Israeli PM Netanyahu postpones India visit for second time this year due to elections

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed his India visit which was set to take place next Monday due to the upcoming elections in the west Asian country. 

Isreal will be holding elections on September 17 after no party was able to get a majority or cobble up a coalition during the April elections.

Evan Cohen, Netanyahu's foreign media spokesperson speaking to WION said, "The trip has been postponed, not cancelled."

The Israeli prime minister spoke to PM Modi on Tuesday to inform him about the postponement of his visit and the two agreed to schedule a visit to India after the elections, Cohen informed.

"Modi wished Netanyahu success in the upcoming elections, and they agreed to conduct the visit after the elections," Cohen added.

Prime minister Narendra Modi has been featured in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election campaign. Netanyahu's Likud party has in a campaign video shown clips of PM Modi along with Netanyahu. The clips were from PM Modi's visit to Isreal in 2017, the first standalone visit by any Indian Prime minister to the west Asian country. 

This is the second time this year the Israeli prime minister has postponed his visit to India. The first visit was to take place in February but was also postponed because of the elections. PM Netanyahu had visited India in January 2018 to commemorate 25 years of establishment of diplomatic ties. 

India, Israel ties have grown in the last few years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the first leaders to congratulate Modi after his election victory in May. Lauding PM Modi's mandate he had said, "the election results further reaffirm your leadership of the world's largest democracy."