Minister of Energy and Water Uzi Landau on Monday announced that terror cells are "active" in India, emphasizing that the recent attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi should cause the two countries to step up counter-terrorism cooperation, the Times of India reported.
"The incident makes it clear that there are terrorist cells in India. They have recently targeted us but in the past they have also targeted Indian citizens and others. What one can see here is a growing joint interest of India and Israel, who are both exposed to terror threats,” Landau said.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that it had stepped up security for its diplomats posted overseas and a ministry spokesman said that Tel Aviv is taking "whatever measures are required" to allow the diplomats to function abroad.
Israel has recently emerged as one of the major suppliers of counter-terrorism weaponry to New Delhi, the newspaper reported.
The minister described terrorism as an "existential challenge" for both India and Israel.
Such terror strikes, Landau asserted, are not going to in any way deter cooperation between the two countries - but will only make engagement more vigorous.
"What happened in Delhi a few days ago will only step up Israel's engagement with India to further enhance our relationship in all possible fields and at the same time we will continue to intercept those terrorists wherever they are with the cooperation of security services all over the world," Landau said.