Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Naftali Bennett on Tuesday (November 2, 2021) held a 'fruitful' first meeting on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit. During the meeting, Bennett told Modi that he is the 'most popular man in Israel' and also asked him to join his party.
"You are the most popular man in Israel. Come and join my party," said Bennett as PM Modi burst into laughter upon hearing the compliment.
"I want to thank you. You're the person who restarted the relationship between Bharat and Israel, which is a deep relationship between two unique civilizations – the Bharatiya civilization, the Jewish civilization – and I know it comes from your heart," Bennett told PM Modi.
"It's not about interests; it's about a deep conviction that you harbor and we feel it. On behalf of all Israeli citizens, we deeply appreciate this whole new approach that will go down in history as something that you brought about. So thank you," he added.
He also took the opportunity to extend Diwali greetings to PM Modi and other Bharatiyas.
Earlier, recalling their brief meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Modi had said that the people of Bharat deeply value the friendship with Israel.
The meeting between Modi and Bennett comes after Jaishankar, during his visit to Israel last month, extended an invitation to the Israeli premier on behalf of Modi to visit Bharat.
According to some media reports, Bennett, who became prime minister in June this year, is likely to visit Bharat next year.