Likening their cultural relations with India with an old love affair, Israeli President Shimon Peres has said the Jewish community admire Indian statesmen like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and its leaders closely follow them.
"We were prevented by the British from publishing their works during the mandate period. I remember very well that the Autobiography of Gandhi and the 'Letters from a Father to a Daughter' were among the first books to be translated to Hebrew", Peres told visiting Minister of State for Commerce
and Industry, Jyotiraditya Scindia during a meeting.
Peres also expressed Israel's support to India in the war against terror saying "India's security is as important to us as our own".
"India is a friend and it was so even before diplomatic relations were established between the two countries", the Nobel laureate Israeli President emphasised adding, "We may not be as big as India but are as old from a cultural point of
view".
Scindia said the people-to-people contact between the two countries in growing and India has emerged as the preferred tourist destination among Israeli youngsters.
Some 40,000 Israelis visit India every year, most of them youngsters freshly released from mandatory service in the army.