Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : Modi and Netanyahu’s ‘bromance’ is a hardening strategic axis and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
Huddled in conversation on a plane, walking along a Mediterranean beach, flying kites in the sky, tight embraces at official ceremonies — the bromance imagery is deliberately intimate.
In a video posted on X on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a video to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi back to Israel for a state visit. “A look back: From historic visits to warm moments of friendship,” he posted.
The choreography reflects more than diplomatic warmth. It signals the consolidation of Israel’s most important relationship with a non-Western ally.
India and Israel have deepened defence and technological cooperation over the past decade. Under Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda, India is now the largest buyer of Israel arms, including drones, missile systems, and surveillance technology.
That partnership has had implications on regional violence: India’s use of Israeli-origin drones during the May 2025 strikes against Pakistan, for instance.
Local media reports suggest the two leaders are discussing expanded defence cooperation this week, including potential discussions on long-range missile systems, anti-ballistic missile defence, and advanced weapons technology. A bilateral investment agreement signed in September aimed to further integrate the two economies and support broader strategic collaboration.
After a 2017 meeting in Israel, media began dubbing them “a bromance”
Modi’s trip comes days after Netanyahu’s latest geopolitical framing: a proposed “hexagon of alliances.” In remarks delivered to his cabinet on Sunday, he outlined a loose bloc of countries including Israel, India, Greece and Cyprus, alongside unspecified Arab, African and Asian partners. Its purpose, he said, would be to counter what he described as “radical axes” in the region — both a “radical Shia axis” referring primarily to Iran and its allies, and an “emerging radical Sunni axis.”
While the proposal is not exactly akin to NATO, in that there is no announced structure or binding commitments (yet) it is significant to note the language. Framing regional politics in terms of sectarian “axes” evokes earlier eras of binary geopolitical thinking, when former U.S. president George W. Bush labelled Iraq, Iran and North Korea an “axis of evil” in 2002. This framing helped normalize a binary worldview and bolster the political case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq; a war that proved to be deeply destabilizing.
The two countries share ideological affinities as well. Under Modi, India has faced strong criticism from human rights groups over policies targeting its Muslim minority from the 2019 citizenship law that discriminates against Muslims, the move to rescind Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and a climate in which anti-Muslim hate speech have proliferated. Azad Essa, a U.S.-based senior journalist with Middle East Eye, notes that Modi’s government views Israel as a model. After a 2017 meeting in Israel, media began dubbing them “a bromance” and political leaders from both sides began referring to Israel and India as “two of the most ancient lands on Earth.”
“Netanyahu looks at India as a strong militaristic state with an unapologetic religious identity… He saw a country that put Muslims in their place,” Essa says.
As Carney reminded global leaders at Davos, our engagement with the world must be anchored in the values that underpin our foreign policy.
Essa, author of the 2023 book Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel, and hasreported on India-Israel ties, was recently informed that Indian authorities had blocked access to his X account within India — a reminder of the limits on press freedom and the government’s intolerance of scrutiny by independent media.
Modi’s visit to Israel comes just days before Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to arrive in India for high-level talks. For Canada, these developments are geopolitically significant. Ottawa is actively seeking to deepen economic and strategic ties with India, viewing it as a key partner in trade diversification and critical minerals supply chains. Carney’s visit signals a desire to stabilize and advance the relationship after years of diplomatic strain.
Yet as Ottawa courts India, it must also consider that a more tightly integrated India-Israel security partnership — particularly one framed around sectarian narratives — has implications for regional stability and for Canada’s own foreign policy positioning on Iran, Israel-Palestine and the broader region.
Beyond the optics of Netanyahu’s welcome lies a darker alignment. For Canada, the challenge is to engage without collapsing into simplistic binaries. As Carney reminded global leaders at Davos, our engagement with the world must be anchored in the values that underpin our foreign policy. That means our approach to India should be both principled in upholding human rights and pragmatic in recognizing how power operates in today’s world. Ottawa must resist dogmatic narratives that divide states neatly into allies versus adversaries. If it does not, we risk being defined by the ambitions and narratives of others.
Shenaz Kermalli is a journalist and journalism instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Toronto.