Chaat, Jalebi And Bollywood: Inside Israel's 'Little India' Dimona, Struck By Iran

Vibrant clothing is put on display and the smell of jalebis and chaat wafts through Israel's Dimona, a city that boasts an Indian-origin population and is situated less than 20 kilometres from the one of the key sites of Israel's nuclear arsenal.

Thirty-three people were injured in Dimona as strikes on Saturday reduced vast tracts of the city in southern Israel to mangled debris, in an action that came in retaliation of an attack on Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment site hours earlier.

Aside from being a key nuclear site, Dimona has earned the title "Little India", with a 7,500-strong Indian-Jewish community making up for some 30 per cent of the town's population. Fluent Marathi and a smattering on Hindi can be overheard, cricket has a fervent fan base and shops sell local Indian snacks like sonpapdi' gulab jamun, papri chaat and bhelpuri.

Per the Indian embassy in Tel Aviv, the main waves of immigration into Israel from India took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The majority is from Maharashtra (Bene Israelis) and relatively smaller numbers from Kerala (Cochini Jews) and Kolkata (Baghdadi Jews). In recent years, some Indian Jews from Mizoram and Manipur (Bnei Menache) have been immigrating to Israel.

A rainbow forms as Israelis wait for a flash-flood to take place in the Negev desert.
Photo Credit: AFP

They are mostly employed as diamond traders, IT professionals and caregivers for the elderly.

The community continues to intermingle - not just through food, but also tradition, festivals and culture. A Cochini Jew will celebrate Onam, while Diwali may bring together a Bene Israel and a Baghdadi Jew. They will share cups of tea with rusk found easily on Israeli supermarket shelves.

Film screenings over a month were attended by packed theatres at the Indian Film Fest in November 2025, while months ago, the first-ever Indian music festival was sold out.

Indian-origin population also resides in cities like Haifa, Tel Aviv, Arad, Netanya and Afula.

A Nuclear Stronghold

Situated in the Negev desert, Israel describes Dimona's Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Center as a research facility. Construction began in 1958 and it was ready by around 1964.

A declassified 1960 US intelligence report says otherwise. It claims the complex had a plant designed to produce plutonium, a key requirement for nuclear weapons.

A New York Times report last year claimed that extensive construction was underway at the site, with experts suggesting possible repairs and upgrades.

A 2014 photo of the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Center.
Photo Credit: AFP

Israel currently is a non-signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Saturday's Strikes

Israel's military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad.

Rescue services said 33 people were injured in the missile attack, with a 10-year-old boy in serious condition and a 40-year-old woman in moderate condition, both with shrapnel injuries.

Iran said it is targeting Dimona after the Natanz nuclear enrichment site was hit earlier. "If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle," Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X.

In Arad, emergency workers combed through the rubble of heavily damaged buildings.