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PM Modi raises terror on ‘groundbreaking’ visit, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes ‘mere dost’

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 7/5/2017 12:50:01 PM

IT’S PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s 66th visit abroad in three years. But it’s a historic first by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel. Less than 11 years after Modi visited Israel as Gujarat Chief Minister in October 2006, he arrived at the Ben Gurion International Airport here on Tuesday, to a grand official ceremony and warm embrace by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described him as “my friend” at least three times during the 30-minute welcome at the airport.
Wearing a white bandhgala, in 35 degrees Celsius, Modi greeted Netanyahu with a “Shalom” as he landed at the tarmac shortly after 4 pm (local time). Netanyahu shook his hand, and told him, “What a great day, what a historic day. Welcome my friend.” The two leaders then embraced each other. Minutes later, after the ceremonial guard of honour, Netanyahu said, “Aapka swagat hai, mere dost”, as Modi smiled.

“Prime Minister Modi, we have been waiting for you for a long time, for almost 70 years, in fact. Because yours is truly a historic visit,” he said, “We receive you with open arms. We love India. We admire your history, culture, democracy, commitment to progress. We view you as kindred spirits in our common quest to provide a better future for our people and for our world.”
Netanyahu recalled how Modi told him, at their first meeting in New York in September 2014, that the “sky is the limit”. But, he said, with space cooperation now, even the sky was not the limit.