Tag: Pakistan-Israel ties

  • Middle East Monitor apologises for report on Zulfi Bukhari; Israel confirms ‘no ties with Pakistan’

    Middle East Monitor apologises for report on Zulfi Bukhari; Israel confirms ‘no ties with Pakistan’

    Not-for-profit press monitoring organisation Middle East Monitor has apologised for a report claiming that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s aide Zulfi Bukhari visited Israel, whereas a minister in Tel Aviv has also clarified that the country in Asia that could soon normalise relations with his country is not Pakistan.

    As per the details, Bukhari, who is the premier’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis, tweeted some documents, including a letter by the news media outlet wherein it had categorically acknowledged the reporting error and apologised.

    “We have removed the offending item,” the letter read, saying that it had been sourced from several foreign media outlets.

    “We accept Mr Bukhari’s refutation of the claims made in the report and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused,” concluded the letter dated December 23.

    The development was followed by an Israeli cabinet minister also confirming that there was a fifth Muslim-majority country in Asia that was likely to soon normalise relations with Tel Aviv, but it was not Islamabad.

    Speaking to the Israeli news outlet Ynet TV, Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis acknowledged that there is a potential for two more countries to normalise relations with Israel. He predicted that “there will be an American announcement about another country that is going public with the normalisation of relations with Israel and, in essence, with the infrastructure for an accord — a peace accord”.

    One of those countries is reportedly in the Gulf, but he ruled out Saudi Arabia, therefore leaving many to believe it could be Oman. The other country is further to the east of Israel towards Asia, and is a “Muslim country that is not small”.

    Okif dismissed the possibility of it being Pakistan, however, which many have suspected following PM Imran Khan admitting that “friendly” nations had been pressuring Islamabad to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.

    Those “friendly” nations are thought to be Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the UAE earlier this week that the country “will not and cannot establish a relationship with Israel until a concrete and permanent solution to the Palestine issue is found”.

    The attributes described by Okif leave Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh as the only remaining Muslim-majority countries that are “not small” and do not already have open ties with Israel.

  • ‘Pakistan, Israel on cusp of making ‘secret ties’ official,’ claims journalist Ahmed Quraishi

    ‘Pakistan, Israel on cusp of making ‘secret ties’ official,’ claims journalist Ahmed Quraishi

    Amid controversial reports that Pakistan was mulling to establish ties with Israel, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Quraishi claimed that Pakistan and Israel are on the “cusp of making their decades-old secret ties public” by the establishment of the diplomatic ties on the official level.

    Pakistan has repeatedly denied the existence of ties with Israel and called such reports “baseless”. It says that there will be no normalisation of ties with Tel Aviv till the resolution of the Palestinian issue.

    Speaking to an Israeli TV channel, Quraishi said that he knew “for a fact that it was just a matter of time” before the two countries announced the formation of the ties.

    “It is a long history that goes back at least quarter of a century,” he said, adding that Islamabad and Tel Aviv have cooperated on international forum even though they do not enjoy official relations.

    He said that Pakistan and Israel don’t have any sort of “strategic conflict”, adding that because of the Palestinian issue their relationship is “suffering”. He also called it a “story of missed opportunities”.

    In 2005, the governments of both countries “established a very public, formal, political, and diplomatic contact in Ankara” that was mediated by then prime minister of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan.

    He said then president Gen Pervez Musharraf also called for a dialogue between the Jewish people and Muslims, adding that it was time to “revive” that.

    In response to question, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan is probably open to this idea, but he is caught up in the religious-dominated politics over the past few years. “I think he needs a little push to take this step,” the journalist claimed, adding that this push can from “within the country” or some friendly country can ask him to take this step.

    “The PM must be weighing his options, given Pakistan and Israel have same friends –the US, Gulf countries, Turkey, China, Nato, Azerbaijan — and share similar views on many security issues, e.g. Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict,” he added.

    In a recent interview with a TV channel, PM Imran denied all reports regarding talks of setting up ties with Israel. “Pakistan will refuse to recognise Israel until Palestinian rights are guaranteed,” he told the interviewer.

    “Pakistan is a democratic society — and our entire nation stands with the Palestinians,” he had said, denying reports of a meeting between his adviser and Israeli officials. “Why would anyone go from Pakistan when it’s our policy that we don’t recognize Israel?” he had questioned.

    “What’s a minister going to do there? This is absolutely fake news.”

  • After backlash, Maryam deletes tweet on alleged meeting between Pakistani, Israeli officials

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz has deleted a Twitter post pertaining to an alleged meeting between the prime minister’s aide and Israeli officials after backlash on the social media platform.

    The PML-N vice-president had retweeted the tweet of Noor Dahri, the founder and executive director of UK-based Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism (ITCT), who gave an interview to Israeli TV channel i24TV.

    The PML-N leader shared the post because it implicated the incumbent premier for his alleged efforts to normalise ties with Israel.

    But, the post backfired as the video shared by Maryam also implicated her father Nawaz Sharif, who has served as three-time prime minister, tried to establish ties with Tel Aviv.

