Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, Jan. 15, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Adnan Abidi.

In an age when Israel is so often reduced to a headline, a hashtag, or a political accusation, sometimes the most powerful thing a person can do is simply come and see the country for themselves.

That was the purpose behind a recent delegation that I helped bring to Israel through the Israel-India Friendship Club: to give influential Indians and members of the Indian diaspora the opportunity to experience Israel firsthand. We wanted our delegation to meet Israel’s people, witness the reality, and form their own impressions beyond the noise of the headlines.

The delegation included media personalities, entrepreneurs, social-media influencers, and humanitarian activists, people with their own audiences and communities across India and the diaspora. We hoped that what they experienced would not end when they boarded their flights home, but would travel with them into their own worlds and conversations.

Two of the delegates had visited Israel before. For the others, it was their first time. Like so many people around the world, they arrived having heard plenty of negative things about Israel. Some had even been warned by friends about the country they were about to visit.

There was something particularly meaningful about this group. They were all Hindus, devoted to their faith, proud of their Indian roots, and deeply connected to their ancient heritage. Unlike many Christian supporters of Israel, like the Christian Zionists, they did not arrive with a Biblical understanding of the Holy Land. Their connection came from somewhere different: the recognition of what it means for an ancient people to have an enduring connection to its ancestral homeland.

From the moment they arrived, there was an unexpected familiarity. Indians have a natural warmth when engaging with strangers, and our visitors found a similar spirit among Israelis.

But it was at the Gaza border, where the atrocities of Oct. 7 took place, that the connection became profound.

Meeting people involved in protecting communities and hearing testimonies from survivors of the Nova festival and the kibbutzim, the visitors did not need to be persuaded to understand Israeli pain. They felt it.

India knows terrorism. Indians have lived for decades with the reality of Islamist terrorism. The delegates instinctively understood what happens when civilians are targeted simply because of who they are. There was a shared human recognition that needed no translation.

At Yad Vashem, that connection deepened further. The horrors of the Holocaust were no longer simply history. Against the backdrop of rising antisemitism in America and Europe, the visitors were shaken by how familiar some of today’s rhetoric and dehumanization can feel.

Their question was heartfelt: How is the world allowing this to happen again? Have we learned nothing?

Our Indian friends also got to experience Israel that is not defined by Oct. 7 or by its enemies. Israel is also a country of extraordinary resilience, creativity, and joy.

At Startup Nation Central in Tel Aviv, they learned about an innovation ecosystem which resonated strongly with them, since they come from a country that is becoming a global technology and entrepreneurial powerhouse. What impressed them was not simply Israel’s start-ups, but the culture behind them: ambition, risk-taking, research, entrepreneurship, and an instinct to build for global markets.

Our conversations with Israeli ministers and members of the Knesset turned to another shared value: the importance of reconnecting young people with their roots. Whether Hindu, Jewish, or part of another ancient civilization, people who understand their heritage are less easily persuaded that their identity is something to apologize for.

And then, after all the conversations on history and geopolitics, came some of the most powerful moments of the trip, which could not have been planned and needed no explanation.

At Tel Aviv’s Shuk Ha Carmel, familiar smells and flavors immediately reminded our Indian visitors of home. While preparing malawach, a Yemenite flaky bread, a vendor put on Bollywood music and began dancing. Soon our entire group was dancing and singing with him, drawing in a passerby.

Later, at a Tel Aviv beach festival, we witnessed a scene that could have been designed to answer every accusation hurled at Israel from afar. An Indian worker, a Thai man, a Filipino woman, an Israeli man, a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf, and members of the LGBTQ community were all dancing together, surrounded by people of different backgrounds, laughing and celebrating on a Tuesday night.

It was difficult not to think of the words so casually attached to Israel — “apartheid,” “racist,” “segregationist” — and shake our heads at the sheer absurdity of these accusations.

This was the lived reality our visitors encountered: a wildly diverse group of human beings sharing the same space, music, and moment, without anyone asking the other to surrender their identity before joining the celebration.

The scene shattered the fragile glass wall between the Israel they had been told about, and the Israel they were actually experiencing.

At the Western Wall, the mood became deeply spiritual. They understood that this is a place where an ancient people has prayed, mourned, hoped, and endured for thousands of years. And they understood that reverence for the Creator can cross religious boundaries.

This is the Israel our Indian friends saw.

Their journey reminded me that sometimes the most powerful answer to a distorted image is not an argument, but an experience.

Come and see for yourself.

And perhaps that is the most beautiful lesson of all. When people from one ancient civilization encounter another and recognize something of themselves in each other, something extraordinary happens. India’s ancient heritage and the Jewish people’s ancient connection to their homeland are separated by geography, but united by a deep understanding of identity, memory and survival.

Our Indian friends came to see Israel.

They left carrying a piece of it with them, and, I hope, a story worth telling.

Paushali Lass is an Indian-German intercultural and geopolitical consultant, who focuses on building bridges between Israel, India, and Germany.