Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Reiterates Forging Alliance With India To Rival ‘Radical Axes’.

Jerusalem; February 2026: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that Israel plans to build a network of allied nations in or around the Middle East to collectively stand against what he called “radical” adversaries. Israeli PM says his country is working to counter what he called ‘radical Shia axis’ and ’emerging radical Sunni axis’.

Netanyahu made the comments on Sunday while announcing the upcoming visit to Israel of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country the Israeli leader said would be part of the “axis of nations that see eye to eye” with Israel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to begin his two-day visit to Israel on February 25, nine years after his first trip to the country. His 2017 trip was the first ever by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel. PM Modi’s upcoming visit also comes just days after India, together with more than 100 other nations, condemned Israel’s de facto expansion in the occupied West Bank after New Delhi initially appeared to hesitate about adding its name to the criticism.

From defence and security to trade and technology, India and Israel have forged tight ties in recent years, even as New Delhi has turned cool towards the plight of Palestinians, despite decades of support for their struggle for a sovereign nation. While multiple Western leaders have visited Netanyahu in Israel since the October 7, 2023 attack, very few Global South leaders have, making Modi’s visit more significant, say analysts.

Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations in Jerusalem on February 15, Netanyahu said the two prime ministers were going to discuss “all sorts of cooperation.

Tremendous alliance between Israel and India, and we are going to discuss all sorts of cooperation. Now, you know, India is not a small country. It has 1.4 billion people. India is enormously powerful, enormously popular”, Netanyahu have said.

Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, also referred to Greece, Cyprus and other unnamed Arab, African and Asian countries. “In the vision I see before me, we will create an entire system, essentially a ‘hexagon’ of alliances around or within the Middle East”, Netanyahu said. “The intention here is to create an axis of nations that see eye to eye on the reality, challenges, and goals against the radical axes, both the radical Shia axis, which we have struck very hard, and the emerging radical Sunni axis”.

Modi said he fully agrees with Netanyahu on the “bond between India and Israel”, including the “diverse nature of our bilateral relations. India deeply values the enduring friendship with Israel, built on trust, innovation and a shared commitment to peace and progress”, Modi wrote in a post on X. Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, its assaults have been weakening the Iran-led “axis of resistance”, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel and Iran also directly clashed last June in a 12 days war, in which the US military also joined to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on what he meant by “emerging radical Sunni axis”, but he has previously identified the Muslim Brotherhood as its leading element.

Relations between Israel and several predominantly Sunni Muslim states have soured amid the bloodshed in Gaza, including with Turkiye, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sharply criticised Netanyahu, and Saudi Arabia too, which has accused Israel of genocide.

Prospects for normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia also appear to be eroding. In recent months, the kingdom has rebuked Israel’s recognition of Somalia’s breakaway region, Somaliland, as well as the Israeli moves towards annexation in the occupied West Bank.

Since 2020, Israel has pushed to establish formal ties with Arab and Muslim states as a way to shore up its regional standing as part of the US-backed so-called “Abraham Accords”. Under that framework, Israel has been enjoying close relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Team Maverick.