Indians most sympathetic towards Israel--says study

ashdoc

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Amid burgeoning defence and trade ties, sympathy for Israel has also seen an unprecedented growth in India, where the Jewish state enjoys the highest level of support, pushing the United States to the second position, according to a study.

The study commissioned by Israel's foreign ministry and conducted by an international market research company has shown that 58 per cent of Indians are sympathetic towards Israel, compared to 56 per cent in the US, daily Yediot Ahronoth reported.

The study was undertaken as part of the "Branding Israel" project and aimed at looking into Israel's international stature at what researchers characterised as the world's 13 most important countries, including the US, Canada, Britain, France, China and Russia.

Other countries that showed significant sympathy towards Israel included Russia (52 per cent), Mexico (52 per cent), and China (50 per cent).

While Britain (34 per cent), France (27 per cent) and Spain (23 per cent) emerged as the least sympathetic countries towards the Jewish state.

The participants in the study were asked a series of questions and were instructed to grade their level of sympathy for Israel on a 1 to 10 scale.

The same participants were later presented with several 'branding videos' on Israel before being asked more questions in order to see whether their opinions changed after watching the clips, the daily said.

The videos focussed on many aspects of life in Israel, including the beaches, landscape, culture, food, technology, and religious sites.

The study showed that a total of 51 per cent of the respondents said that their views about Israel changed for the better after watching the videos.

The percentage of respondents who perceived Israel as an aggressive state is said to have subsequently dropped to 21from 35 per cent while the percentage of respondents who perceived Israel as a creative country rose from 24 to 40 per cent after watching the clips.

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_india-most-sympathetic-towards-israel-says-study_1245311
 

Tshering22

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Guess as jihad increases in India especially after 26/11, more and more of our people are getting to courage to harden up like Israelis and identify with them. :D
 

Oracle

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I remember just after the 26/11 attacks, on the streets of Mumbai, a young guy said "I don't want to get killed when I am at home, having dinner with my family". "I am ready to die in a war with Pakistan, even if I am a silent spectator".

The callousness of the GoI is only increasing this attitude of young Indians, who feel rebellious on their part to not only speak and join something anti Pakistan, but also get attracted to Right Wing groups. GoI needs to address this ASAP.
 

maomao

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Guess as jihad increases in India especially after 26/11, more and more of our people are getting to courage to harden up like Israelis and identify with them. :D
My Exact Words......:)
 

tarunraju

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It's just a "enemy's enemy is my friend" strategic relation. We are better off maintaining a peaceful but safe distance from Israelis.

Cash-rich but resource-starved Israeli entrepreneurs are the last thing you'd want in our system.
 

ashdoc

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It's just a "enemy's enemy is my friend" strategic relation. We are better off maintaining a peaceful but safe distance from Israelis.

Cash-rich but resource-starved Israeli entrepreneurs are the last thing you'd want in our system.
i dont think its just enemy's-enemy-is-my-friend .

both india and israel share the same experience of being surrounded by enemies.

if an arc is drawn from the shoes of the mediterranean sea to the arabian sea , you will find that india and israel are the only nations that have a liberal constitution.......in fact ,they are '' natural allies '' in more ways than one.

india is the only country to have tolerated jews without any record of persecution for over a thousand years.....a fact acknowledged by even those jews who migrated from india to israel.

like israelis , indians traditionally are not a warrior nation but a nation of pacifists.

israelis became warriors only after the holocaust , while india too has had to go against its natural peace-loving instincts only because of grave threats .
 

tarunraju

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i dont think its just enemy's-enemy-is-my-friend .

both india and israel share the same experience of being surrounded by enemies.

if an arc is drawn from the shoes of the mediterranean sea to the arabian sea , you will find that india and israel are the only nations that have a liberal constitution.......in fact ,they are '' natural allies '' in more ways than one.

india is the only country to have tolerated jews without any record of persecution for over a thousand years.....a fact acknowledged by even those jews who migrated from india to israel.

like israelis , indians traditionally are not a warrior nation but a nation of pacifists.

israelis became warriors only after the holocaust , while india too has had to go against its natural peace-loving instincts only because of grave threats .
There are similarities, but similarities don't make friends, at least not out of choice. Indians have more similarities with Pakistanis (as far as common culture, similar spoken-language, and race goes), but that's a different story.