    Subsequently, she deleted the tweet, but not before screenshots started making rounds on social media. The official Twitter handle of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also shared a screen recording of her deleted tweet.

    A PTI supporter shared that the PML-N VP deleted the tweet because it “implicates Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto”.

    Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari rejected the reports about any visit to Israel. According to Bukhari, he was with the deputy commissioner in Rawalpindi that day.

    Bukhari said the Indian and Israeli sponsored media and the frustrated opposition wanted to “create some controversy”.

    “If it is directed against me, I would like to clarify that I was in Rawalpindi with the deputy commissioner on the day, and pictures of the event are also available,” said Bukhari.

    The report had claimed that an adviser of PM Imran Khan, who is a British national, went to Israel with a message from the prime minister.

    An Israeli media outlet reported that the unnamed adviser was welcomed by the Israeli officials at the airport as the visit was approved by the US.

    The adviser was escorted to the “foreign ministry of Israel where he met several political officials and diplomats and delivered the message of the Pakistani PM”, the reports claimed.

  • PM Imran’s adviser ‘secretly visited’ Israel with offer to start diplomatic ties, foreign media claims

    PM Imran’s adviser ‘secretly visited’ Israel with offer to start diplomatic ties, foreign media claims

    An adviser of Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Tel Aviv in November on his British passport to relay an official message that proposed normalisation of ties between Pakistan and Israel in return for its support “to halt down Pakistan’s current cold situation with the Arab countries as well as to support it in many international issues”, claimed foreign media reports.

    According to a global think-tank director, the visit took place in the last week of Nov. “The PM’s adviser [sent to Israel] lives in the UK and has also close relations with the Trump administration.”

    According to the report, the unnamed adviser was welcomed by the Israeli officials at the airport as the visit was approved by the US. The adviser was escorted to the “foreign ministry of Israel where he met several political officials and diplomats and delivered the message of the Pakistani PM”, the reports claimed.

    “He stayed a few days in Israel where he met with the director of Israeli intelligence Mossad Yossi Cohen and delivered a secret message of Pakistan army chief,” it went on to claim.

    According to the reports that cite unnamed Israeli sources, Pakistan has sought the support of Israel to “halt down the current cold situation with the Arab countries as well as to support it in many international issues such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as well as Indian lobbying against Pakistan”.

    “In return, Pak would start political ties at a slow place due to the fear of religious bloc within the country,” they claimed, adding that the offer was welcomed by the state of Israel.

    Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has not responded to these reports yet. However, the FO has many times rejected the reports pertaining to the normalisation of ties with Israel as baseless.

    Last month, the prime minister had told a journalist on TV that some Muslim states and the US were putting pressure on Pakistan to recognise Israel.

  • Mubasher Lucman wants Pakistan to establish ties with Israel

    Mubasher Lucman wants Pakistan to establish ties with Israel

    A day after the reports of a secret meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, journalist and anchorperson Mubasher Lucman urged the Pakistani state to revisit its foreign policy and “establish diplomatic ties with Israel”.

    The anchorperson who appeared on an Israeli news channel to supposedly comment on the controversy surrounding the latest push of Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel said that it was time for Pakistan to be “friends with everyone”, including Tel Aviv.

    https://twitter.com/TeamMLucman/status/1328780163283226624

    According to Lucman, Pakistan needs to put itself first and stop fighting for the rights of other nations — Palestinians in this case. “I am one of those people who believe both countries should shake hands and establish diplomatic ties,” said Lucman, as he went on to call Israel a “vibrant country”.

    The journalist also undermine the struggle for self-determination of the Palestinian people, while trying to play down the atrocities committed by the Israeli troops against the Palestinian people. “People in Pakistan do not know much about Israel, except that it is a zionist state carrying out ‘whatever it is doing against Palestinians’”.

    “The Israeli nation is a great nation in their own way. They are fighters, they are survivors,” said Lucman, comparing it with Pakistan which is a “great country in its own right with many accolades”.

    Lucman also commented on a recent media reports that claimed Pakistan was being pressurised by the US and another Muslim country to recognise Tel Aviv. He said: “If Israel and Pakistan ever ever have to shake hands, it must not be due to a third party, it must be directly. We don’t need to be subservient to anyone, be it the US or Saudi Arabia.”

    He also said the “animosity between Pakistan and Israel” existed for over 70 years now, and both states needed to educate their masses if things have to “progress” from this stage to the next.

    Earlier this month, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan would not accept Israel unless Palestinians get their right to self-determination. He also told a journalist that US outgoing President Donald Trump and a Muslim country wanted Pakistan to accept Israel, which it cannot do.

    MBS-NETANYAHU MEETING:

    On Monday, Netanyahu allegedly met MBS in Saudi Arabia, which observers see a step towards recoginsation of Tel Aviv by Saudi Arabia. There has been widespread speculation, within Israel and the US, that Washington may push for other Arab states to follow suit before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.

    However, the reports of the meeting were denied by the Saudi foreign minister. “I have seen press reports about a purported meeting between HRH the Crown Prince and Israeli officials during the recent visit by @SecPompeo. No such meeting occurred. The only officials present were American and Saudi,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud wrote on Twitter on Monday.