This week the United States gave Israel its approval to sell its Phalcon early warning airborne radar system to India - another sign of the alliance slowly forming between the three parties.
India and Israel share a growing security relationship that has been nurtured with the help of the United States. Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra has recently called for an India-United States-Israel strategic alliance and has arranged with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to visit India within the next few weeks. According to Mishra, "proximity between the three states -- the US, Israel and India-- was growing as they are all democracies, sharing a common vision of pluralism, tolerance and equal opportunity. Stronger India-US relations and India-Israel relations have a natural logic."
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, India has become one of Israel's largest business partners, with more than $1 billion in trade and many high-tech joint ventures. Israel has also become the second largest supplier of arms for India with reports of Indo-Israeli plans to collaborate on the development of a missile defense system based on the Israel Arrow technology. Ironically, India and Israel used to be rivals during the Cold War, with Israel's supporting the US and India's supporting the Soviet Union. However, both countries now face a growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism, not only from within their own borders but from neighboring states as well. India's foreign minister believes that India, the US and Israel are "prime targets of terrorism", have a "common enemy" and therefore require "joint action."
While there is a clear reason for all three countries to be concerned over Islamic terrorism, the US also has a broader agenda in supporting such an alliance; it could play a role as a counter-balance to China, which the US sees as its main competitor in Asia. According to one think tank analyst, "In the growing balance of geostrategic power, the growing Chinese challenge to US primacy will almost invariably dictate the need for a regional counterweight to Chinese domination."
As missile technology continues to expand between Pakistan, North Korea and Iran, the United States, India and Israel all have reason to act jointly, realizing that a threat to one of them may be a threat to all.
