to adapt to new domestic and international circumstances and interests. The rationale for engaging Israel did not suddenly emerge in 1992 but was in fact the result of long-term debates within the Indian polity. This book offers a new historical perspective to understand the formation and evolution of India's Israel policy since the pre-Independence period.

All the races of men, along with their gods, descend from Japhet, son of Noah. The Hebrew and Hindu holy books say that all our deities and religions came from a race of spacemen from Outer Space, to keep mankind from devolving to animal level. "It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth-when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men ." (Genesis 6:4). The ancient Hindus and Turks called them Navalin (Star Ship People) and Anunaka/Anunaki (One who is from the Sky; From the Place of No Pain). The Sumerians, Mesopotamians, and Akkadians called them Anunaki (Sky Gods; People of Heaven and Earth). The divine strangers appointed the tribe of Japhet or the Sanskrit Jyapeti to rule the earth. This divine right of kingship extended also to their close relatives, the Yadu, Yadava, and Yahuda (Jews). The divine religions they inherited were Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism-all of which originated in Siberia. But things went wrong. Mankind kept getting worse. Men started to deny that Christaya, Kurus, and Aryans, as they were called, originated from Mt. Meru in Southern Siberia. The ancient Jews insisted that mankind had spread from the Tower of Babylon, which was just a symbol of Meru. The Hindus likewise insisted that their Gods were home grown and not from Outer Space. Yet, the story might be true. It extended over the entire Eastern Hemisphere.

"Harel-Shalev's study is outstanding. Finally, a cogent and intelligent analysis of the myriad ways deeply divided societies maintain and negotiate democratic practices. This book will prove to be essential reading for anyone interested in the topics of identity politics, public policy, and democracy."---Rebecca Kook, Ben Gurion University --

"The U.S.-Israel relationship is in trouble," warn Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellows Robert D. Blackwill and Philip H. Gordon in a new Council Special Report, Repairing the U.S.-Israel Relationship. Significant policy differences over issues in the Middle East, as well as changing demographics and politics within both the United States and Israel, have pushed the two countries apart. Blackwill, a former senior official in the Bush administration, and Gordon, a former senior official in the Obama administration, call for "a deliberate and sustained effort by policymakers and opinion leaders in both countries" to repair the relationship and to avoid divisions "that no one who cares about Israel's security or America's values and interests in the Middle East should want."

What the world can learn from Israel's meteoric economic success. Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel -- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK? With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland, Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting. As America reboots its own economy and can-do spirit, there's never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.

* A comprehensive historical account of the primary Jewish communities of India, their synagogues, and unique Indian Jewish custom* The essays and over 150 images in the book explore how Indian Jews retained their unique characteristics, as well as became integrated into the larger society of India* Includes the memoir of growing up Jewish in India by Siona Benjamin, and an analysis of her trans-cultural artGrowing Up Jewish in India offers an historical account of the primary Jewish communities of India, their synagogues, and unique Indian Jewish customs. It offers an investigation both within Jewish India and beyond its borders, tracing how Jews arrived in the vast subcontinent at different times from different places and have both inhabited dispersed locations within the larger Indian world, and ultimately created their own diaspora within the larger Jewish diaspora by relocating to other countries, particularly Israel and the United States. The text and its rich complement of over 150 images explore how Indian Jews retained their unique characteristics as Jews, became well-integrated into the larger society of India as Indians, and have continued to offer a synthesis of cultural qualities wherever they reside. Among the outcomes of these developments is the unique art of Siona Benjamin, who grew up in the Bene Israel community of Mumbai and then moved to the US, and whose art reflects Indian and Jewish influences as well as concepts like Tikkun olam (Hebrew for 'repairing the world'). In combining discussions of the Indian Jewish communities with Benjamin's own story and an analysis of her artistic output - and in introducing these narratives within the larger story of Jews across eastern Asia - this volume offers a unique verbal and visual portrait of a significant slice of Indian and Jewish culture and tradition. It would be of interest to Jews and non-Jews, Indian and non-Indian alike, as well as to history enthusiasts and the general reader interested in art and culture.