Modi Becomes First Indian PM to Address Knesset, Wins Israel’s Highest Parliamentary Honor

The open embrace echoes Anwar Sadat’s 1977 visit to Jerusalem—another moment when a large non-Western state broke decades of diplomatic caution to address Israel’s parliament. India, which only upgraded full ties with Israel in 1992 after decades of pro-Palestine Non-Alignment rhetoric, now signals a strategic pivot begun with Modi’s 2017 visit: technology, defence and corridor projects trump old ideological hesitations. Over the past century, rising powers have periodically recast West Asian alignments—e.g., the US-Saudi oil pact of 1945 or China-Iran agreements in 2021. Modi’s accolade may look small today, but on a 100-year arc it charts India’s transition from post-colonial fence-sitter to openly choosing partners that augment its economic and security ambitions, even at the cost of traditional balancing among Arab states. Whether this reshapes the stalled India-Middle East-Europe Corridor or merely adds another photo-op depends on deliverables beyond the applause, a caution the effusive Israeli and Indian press largely skipped.