Israel planning to open two ‘centers of excellence’ in Indian occupied Kashmir as part of ‘agriculture project’

On 9th November, Indo-Israel Agriculture Project announced its plan to establish the proposed “Centers of Excellence” in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Under the agriculture attache MASHAV (Israel’s agency for international Development Cooperation) at the Embassy of Israel in India, these agricultural centers are going to be developed. India and Israel have for long shared strategic cooperation on the government-to-government level in the field of agriculture. In the case of Kashmir, Israel has also provided the Indian state with ammunition^[4] and trained the military forces in different techniques of oppression and control. Arms sales from Israel to India can be traced back to 1992 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, a long-time weapons supplier to India. The cooperation between India and Israel grew following the 1999 Kargil War during which Israel provided necessary ammunition to India. In addition to the agricultural cooperation between India and Israel in Kashmir, India is Israel’s top customer, buying drones, missile systems, sensors, radar, and electro-optic systems from them, and putting them to use in Kashmir. Since 2001, 8 defense chiefs from Israel and India have visited the other country. The “national security apparatuses brainstorm together on internal security and the Indian Navy regularly visits Israeli city of Haifa and has conducted regular military drills with the Israeli Navy.^[5]

[4] https://standwithkashmir.org/who-arms-indias-occupation-in-kashmir/

[5] https://thekashmirwalla.com/israel-to-open-two-centres-of-excellence-in-j-k-as-part-of-agriculture-project/