New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS): Israeli Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, on Monday said that his country is encouraged by the fact that New Delhi has supported their right to self-defence.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the 'NDTV World Summit 2024' here, Azar said: "We have been very encouraged by the fact that India has supported our right to self-defence. This is very natural. I think that both India and Israel are seeing sometimes similar challenges that we have to deal with. So I'm happy that we can talk about it. We can cooperate in order to deal with the challenges, and, we also understand each other very well."

"I think that people are people are very concentrated that we are fighting radicalism. I think that any form of radicalism coming from any religion is something very problematic. And what we have to, you know, promote is moderation. And we can promote moderation by, first of all, fighting the terrorists and defeating them. And that will create the conditions, for the pragmatic people and the moderate people to build the building blocks of stability and prosperity," he added.

On PM Modi, the Israeli Ambassador said: "India, and especially PM Modi, is a great friend of Israel. The personal friendship between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been crucial in enhancing our relationship. We've established various nexuses of relations, including defence cooperation, agriculture and food security, and water cooperation. We're also collaborating in innovation, and I increasingly want to bring Indian infrastructure companies to work in Israel..."

India and Israel ties have been strengthening under PM Modi, who also became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country.