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The Region: India and Israel: The parallels Nov. 30, 2008 Barry Rubin , THE JERUSALEM POST For years, India has been subjected to periodic terrorist attacks throughout the country. But what happened in Mumbai is something new and different: a full-scale terrorist war. This is the kind of threat and problem Israel has been facing for decades. What are the lessons for India from Israel's experience? First, India needs and has the right to expect international sympathy and help. It will get sympathy but will it get help? Once it is clear that other countries must actually do something, incur some costs, possibly take some risks, everything changes. If the terrorists came from bases or training camps in Pakistan, India would want international action to be taken. Pakistan must be pressured to close such camps, stop helping terrorists and provide information possessed by Pakistani intelligence agencies. But will Western countries make a real effort? Are they going to impose sanctions on Pakistan or even denounce it? Will they make public the results of their own investigations about responsibility for the terror campaign against India? NOT LIKELY. After all, such acts would cost them money and involve potential risks, perhaps even of the terrorists targeting them. Moreover, they need Pakistan, especially to cooperate on keeping down other Islamist terrorist threats, not spread around nuclear weapons technology too much and cooperate on maintaining some stability in Afghanistan. This parallels Israel's situation with Syria, Lebanon and Iran. For decades, the US and some European countries have talked to the Syrian government about closing down terrorist headquarters in Damascus. The Syrians merely say no (though sometimes they have just lied and said the offices were closed). The US even did impose some sanctions. But by being intransigent, pretending moderation and hinting help on other issues, Syria has gotten out of its isolation. So, despite all the pious talk about fighting terrorism, in real terms, India - like Israel - is largely on its own in defending itself from terrorism. ANOTHER PROBLEM India faces, like Israel in the case of Lebanon, is that it is dealing with a country that lacks an effective government. Pakistan is in real terms a state of anarchy. Even within the intelligence apparatus, factions simply do as they please in inciting terrorism. Given popular opinion and Pakistan's Islamic framework, even a well-intentioned government would be hard put to crack down. In Israel's case, the whole rationale for regimes such as those in Iran and Syria is radical ideology. So pervasive is the daily supply of lies and incitement to hatred that popular opinion supports the most murderous terrorism. Murder of Israeli civilians brings celebrations in the Arab world. Appeals to law and order, holding governments responsible for their actions, shaming them or going over their heads to turn to the masses on humanitarian grounds simply don't work. So what's a country to do? It might consider cross-border raids against terrorist camps or retaliation to pressure the terrorist sponsor to desist. Sometimes it will actually take such action. But can India depend on international support for such self-defense measures or will it then be labeled an aggressor? How much is India willing to risk war with Pakistan even though it has a legitimate casus belli due to covert aggression against it by that neighbor country? And let's not forget that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, a situation which Israel may soon face in regard to Iran. Now we can see the logic of terrorism as a strategy by radical groups and countries pursuing aggression by covert means. Their victims are not only put on the defensive but have to make tough decisions about self-defense. FINALLY, THERE is the dangerous "root cause" argument. Many Western intellectuals and journalists - as well as some governments - are ready to blame the victim of terrorism. In Israel's case, despite desperate efforts to promote peace - concessions, territorial withdrawals and the offer of a Palestinian state - it is said to be the villain for not giving the Palestinians enough. The terrorists and their sponsors use this situation to their advantage. By being intransigent - demanding so much and offering so little - they keep the conflict going and are able to pose as victims simultaneously. Will some suggest that if India merely gives up Kashmir and makes various concessions, the problem will go away? This might not happen but it is worth keeping an eye on such a trend. The Indian government is thus going to have some very tough decisions to make. How will it mobilize real international strategic support and not just expressions of sympathy for the deaths and destruction? How can it destroy terrorist groups, including installations outside its borders, and deter their sponsors? Israel's experience offers some lessons: Depend on yourself, be willing to face unfair criticism to engage in self-defense, take counterterrorism very seriously, mobilize your citizens as an active warning system and decide when and where to retaliate. Defending yourself against terrorism is not easy. Unfortunately, even in an era of "war against terrorism" those truly willing to help in the battle are few and far between. Since radical Islamists really believe their own propaganda, however, they tend to minimize their allies and maximize their enemies. You don't want to make 900 million Hindus and additional other Indians, in South Asia and elsewhere, mad at you. There are about as many Hindus and Sikhs as there are Muslims and, as one Indian reader put it, "There is a Hindi saying: One and one makes 11. It is time for India and Israel to become allies. It is a jihad we are both facing." The writer is director of Global Research in International Affairs Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal. www.gloriacenter.org This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702377288&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull ======= BUSINESS WEEK Europe August 28, 2008, 2:39PM EST A Boom in