Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit last week to West Asia was neither a routine diplomatic engagement nor designed for headlines. Instead, it reflected a calculated and security-driven recalibration of India’s regional posture, one that places stability, resilience, and long-term strategic positioning above short-term visibility. When read alongside External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s subsequent visit to Israel, a coherent strategic pattern becomes clear.
India no longer approaches West Asia as a collection of isolated bilateral relationships. New Delhi increasingly views the region as an interconnected strategic system in which political moderation, economic resilience, and security cooperation are mutually reinforcing. This systems-based perspective explains Modi’s deliberate focus on Jordan, a country often overshadowed by regional heavyweights, yet central to regional stability.
Jordan as a stability anchor
From an Indian defense perspective, Jordan’s value lies not in power projection but in its role as a buffer, mediator, and intelligence partner. Its geographic proximity to multiple conflict zones, coupled with long-standing counterterrorism experience and regional legitimacy, makes it a critical node in any stability architecture. For India, engaging such actors reflects a preference for “stability anchors,” moderate states that reinforce regional order without drawing partners into coercive alignment.
The substance of the Jordan visit reinforced this logic. India’s emphasis on trade, fertilizers, infrastructure, and digital cooperation was not incidental. Food security, supply-chain resilience, and access to critical resources are now embedded within India’s national security calculus. Economic security is no longer treated as adjacent to defense planning; it is integral to it.
Israel: From partnership to structured alignment
This strategic logic extends directly to India’s engagement with Israel. Jaishankar’s visit to Jerusalem, following his stop in the United Arab Emirates, culminated in the adoption of a joint working plan to shape India–Israel relations through 2026, agreed upon with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar. Unlike previous frameworks, this plan institutionalizes cooperation across defense technologies, cybersecurity, intelligence coordination, water and agricultural technologies, innovation ecosystems, and strategic dialogue.
This is not a symbolic document. It marks a transition from episodic cooperation to structured, forward-looking alignment, without formal alliance commitments. For Israel, this represents a deepening of one of its most consequential partnerships outside the transatlantic sphere. For India, it reflects a preference for capability-based cooperation over declaratory alliances.
Gaza, terrorism, and strategic ambiguity
The political messaging surrounding the visit was equally significant. Jaishankar expressed India’s support for the Gaza peace plan while simultaneously reaffirming a joint commitment with Israel to zero tolerance toward terrorism. This dual message, of support for conflict resolution alongside uncompromising counterterrorism cooperation, captures India’s distinctive posture in West Asia.
India seeks to remain engaged without being aligned, influential without being partisan. This calibrated ambiguity is not indecision; it is strategic design. It allows New Delhi to deepen security cooperation with Israel, while maintaining constructive relations with Arab states and preserving its credibility as a leading voice of the Global South. Internally, this posture also aligns with India’s domestic considerations. With one of the world’s largest Muslim populations and a long-standing counterterrorism doctrine shaped by its own security challenges, India is careful not to import Middle Eastern fault lines into its domestic or foreign policy frameworks.
The significance of what was not said
Equally notable is what remained unsaid during this week of diplomacy. There were no explicit references to Iran, China, or broader regional blocs.
This silence was deliberate. India continues to separate rhetoric from action, favoring incremental institutionalization over declaratory alignment. In defense terms, this approach reduces strategic exposure while maximizing operational flexibility.
This restraint should not be mistaken for passivity. Instead, it reflects confidence in India’s ability to operate across multiple regional theaters without being drawn into binary alignments, an approach increasingly relevant in a region marked by volatility and great-power competition.
Implications for Israel and the region
Taken together, Modi’s visit to Jordan, the strategic upgrading of ties with Ethiopia, and the deepening of India-Israel defense cooperation point to a coherent regional strategy. India is reinforcing quieter but critical partnerships, strengthening weaker nodes in regional stability, and embedding defense cooperation within broader economic and technological frameworks.
For Israel, this evolution carries clear implications. India is not a transactional partner seeking short-term gains, nor a normative actor imposing political conditions. It is positioning itself as a long-term strategic stakeholder whose defense cooperation is embedded in economic development, technological innovation, and political moderation.
In a region where alliances are often fragile and rhetoric volatile, this model offers durability.
Modi’s West Asia engagements this week, therefore, represent more than diplomatic continuity. They signal a quiet reordering of India’s regional security partnerships – less visible than military deployments, but potentially far more consequential in shaping the strategic balance of the coming decade.
Modi’s West Asia engagements last week, therefore, represent more than diplomatic continuity. They signal a quiet but consequential reordering of India’s regional security partnerships, less visible than military deployments, yet far more durable in shaping the strategic balance of the coming decade. As India deepens its integration into the region’s security, economic, and technological ecosystems, its relevance to Israel will only grow.
Israel must recognize that in the new Middle East, New Delhi is no longer a distant friend operating on the margins, but an increasingly central pillar within its emerging national security architecture.