Premier Yitzhak Rabin today congratulated India’s new Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, on his election. “Sincere congratulations and best wishes,” Rabin wrote in a cable. “I look forward to deepened and more meaningful relations between our two countries.”
Meanwhile, news agency reports from Delhi quote India’s new Foreign Minister predicting no change in his country’s stance on the Mideast conflict. At the press conference, the Minister reportedly upheld the Indira Ghandi administration’s adherence to United Nations General Assembly resolutions and urged total Israeli withdrawal and granting the Palestinians their “legitimate rights.”
Observers in Jerusalem do not believe the elections in India will lead to any marked change in the coolness between the two countries. There have never been full diplomatic relations, and India has no representation whatever in Israel. Israel has a consulate in Bombay, which generally keeps a low profile.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
