News18.com | January 17, 2018
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu are at an event to inaugurate an iCreate centre, a start-up hub in Gujarat’s Bavla town. The visit assumes significance given Israel’s reputation as being the global hub for start-ups. Earlier in the day, the two leaders visited Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Ashram, where they tried their hand at the charkha and bonded over a round of kite flying. The Israeli prime minister will also present Modi a special gift — the Gal-Mobile water desalinisation and purification jeep the two leaders rode at Israel’s Olga beach last year. The two leaders, accompanied by Netanyahu’s wife Sara, will return to Mumbai in the evening.
Stay tuned as Aditya Nair brings you live updates:
Jan 17, 20183:06 pm (IST)
“This cooperation between India and Israel, this sense of mutual development is very important for the bright future of both the countries. In the 21st century, these two countries will write a new chapter in the history of humanity,” says PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20183:01 pm (IST)
“During my visit to Israel last year, we established a fund of 40 million US dollars, which will be a joint venture of India and Israel. This will help the talents of both countries to do something new in the direction of technological innovation. This joint venture will focus on food, water, disease relief and the area of energy,” says PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20183:00 pm (IST)
“Today, it is necessary to innovate to get rid of the problems faced by our young country. How to improve the quality of life of an ordinary person at minimal expense, innovate for it. Today a huge campaign of Clean India is going on in the country. Can we do new innovations on sanitation? Waste to wealth, there are immense possibilities of innovation in this one topic,” says PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20182:56 pm (IST)
I am happy that iCreate will help the youth of the country to fulfil their dreams, realize their innovative ideas. I am happy to know about the innovative products of iCreate. As Kalidas once said ‘puraan mityev nasaadhoo sarv, na chaapi kaavyam navamity-vadyam; santahpareekshyaanyatar bhajante moodhah par pratyayaney buddhih‘. Just because something is old, it is not necessary that it will be good. Similarly, if something is new, it is not necessary that it will be good. We have to maintain the balance,” says PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20182:52 pm (IST)
“We are working to make the entire system innovation-friendly so that intent becomes ideas, ideas strengthens to become innovation and innovation strengthens New India. Every person, every youth has a desire to do some kind of innovation. The ideas of the younger generation cannot be let go of, we have an obligation to look at it,” PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20182:47 pm (IST)
“Never stop dreaming and never let the dreams die. It is good for children to have high curiosity quotient. Our youth has energy and enthusiasm, all that they want is a little bit of encouragement, network and institutional support,” says PM Narendra Modi, quoting Albert Einstein.
Jan 17, 20182:45 pm (IST)
“Israeli technology and creativity reaches the whole world. The people of Israel have proven to the whole world that the size of the country and the resolve of the countrymen, is what takes a country forward. Innovation plays a major role in bringing Indian and Israeli people closer,” says PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20182:41 pm (IST)
“When a farmer sows a small plant, coming generations receives fruits of that huge tree. The farmer’s soul feels elated with this. We are feeling the same happiness on the inauguration of iCreate,” says PM Narendra Modi at the iCreate event.
Jan 17, 20182:36 pm (IST)
“When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. From that time, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation,” says PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 20182:35 pm (IST)
“PM Narendra Modi and I are both very young and both very optimistic. We are young in our thinking and optimism about the future. Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you all,” concludes Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the iCreate event in Ahmedabad.
Jan 17, 20182:27 pm (IST)
“I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate,” said Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is at the event along with PM Narendra Modi.
Jan 17, 201812:40 pm (IST)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s note in the visitor’s book of the Sabarmati Ashram, “An inspiring visit to the heart of one of humanity’s great prophets of inspiration Mahatma Gandhi”:
Jan 17, 201812:25 pm (IST)
PM Modi and Israel PM Netanyahu, his wife Sara Netanyahu fly a kite at Sabarmati Ashram:
Jan 17, 201812:20 pm (IST)
Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu have left the Sabarmati Ashram after signing the guest book and are now headed to ‘iCreate’, an autonomous centre for budding entrepreneurs in Bavla town. The trip assumes significance since Israel is famous for being the global hub of start-up projects.
Jan 17, 201812:12 pm (IST)
The two leaders are now having a word in the lawns of Sabarmati Ashram after bonding over a round of kite flying.
