PM Modi hails Israel ties amid Pegasus controversy

On the day that a New York Times article caused political uproar in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the country's relations with Israel.

Both PM Modi and his Israeli counterpart Naftali Bennett released special video messages on January 29 to mark the 30th anniversary of full diplomatic relations between the countries.

ALSO WATCH | Union minister VK Singh slams NYT report on Pegasus spy software, calls it 'supari media'

Meanwhile, India's Opposition parties attacked the Modi administration over an NYT report claiming that in 2017, the government had bought an Israeli spyware. The report said that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was part of a defence deal worth US $2 billion signed between Delhi and Tel Aviv. The article had also mentioned PM Modi's trip to Israel in July 2017 - the first by any Indian PM to the country.

Pegasus was in news last year when an international investigative consortium named many Indians as potential targets of the phone hacking and snooping software. Politicians, journalists, businessmen, and activists were reportedly named in the report.

The government had dismissed the document as unsubstantiated. However, the Supreme Court had subsequently set up an expert panel to probe the issue.

After the New York Times article, Union minister VK Singh called the publication 'supari media'. Supari is Hindi slang for a hired gun or mercenary.