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The Morning Wrap: Modi Meets His 'Dost' In Israel; China Says No Scope For 'Compromise'

Our selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embrace.
DEBBIE HILL via Getty Images
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embrace.

The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel is historic for a lot of reasons. But it will be worryingly incomplete as Modi won't visit Palestine. India must maintain a balance in managing its relationship with both Israel and Palestine, especially as a traditional supporter of a peaceful co-existence between the two countries.

Political commentator and Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta admits unequivocally what many refuse to countenance — that the recent killing of Hafiz Junaid, a young Muslim teenager on a train appears to have been motivated by bigotry. But there's a major problem with the whataboutery argument. More on that here.

With the stock market on the upswing and investors looking for newer investment options in the wake of demonetisation, mutual funds have become a popular investment choice. However, investors should take care not to commit these 5 common mistakes when investing in mutual funds.

"We have waited for 70 years for you"-- This is how Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu. This is the first time an Indian PM is visiting Israel. The Israeli PM described Modi as "mere dost (my friend)" at least three times during the 30-minute welcome at the airport. Acknowledging Modi's love for acronyms, Netanyahu delivered one of his own, "I-square-plus-T-square — India and Israel plus Israeli technology and Indian talent, is India-Israel ties for tomorrow."

In unusually blunt remarks, China said there was no scope for a "compromise" in the military standoff with India in the Sikkim section. China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui said "the ball is in India's court" and that Indian troops should unconditionally pull back to the Indian side of the boundary to resolve this issue.

Years of protest may have finally paid off. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act may soon be partially withdrawn from parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The two BJP-ruled states have been asked by the Home Ministry to review the situation in areas under AFSPA and prepare recommendations for the Centre to examine in consultation with the Army.

Paranoid over the recent lynching of Muslims, a 42-year-old assistant engineer in Aligarh's Kasimpur power station was caught at the railway station on Sunday afternoon wearing a burqa. When the security officials questioned him, he said that he wanted to conceal his identity as he was scared of being lynched for being a Muslim man.

An apparently derogatory post on Facebook by a class X student triggered clashes in Baduria and Basirhat areas of West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, leading to torched police vehicles, vandalised shops and blocked roads. The Union Home Ministry has dispatched three companies of paramilitary forces after the state sought the Centre's help.

What will be PM Modi- do in Israel? Krishnan Srinivasan writes for The Telegraph that the most prominent factor in Modi's engagements so far with West Asia - the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar - has been military-security cooperation. This aspect is expected to dominate his visit to Israel as well.

Ravish Kumar writes for The Wire, arguing that LK Advani's isolation mirrors the retreat of Indian politics. "Advani's silence is the most dramatic screenplay of our times – it's a screenplay in search of a climax," he writes.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.