World should unite against terror: Israel envoy

Bengaluru: While drawing the attention towards vast business and investment opportunities between India and Israel in Home Land Security (HLS) in the forthcoming third international HLS conference in Tel Aviv, between November 9 and 12, the Consul General of Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru, Menahem Kanafi, said the entire world should unite in their war against terrorism.

Responding to a question on the global jihadist threat from the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) Mr Kanafi said that irrespective of "who is doing it and where it (terrorist attacks) is happening, it is important that the world unites against it," he said on the sidelines of the HLS Conference in the city on Thursday. "It is not enough to firm up our borders and hope for the best; terrorists infiltrate in ever more creative ways and, on occasions, influence our own populations to assist and abet. We are almost always one step behind the forces of darkness," said Mr Kanafi.

Regarding the importance of HLS, the diplomat said that the main issues of concern common to all the countries are countering terrorism, disaster management and mitigation, making our neighbourhoods safe, having safe and smart cities and an effective traffic control mechanism.

"India is a huge market as big as the United States and we are keen on business partnership with India in various areas such as HLS, information technology, water technology, renewable energy and agriculture. We are expecting a huge Indian delegation in the forthcoming conference in November," said Mr Kanafi.

He stressed upon the importance of cyber security and said the "darkest cloud looming on the horizon is that of cyber attack. These enemies are unseen, impossible to locate and attack the very heart of democratic society from e-governance systems to banking industry to critical infrastructures.

“Israel has been recognised as number one country in the world for cyber defence," he pitched.