'Ye dosti hum nahi todenge': Israel greets India on Friendship Day; bond between countries 'strong and eternal', replies Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Israel greeted India on friendship day with a Twitter message that featured popular Bollywood song “yeh dosti” from the movie Sholay, drawing an equally warm response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who asserted that the bond between the two countries is “strong and eternal”. “Happy #FriendshipDay2019 India! May our ever-strengthening friendship & growing partnership touch greater heights,” the Israeli embassy here tweeted on Sunday. It had a short montage on various meetings between Modi and his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu with the music of the song on friendship from the 1975 hit movie “Sholay”, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Hema Malini, playing in the background. The message had lyrics of the song, ‘yeh dosti hum nahi todenge’ in Hindi and emoticons conveying that Israel loves India. Modi responded with a tweet in Hebrew saying, India and Israel have proved their friendship over time.

Happy #FriendshipDay2019 India!

May our ever strengthening friendship & #growingpartnership touch greater heights.
🔊🎧🎶 ये दोस्ती हम नहीं तोड़ेंगे..... 🇮🇱❤🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/BQDv8QnFVj

— Israel in India (@IsraelinIndia) August 4, 2019

“Thank you and wishing a Happy Friendship Day to Israel’s wonderful citizens and my good friend (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu. India and Israel are time tested friends. Our bond is strong and eternal! May the friendship between our nations grow and prosper even more in the times to come!” he said. Both Modi and Netanyahu are known to share great chemistry which is visible in bilateral meetings. Netanyahu, who failed to form a coalition after the April polls, plans to visit India ahead of the repeat elections in September. Modi visited Israel in July 2017, the first visit by an Indian prime minister in 70 years. During the historic visit, the warmth between Modi and Netanyahu, also known as Bibi, was apparent.