The diamond merchant behind the India-Israel bond

Kirtilal Mehta set up base as a diamond merchant in Tel Aviv in 1968. As Modi plans the first visit by an Indian PM to Israel, Mehta′s initiatives in the region provide a crucial backdrop.As Narendra Modi visits Israel, Kirtilal M. Mehta will be smiling in heaven.Mehta, who died in 1993 at the age of 86, was the patriarch of India's diamond industry, a pioneering global businessmen and an early link between Israel and India. Like Modi, he was a Gujarati - and of humble origins. He was orphaned at 12, dropped out of school and began working with a relative in Burma (now Myanmar).This was his introduction to the gems business. Less than a decade later, not yet 20, he was running operations in Bombay (now Mumbai). In 1944, he founded Beautiful Diamonds in Bombay.In 1953, he opened Gembel Diamonds in Antwerp, and branched out to Hong Kong in 1956. In 1968, Gembel[caption id="attachment_11540" align="alignleft" width="368"]

Israeli President Professor Ephraim Katzir hands over the certificate of Israel′s Outstanding Diamond Buyer to Mr. Kirtilal M. Mehta.[/caption]inaugurated a facility in Tel Aviv. Five years later Occidental Gems, another Mehta company, opened in New York. The plucky boy from Gujarat now ran a diamond empire spread across three continents. The Gembel Group is today managed by Rashmi Mehta, Kirtilal's son.For all his worldwide investments, it was Tel Aviv that was home to Kirtilal Mehta. He told friends he preferred the weather there to Europe or North America. Every day, he went to his office at the Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan. When his wife Lilavati died in 1964, he built the Lilavati Hospital in Bombay in her memory. Later he married again, this time finding happiness with Esther, an Israeli Jew. They were still together when he died.Mehta lived in tough times. Diplomatic relations between India and Israel were tentative and not undertaken at the highest level. Globalisation and modern communication technology - whether email or mobile phones - were decades away. Yet, he went to Israel with little more than enterprise, goodwill and that glint in his eyes - and found himself at ease.It would be appropriate if the Indian Prime Minister were to remember him while visiting Tel Aviv.