India's former permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin dismissed as "utter rubbish" the "insinuation" in a New York Times report which cited India's 2019 vote in support of Israel at the UN's Economic and Social Council to highlight deepening of ties after a deal that included sale of the Israeli spyware Pegasus.

Tagging a tweet on the NYT report, Akbaruddin, who was India's Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 2016-2020, said, "The insinuation about India's UN vote is utter rubbish." The media report said the Israeli spyware Pegasus and a missile system were the "centerpieces" of a roughly USD 2 billion deal of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear between India and Israel in 2017. It also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017 - to become the first Indian prime minister to visit the country.