Jan 17, 201812:08 pm (IST)
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara have arrived with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Ashram after a roadshow from the airport. The Israeli premier is trying his hand at weaving khadi on a charkha while Modi appears to teach him how. The two leaders also paid respects before a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.
Jan 17, 201811:41 am (IST)
Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu’s mega roadshow begins amidst high security in Ahmedabad:
#NaMosteNetanyahu — Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu’s mega roadshow begins amidst high security in Ahmedabad.
Jan 17, 201811:35 am (IST)
Despite it being a roadshow, there are no open vehicles or convertibles. This perhaps could be due to Israeli Mossad’s fixation over security.
Jan 17, 201811:29 am (IST)
PM Narendra Modi and Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu begin their joint roadshow in Ahmedabad. Both leaders are travelling to Sabarmati Ashram.
Jan 17, 201811:25 am (IST)
Visuals of PM Narendra Modi receiving his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu at Ahmedabad airport. The visiting dignitaries are being given a grand song and dance reception, which is starting from the airport itself:
#Gujarat Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu arrive in Ahmedabad, received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/QzTwtpdqMl
#Gujarat: Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu arrive in Ahmedabad, received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi #NetanyahuInIndiapic.twitter.com/IDBmvv7HRs
Jan 17, 201811:13 am (IST)
Both Prime Ministers will also visit the Centre for Excellence – Vegetables in Vadrad, Gujarat. They will be briefed on the progress in the India-Israel Agriculture Work Plan. They will also e-inaugurate (via video link) the Centre for Excellence – Date Palm, in Kukama. The leaders will also address farmers at various COEs established under the India Israel Agriculture Plan. The leaders also witness the signing of a MoU between COE Vadrad and Farmer’s Producer Organization for establishment of Hi-Tech vegetable seedling production unit.
Jan 17, 201811:12 am (IST)
Today, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the iCreate facility located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. iCreate is an independent centre set up with the objective of facilitating entrepreneurship to deal with issues such as food security, water, connectivity, cybersecurity, IT and electronics, non-conventional energy, bio-medical equipment and devices etc. During the visit, the leaders will take a tour of the facility and visit various stalls that highlight technologies/innovations across fields. The leaders will then address the assembled gathering.
Jan 17, 201811:07 am (IST)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Ahmedabad. He will now be part of a roadshow with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, which will end with both of them visiting Sabarmati Ashram.
Jan 17, 201810:05 am (IST)
PM Narendra Modi arrives in Ahmedabad.
Jan 17, 20189:48 am (IST)
Community leader Benjamin Reuben tells CNN-News18’s Maha Siddiqui that there are 140 Jews in Gujarat. They had extended an invite to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit their synagogue but since that could not be factored in, they are at the roadshow to greet him.
Jan 17, 20189:03 am (IST)
CLICK TO READ | Xi to Netanyahu: Why PM Narendra Modi is Hosting World Leaders in Ahmedabad
Political observers believe this is the Prime Minister’s strategy to showcase development projects initiated by him as the Chief Minister of the state to world leaders and emphasise on decentralisation experiments that he has been working on.
Jan 17, 20188:16 am (IST)
Moshe, who was a toddler when Pakistan-based terrorists killed his parents at Nariman House, appeared visibly moved as he spent almost two hours going around the five-storey building in south Mumbai.
Jan 17, 20188:10 am (IST)
Israeli resident 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg had kosher food at Nariman House. His grandparents and two uncles, who accompanied him from Israel, were with him during his Nariman House visit. Moshe’s Indian nanny Sandra Samuels, who had saved him during the terror attack, was also present. His father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed in Nariman House, which was a terror target during the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008. The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in South Mumbai’s Colaba area.
Jan 17, 20188:10 am (IST)
Returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago in a terror attack, 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg on Tuesday appeared bewildered with the media frenzy as cameras popped to catch his glimpse. Moshe, who was a toddler when Pakistan-based terrorists killed his parents at Nariman House, appeared visibly moved as he spent almost two hours going around the five-storey building in south Mumbai.
Jan 17, 20187:40 am (IST)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted after visiting the Taj Mahal yesterday, with his wife Sara:
Today at the Taj Mahal. A place of serenity, love, and infinite beauty.