Israel's Exports to India As India's economy expands, business ties between the two nations are deepening and sales are surging by Neal Sandler   There have been Jews in India for centuries, and Indians in Israel for decades. But it wasn't until 1992 that the two countries established diplomatic relations. Now, as India's economy grows, business ties between the nations are deepening, and exports from Israel to the world's second-most-populous country are soaring. Consider Tel Aviv's Netafim, a leading supplier of drip irrigation systems. From fewer than 100 employees in India just four years ago, the company now has expanded its staff there to more than 700 and on Aug. 23 opened a second factory in the southern city of Chennai. Even more remarkably, Netafim bases its global engineering and planning operations on the subcontinent. "India has become our second-largest market (after the U.S.) and continues to grow rapidly," says Ofer Bloch, Netafim's president and chief executive. The privately held company, owned by three kibbutzim and two equity firms, notched sales of nearly $500 million last year and aims to double its revenues by 2011, thanks in no small part to growth in India. Makers of everything from chemicals to software are seeing similar surges. All told, exports of nonmilitary goods and services from Israel to India jumped 40% in the first half of 2008 from the same period the year before, after reaching a record $1.6 billion for 2007 as a whole. Military business also is booming. Although official figures aren't released on a country-by-country basis, a senior Israeli defense industry source estimates that Indian purchases now account for about one-third, or $1.67 billion, of Israel's $5 billion in annual defense exports. That brings Israel's total estimated civilian and military sales in India to around $3.27 billion. Farming Out High-Tech Work All manner of companies are benefiting from the trend. Giant Israel Chemicals (ICL.TA), for instance, figures that in the first half of this year it has already surpassed the $263 million in revenues it booked from India for all of 2007. Growing sales and a sharp rise in potash prices have made the specialty chemicals and fertilizer manufacturer into one of Israel's leading players in India. Meanwhile, Kadima-based IDE Technologies, a top supplier of desalination technology and systems (BusinessWeek.com, 4/25/08), is helping address critical water shortages on the subcontinent. "Our sales to India have more than doubled in the past few years, to the level of $50 million to $100 million," says Henri Inzelberg, vice-president for global marketing. Israel's high-tech industry also has discovered India in a big way. Initially, big companies such as billing software developer Amdocs (DOX) and tech integrator Ness Technologies (NSTC) turned to India for cheap engineering talent. Now, faced with manpower shortages in Israel and a rising shekel, even startups are farming out work to India to lower their development costs (BusinessWeek.com, 7/23/08). But these days, with sales on the upswing in the Indian market, outsourcing is only part of the equation. Tel Aviv security-software maker Aladdin Knowledge Systems (ALDN) opened an office last year in Mumbai and is already looking to expand its presence there. "We see India as a huge opportunity rather than a threat since there is a big demand for our type of security products," says Jacob (Yanki) Margalit, chairman and CEO of Aladdin. Housing for India's Middle Class The latest to jump on the bandwagon are Israel's real estate developers. In the past two years they have committed billions of dollars to projects in India and are counting on its fast-growing economy to offset the slack from slowing markets in the U.S. and Europe. Property & Building Corp. (PTBL.TA), Electra Real Estate (ELCRE.TA), Elbit Imaging (EMITF), and Gindi Group are constructing everything from housing to hotels and shopping malls. "We were debating between India and China and decided to go with the former because conditions there for foreigners to operate were a lot easier," says Segi Eitan, CEO of Property & Building. The company has bought land in four sites and is planning to build thousands of housing units for India's expanding middle class in Chennai and Hyderabad. Even El Al (ELAL.TA), Israel's national airline, has felt the change. The carrier has beefed up capacity to Mumbai, and business class seats to India are hard to come by these days. Israel's Largest Defense Customer As for defense, India now has supplanted the U.S. as Israel's largest customer for weapons systems ranging from aerial reconnaissance planes to missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. That has translated into growing sales for state-owned and private companies such as Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and Elbit Systems (ESLT). News reports earlier this month said that the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security had approved a new $1.5 billion contract for IAI to develop and upgrade the Indian Navy's Barak missiles. The deal had been held up for more than a year because of accusations that former Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes had accepted a kickback from IAI—charges that both Fernandes and IAI have denied. "This is the largest single deal ever for an Israeli defense company and underscores the critical importance of India for our industry," says the Israeli defense industry source. In February, IAI also signed a deal with the Indian industrial conglomerate Tata Group to set up a joint venture to develop weapons systems for the Indian market. To be sure, Israel can hardly expect to compete with bigger global players in the Indian market. Products from Israel accounted for less than 2% of India's $230 billion in total imports last year. But in key fields such as defense, agriculture, water, and high tech, Israel has what India is looking for. For such a small country, the benefits of the relationship are immense—and becoming even more so as Israel's traditional export markets in Europe and the U.S. flirt with recession. Sandler is a correspondent for BusinessWeek in Jerusalem .