India tolerates every religion, it's the only country where significantly-sized populations of the different sects of different religions coexist and live peacefully, so Judaism naturally finds room. That doesn't make India a special place for Jews.

Indo-Israeli relations should be treated on par with India's cordial relations with like-minded countries. That's as far as it should go.
 

Tshering22

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^^ Chill bhai... no one said that we should raise Israel on our head. :)

BTW if Israel is to be treated on par as you say then we must also openly invite Israeli PMs on state visit with equal openness just as Russian or US presidents come announced, don't you think? Then why is it that Leftists and Muslim community start shouting against Israeli leaders and make a mockery out of our hospitality to guests? Any opinions on that?

Because that is not an equal treatment especially to a political friend.
 

Blackwater

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It's just a "enemy's enemy is my friend" strategic relation. We are better off maintaining a peaceful but safe distance from Israelis.

Cash-rich but resource-starved Israeli entrepreneurs are the last thing you'd want in our system.
The same applies to china aur china walo ko pakiz ki shaakal thodi na pasad ayi
 

Energon

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There is certainly a vicarious pleasure in watching the Israelis pound the Muslims using their high tech warfare techniques. There is also this great admiration for Israel's "tough" or "hard" approach to their military conflicts and their hawkish approach to everything. However this is for the most part pointless. India is not Israel, the parameters of the conflicts are markedly different and for a multitude of reasons India is never going to be able to replicate what the Israelis do.

tarunraju said:
Cash-rich but resource-starved Israeli entrepreneurs are the last thing you'd want in our system.
It's actually the other way round. Israeli entrepreneurs are exactly what you want in your system. If Israel is to be admired for anything it should be for their exceptional ability to foster entrepreneurship and excel at innovation. This is the lesson a country like India really needs to learn, and quickly. Their unparalleled and relentless resolve in furthering their education system and R&D infrastructure is a whole lot more important than their resolve to bomb the hell out of south Lebanon.

I think Israel should be highly admired by India, but for the right reasons.
 

Armand2REP

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I do not understand why India has such high opinions of Israel except they both have a common ditractor... Pakistan. Do they view the J&K situation similar to that of West Bank? Is a nation that denies AESA sales a reliable military supplier. The bilat trade between Israel and India outside Israel selling weapons is next to nothing. Explain please...
 

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I am sure most of those interviewed would have been young guns. College going students or atleast those below 30s. Ever since india established diplomatic relations with israel, it has been getting closer to that country more than anything else militarily. I think people remember that it was israel who quickly sent ammo for our artillery during kargil war. And from there on, they have cooperated closely with india on various defence projects. That apart, indians probably view israel the same way as they view themselves, victims of terror. So that gets them more closer and sympathize with them on that issue. Also think that it has been wrongly attributed that muslims in india don't like israel for what's happening in ME. I think they would care less. When indian muslims don't view Kashmiri muslims sympathetically for the terror in kashmir, why would they outside of their country. There is great potential for indo israel relations to grow, israel has done pioneering work in the field of agriculture, non conventional energy apart from defence and many other fields that india can greatly benefit from.
 

ejazr

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Guess as jihad increases in India especially after 26/11, more and more of our people are getting to courage to harden up like Israelis and identify with them. :D
Jihad is not what is happening when you refer to 26/11. This is terrorism and has been condemned by Muslims as well as Religious scholars from various schools of thoughts in India. And not just India but throughout the world. And as recently as the last anniversary of 26/11 Muslim scholars from various countries condemned in unequivocal terms the actions of 26/11 perpetrators as UnIslamic let alone a "Jihad".

So it would be suitable if we don't listen to terrorists and accept what they say rather than listen to what the rest of the Muslim community religious scholars and all are saying
 

niharjhatn

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i dont think its just enemy's-enemy-is-my-friend .

both india and israel share the same experience of being surrounded by enemies.

if an arc is drawn from the shoes of the mediterranean sea to the arabian sea , you will find that india and israel are the only nations that have a liberal constitution.......in fact ,they are '' natural allies '' in more ways than one.

india is the only country to have tolerated jews without any record of persecution for over a thousand years.....a fact acknowledged by even those jews who migrated from india to israel.

like israelis , indians traditionally are not a warrior nation but a nation of pacifists.

israelis became warriors only after the holocaust , while india too has had to go against its natural peace-loving instincts only because of grave threats .
This hits the nail on the head.

