Your question is a complicated one to answer. The tour group thing is a way to ease getting a visa in certain circumstances.

The long and short of it is that many of the countries for which Israel still requires its citizens to get visas are countries where the standard of living is generally lower than in Israel. As a result, Israel does have to some degree a illegal immigration problem -- especially by young men from less prosperous countries. I don't know whether or not India would meet this criteria, although I suspect it does -- at least for the AVERAGE citizen's quality of life. (I know there is a booming offshored workforce there that is quickly gaining in wealth and status, but I don't think that wealth is the status quo there by any means. I could be wrong...)

From some countries (especially African countries and former USSR members) the illegal immigration is so bad that it at least USED TO BE (my experience is 5 years old) that if you want a family member to get a visa and come visit from one of those locations, you had to send them an "invitation" that they could take to the embassy when applying for the visa, and you, the Israeli, also had post a bond that you received back once that family member left the country after his/her visit. If they didn't leave when their visa was up, it was like jumping bail in a way, because you lost that bond money that you put up for them.

I don't know if this still applies 100%, but I think it might.

Long and short of it is, though, that your cousin -- 26, male, physically capable, and from India -- might just raise their antenna as a potential illegal immigrant who is looking to get a black-market construction job. (Where a lot of the illegal immigrants end up working...) That is probably the reason for the tour group suggestion, and it may not be a bad one at that! That isn't to say that there's NO WAY he'll get a visa on his own, but it would be a lot easier with a group that can show a defined agenda for the trip.