​Narendra Modi is arriving in Tel Aviv for the first ever visit of a sitting Indian prime minister to Israel in a sign that the once aloof ties between the two countries are thawing.

India, which is home to a religious minority of 172 million Muslims, has always been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause.

At the same time, however, the state has quietly built up counter-terror and trade relations with Israel since diplomatic ties were restored 25 years ago and India’s politics has leaned to the right.

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Starting from Tuesday Mr Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sit down for three days of talks to seal military and cyber security deals worth billions, including drones, missiles and radar systems and the creation of a new jointly-built missile-defence system - India’s second.

India is already Israel's biggest arms market, worth $1bn (£770,000) a year, as the country races to keep up militarily with China and Pakistan.

It is usual for visiting world leaders to also travel to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with the Palestinian Authority to maintain a balance of ties - a trip Mr Modi is not making.

Israel: From independence to intifada Show all 7 1 /7 Israel: From independence to intifada Israel: From independence to intifada The proclamation of the state of Israel is read by David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948 © EPA Israel: From independence to intifada Sixty years on, an illuminated flag is shown in Tel Aviv this week © PA Israel: From independence to intifada Young Jews celebrate the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948 © AFP/Getty Images Israel: From independence to intifada Palestinian children throw stones at a retreating Israeli tank during an incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin in August 2003 following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem © AP Israel: From independence to intifada How Israel's borders have changed - click image to enlarge © Independent Graphics Israel: From independence to intifada From 1948-50, the world's mostcelebrated war photographer Robert Capa captured extraordinary imagesof Israel's pioneering settlers. Here, Turkish immigrants arrive in Haifa © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum Israel: From independence to intifada The Negba kibbutz, where the walls have been damaged by shells fired during the Israeli-Arab war © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum

The snub has not gone unnoticed at home, where the prime minister has drawn sharp criticism for his decision to skip meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Many Indian Muslims have already accused Mr Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sidelining the concerns and needs of Muslim citizens since he took office in 2014.

“Narendra Modi's visit to Israel will only strengthen its occupation of Palestine,” Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of India's federal parliament from a regional group that promotes Muslim rights, told Reuters.

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“We have a wide ranging partnership with Israel that ranges from agriculture cooperation to homeland security,” Bala Bhaskar, head of the Indian foreign ministry's West Asia division, told media, adding that India's ties with Israel and the Palestinians were important in their own right and “neither should viewed through the prism of the other.”

Nonetheless, Mr Modi is being given the red carpet treatment during his trip to Israel. Mr Netanyahu will accompany him for almost all the entire duration of his visit - an honour usually reserved for visiting US presidents.