- Since the visit of Israeli Minister Yigal Allon to attend an interna-
tional conference in 1965, this was perhaps the fi rst visit to India by
an important Israeli functionary. - The visit was due to the Israeli desire to explore the possibilities of
a improvement in relations in the wake of po liti cal changes in both
countries.^84 - Conceding that India should have established full relations soon
after its recognition in September 1950, Desai expressed his inabil-
ity to modify the situation unless Israel withdrew from the occu-
pied territories.^85 - The visit was not made public because of its explosive nature, and
in the words of Dayan, “If the news of my visit to him [Desai] now
were to be published, he said, he [Desai] would be out of offi ce.”^86 - The INC government, which came to power in January 1980,
claimed there were no offi cial rec ords on the substance of the
meeting.^87 - Dayan was unable to achieve his basic objective, namely, an im-
provement in Indo- Israeli relations. Some suggested that Dayan’s
primary goal was “to upgrade the Israeli Consulate in Bombay to a
Consulate- General and further to shift it to Delhi.”^88 Even this did
not happen. - A sensitive foreign- policy matter became a domestic po liti cal battle
when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi disclosed Dayan’s visit during
an election rally on May 10, 1980. There followed a heated debate
both inside and outside the parliament.^89 Foreign Minister Rao,
however, maintained that the visit was fi rst disclosed by a New
York newspaper, News and Cine India, on April 26, 1979, and was
picked up and repeated by various other media outlets, including
Israel Radio.^90 - The government of Indira Gandhi maintained that Dayan’s visit
had “damaged India’s image” and “lowered India’s prestige” in the
Arab world.^91 - The visit was apparently or ga nized by the Israeli businessman
Shoul Isenberg.^92 Around the same time, he initiated military ties
between Israel and China, long before normalization of relations
between the two countries.^93
The incognito visit was not entirely futile, as there were some notice-
able changes in India’s overall policy. Without disclosing Dayan’s visit,
220 the years of hardened hostility, 1964–1984