AM Yisrael Chai means The people of Israel live. A 17-member delegation from Maharashtra from all walks of life will visit Israel from today (October 3 to October 9). This visit was planned much before Indian pilot Smit Machchhar thwarted a possible terror attack in which an airplane flying from Dubai to Israel (Tel Aviv) was going to be weaponised and crashed in a 9/11 attack style, according to reports. The other pilot on the craft was of Omani nationality. The aircraft had a majority of Israeli Jews as passengers. As Machchhar’s heroics resonated everywhere, the time was to flex Israel-India friendship. “It is an apt time to fly to Israel,” said Mumbai’s Jagdish Shetty, part of the 17-member delegation.

The window

Shetty said, “We are visiting Israel on an invitation from the Israeli government, and I am the secretary of the Indo-Israel Friendship Association. We are going to visit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and sites like the Dead Sea, the Gaza Border, and Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre. We are going to interact with some leaders, but most of our learning, I believe, will come from the local Israelis. It is our on-the-ground experiences, ordinary people we meet on the roads, in the shops, at tourist sites, our guides, and cross-cultural conversations that will prove a true window to that country.”