pune yaakov finkelstein israels new consulgeneral to mumbai reflected his countrys pragmatic approach to the relationship with india when he said that israel respects indias ties with his countrys adversaries even iran finkelstein also agreed with indias focus on a twostate solution in the middle east but with conditionsindoisrael relations are at their peak especially after prime minister narendra modis visit to israel the israeli pm will also visit india soon we recognize that india has an independent foreign policy india is free to establish relations with any country even if the said country is not an ally of israel finkelstein said in response to a question about indias ties with iran about the twostate solution he said we agree that there should be two states in the region but palestinians should also accept that israelis have the right to existlive peacefully in the regionfinkelstein was speaking after a visit to the succath shelomo synagogue at rasta peth one of punes two active synagogues the synagogue completes 96 years this year the diplomat talked about a range of other topics he praised the contribution of indian jews to israeli and indian culture incidentally his own mother was born and brought up in kochi he says he wants to learn hindi and claims to know some words of malayalam talking about trade and tourism he said about 3000040000 indians visit israel each year we want that number to double indians are also going to israel for education with more israeli universities offering courses in english there will be more students going therethe interaction between the citys jewish community and finkelstein was sparsely attended reflecting the decline in the communitys population mostly due to aliyah migration to israel pune has around 75 jewish families most belong to the bene israel sons of israel sect while baghdadi jews make up a small percentage