Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit India in January

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said he will visit India in January, six months after his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi visited the Jewish state.

Netanyahu would be only the second Israeli Prime Minister to visit India. His visit next year would be happening almost 15 years after Ariel Sharon visited New Delhi in 2003.

"In the past year, I have visited all the continent besides Antarctica," Netanyahu said at the opening of the Knesset's (Israeli parliament) winter session yesterday.

"And in January, I will make a reciprocal visit to my dear good friend, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, whose population is a significant part of humanity," he added.

Modi's standalone visit to Israel in July this year celebrated 25 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Indian Prime Minister skipped Palestine during his trip leading many analysts to say that New Delhi was changing its rules of engagement in the region.

Modi's visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister, was termed by many as de-hyphenation of New Delhi's ties with the Palestinians.