Jerusalem: India and Israel have vowed to cooperate to combat the menace of terrorism and further deepen their bilateral relations ahead of the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Jewish state next month.
The commitment to cooperate on tackling terrorism came during a meeting of Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare S S Ahluwalia and the speaker of Israeli parliament, Knesset, Yuli Edelstein.
The leaders said terrorism was a global menace afflicting countries around the world and, therefore, required closer cooperation.
They committed to "work together to combat the menace of terrorism" and exchanged ideas on the role of the parliament in building bilateral ties, especially vibrant democracies such as India and Israel.
Ahluwalia is leading a parliamentary delegation to Israel in the build up to the visit of Modi in July.
Modi's visit will be the first by an Indian prime minister to the Jewish nation and coincides with the establishment of 25 years of bilateral diplomatic relations.
Ahluwalia also visited Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum) in Jerusalem. He said "the museum is a living symbol of forbearance and a warning to future generations that such instances should never make their way into human history".
The museum was built in the memory of six million Jews, including about 1.5 million children, who perished under Nazi atrocities.
Ten other members of parliament drawn from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha belonging to nine different political parties received briefing on bilateral ties by the Political Director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Alon Ushpiz, who has served as Israel's envoy in New Delhi.
The delegation was taken on a tour to demonstrate various technological achievements made by Israel that has helped transform it into a developed state, despite a severe lack of natural resources.
The Indian parliamentarians also visited autonomous car technology firm, Mobileye, which was recently bought by Intel for more than USD 15 billion.
They were also introduced to the latest solutions for precision farming at the Kibbutz Naandan Jain, and visited Israel's largest water desalination plant at Sorek, south of Tel Aviv.