Furthermore, just as Israel is a land guaranteed for some of the most persecuted people in history, so is India such a state for our own religions.

My main criticism of Israel are some of their policies on Muslims in general, which often lowers them to the level of those more radical sects of Islam that they so despise.
 

thakur_ritesh

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Israel certainly finds much appreciation for the valor shown in the 6day war, something they still show in a neighborhood which is all aggressive, many time their size and full of hatred for them something an indian mind equates with what india finds itself surrounded with be it in the form of Pakistan or china and then the common threat to both of terrorism.

Anyways Israel is not a country to be all pals with but a country with which business needs to be done, the best be extracted from them and make sure in return they don't start to dominate our policy making as they have done in the US and in the Europe, its always good to keep a safe distance from them as tarun said.
 

sob

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Excluding Military sales bilateral trade between India and Israel in 2009 was US $ 4.1 Billion Dollars compared to $200 Million in 2001, so the trade has been growing robustly.

A formal free trade agreement was on progress as of 2010 for a two way agreement that would give Indian industries access to the Israeli high technology sector, and Israel access to Indian domestic market.[34] This is a step ahead of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) that a Joint Study Group (JSG) set up by the two countries had recommended to improve trade ties. It is estimated that bilateral trade would exceed $12 billion in 5 years with this trade agreement. The current areas that are to be given focus are software, communication, homeland security, science and medicine, bio and agro-technologies, water.[35][36]

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Israeli_relations

Another area where the Israeli help has been very important is the drip irrigation method where the Israeli's are the world leaders. I have seen in huge areas of MP which has water problems, drip irrigation has come to rescue of the farmers and they are getting good crop.
 

Tshering22

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I do not understand why India has such high opinions of Israel except they both have a common ditractor... Pakistan. Do they view the J&K situation similar to that of West Bank? Is a nation that denies AESA sales a reliable military supplier. The bilat trade between Israel and India outside Israel selling weapons is next to nothing. Explain please...
Actually its a lot more than you think. The reason for such a high opinion is that Israel is the only strategic level friend in that region. You know, US has significant funding share into almost everything that Israel makes including their BMD, radars, avionics etc etc. Israel is not self dependent on its money. SO naturally it will have to do something that US says no to especially when US money is involved in it. If ELM 5052 AESA was jointly developed with our money and our agencies, you seriously think US could have said anything on this? I don't think so. Barak-8 missiles are an example where US can't say jack to stop it.

For example:

http://www.zeenews.com/news541618.html

I don't want to dig up such stuff to explain this since most is on Google and easily available.

The main reason why Israel is admired is for their resolve and dedication to their country in government terms and their countering all regional odds including terrorism, sabotage and their very survival compared to our own vile governments. Not to mention they have a high tech defence industry that are not a ripoff from the pockets.

Its business simple as that. Just like any other country is.
 

Blackwater

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It's becoz we are sailling in same boat that is made in pakistan lollllllllllllllllll
 

Armand2REP

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Actually its a lot more than you think. The reason for such a high opinion is that Israel is the only strategic level friend in that region. You know, US has significant funding share into almost everything that Israel makes including their BMD, radars, avionics etc etc. Israel is not self dependent on its money. SO naturally it will have to do something that US says no to especially when US money is involved in it. If ELM 5052 AESA was jointly developed with our money and our agencies, you seriously think US could have said anything on this? I don't think so. Barak-8 missiles are an example where US can't say jack to stop it.
Is not UAE THE friend in the region? It is the hub of Indian financial interest in the ME. Bilat trade is a dozen times higher than Israel. The amount of remittance coming out of UAE is in the billions, out of Israel nothing. International flights between UAE dwarf that to Israel.

The main reason why Israel is admired is for their resolve and dedication to their country in government terms and their countering all regio nal odds including terrorism, sabotage and their very survival compared to our own vile governments. Not to mention they have a high tech defence industry that are not a ripoff from the pockets.
India appreciates Israeli acts of genocide? India never takes it so far nor should they. It is nothing to be proud of. Their high tech defence industry is just an extension of the US MIC.

Its business simple as that. Just like any other country is.
If it is just business. UAE should be your ME BFF, not Israel.
 

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