Israel's friendship day message to India -- 'yeh dosti hum nahi todenge'; PMs says bond is eternal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged warm messages on Friendship Day, vowing to strengthen the "eternal" ties between their countries, after a Bollywood touch by the Israeli embassy here in its Twitter greetings which featured the song 'yeh dosti' from blockbuster Sholay. "Happy #FriendshipDay2019 India! May our ever strengthening friendship & growing partnership touch greater heights," the Israeli embassy said in a tweet on Sunday.

The message had the Hindi lyrics "yeh dosti hum nahi todenge" (We will not break this friendship) of the song from the 1975 movie "Sholay", starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Hema Malini, and emoticons conveying that Israel loves India. It had a short montage on various meetings between Modi and Netanyahu, with the music from the song playing in the background.

Modi responded with a tweet in Hebrew saying India and Israel have proved their friendship over time. "Thank you and wishing a Happy Friendship Day to Israel's wonderful citizens and my good friend Netanyahu.

"India and Israel are time tested friends. Our bond is strong and eternal! May the friendship between our nations grow and prosper even more in the times to come!" he said. Netanyahu then tweeted: "Thank you, my friend, Indian PM Narendra Modi. I could not agree with you more. The deep connection between Israel and India is rooted in the strong friendships between Israelis and Indians. We cooperate in so many areas."

"I know our ties will only strengthen in the future!" the Israeli Premier said. Netanyahu is set to visit India on September 9, just days before repeat polls in Israel on September 17.

The Knesset (Israeli parliament) voted in May to dissolve itself and call for fresh elections after Netanyahu could not muster the support of 61 lawmakers to form a government in the 120-member House. The Israeli Prime Minister's Likud party recently sprung a surprise by putting banners of Netanyahu with world leaders such as US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Modi with a caption, "Netanyahu (in a ) different league", in a bid to project that no other leader in Israel enjoys the kind of chemistry Netanyahu does with leading world personalities.

Some critics in Israel feel that Netanyahu's upcoming trip to India is also an effort to prop up his campaign that could give it the vital boost required at the last moment. Both Modi and Netanyahu are known to share a great chemistry which is visible in bilateral meetings.

Modi visited Israel in July 2017, the first by an Indian prime minister in 70 years. During the historic visit, the warmth between Modi and Netanyahu, also known as Bibi, was apparent.