Haifa port expansion on course, Adani names former Israel envoy as Chairman

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, April 2

In an indication that it will not walk back on its plan to operate the Haifa port in Israel despite its troubles due to the Hindenburg report, former Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka took over as the Executive Chairman of the Haifa Port Company.

Considered close to Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn is close to PM Narendra Modi, Malka himself made the announcement about being nominated by the Adani Group. Netanyahu had plucked Malka out of a teaching career and made him Ambassador to India.

At a time when Adani group stocks were heading south after the Hindenburg report, PM Netanyahu had appeared at the Haifa port with Gautam Adani to celebrate its takeover.

The Adani Group has already put at least two domestic expansion plans in cold storage. It has shelved the Rs 7,017-crore plan to acquire coal-based electricity generating units of DB Power Ltd. An Adani Power subsidiary has also decided to terminate an agreement with Orient Cement for the utilisation of land in Maharashtra.

However, the Haifa port project has strategic value besides being a vital expansion of its operations by the Adani group. The company has also been awarded a contract to build a container terminal at Colombo port.

Israel’s Ambassador Naor Gilan has described his country’s handing over of the port to the Adani Group as a reflection of the trust Israel has on India. “It was a very important move from our point of view because Haifa Port is our strategic asset. Adani Group has the potential to make the Haifa Port the port it needs to be and to increase trade between Israel and India,” he had said.

Interestingly, the Haifa port figures in a claim made by the American Jewish Congress (AJC) which has been hotly denied by the Pakistan Foreign Office. The AJC said the first-ever shipment carrying Pakistani-originated food products was offloaded at this port in Israel.

Malka had recently condemned his fellow citizen and filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s controversial comments on The Kashmir Files. “I strongly condemn and disapprove Nadav Lapid’s comments. This is not the Israeli position. I stand by my Indian friends today and every day,” he had said. Lapid, a jury member at the at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa last December had said The Kashmir Files felt “like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival”.