Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's home isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 has put his much-awaited India tour under a question mark.
The Israeli government announced the news of the prime minister testing positive on Monday. He was scheduled to visit India for a three-day tour, starting April 3, Sunday. He has already received a double vaccination plus a booster shot. US secretary of state, who interacted with Bennet, maskless, will be taking a Covid test today.
Israel had, in January, reduced the isolation period for a person testing positive for the virus from seven days to five days. As per Israel rules now, people infected with the virus can leave isolation after five days, provided they have two negative tests and show no symptoms. As per those rules, Bennet could actually fly over on Sunday.
Under India's revised guidelines, a person in home isolation can come out after seven days from the day of testing positive provided they have no fever for three consecutive days. They do not even need a negative test report to end the isolation.
Officials in the Israeli government are still mulling over this new development, the picture, say sources, should get clear by Wednesday.
The visit was a much anticipated one, foreign dignitaries have started visiting India after the Omicron wave. Nepal's new prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is visiting the country from April 1 to 3, the first visit of a government head to New Delhi this year. Naftali's visit was to start just as Deuba's was ending, keeping South Block extremely busy.
The last time an Israeli prime minister visited India was in 2018 when Benjamin Netanyahu came. He had tried a second visit, too, but that got repeatedly cancelled due to scheduling issues and domestic political turmoil in Jerusalem. Then, the pandemic began. Prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in 2017 was a landmark event in the bilateral, being the first Indian PM to do so, and effectively de hyphenating Israel and Palestine.
India has deep ties with Israel, mainly in defence. The country is a supplier of important military equipment -- drones, missiles, guns, radars and other communication systems. Of late, Israel is partnering with India in the development sector -- agriculture, horticulture and even water management. Israel's companies are introducing concepts of tech interventions like smart irrigation to India. The northeast region of India is a particular area of focus for Israel.
India, along with the US, Israel and the UAE have also formed an informal collective, referred to as the West Asia Quad.
Apart from the development and military agenda of the bilateral, the visit will also give the two leaders the opportunity to discuss the developments in Russia and Ukraine. Israel has strong ties with both nations and had offered to broker peace. Bennet was the first world leader to speak to Putin after the invasion of Ukraine.
