Pakistan, a state-sponsor of terrorism apparently cannot mask its true motives and ideological compass for a prolonged time. It will indeed dig its own trap and get exposed to the world as not a neutral mediator and genuine peacemaker. Lately, Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has escalated severe inflammatory comments against Israel, thus defaming the country. However, This attribute does not align with the aspirations and goals of an arbiter who aims to resolve a geopolitical conflict.
Defence Minister Khwaja Asif on April 9, Thursday called Israel an “evil state” and a “curse to humanity”. He was apparently criticising the Israeli attack on the Hezbollah terror infrastructure in South Lebanon. While condemning the attack by Tel Aviv on the Hezbollah terror network, Khwaja Asif degraded the existence and ethos of Israel. Khwaja Asif said, “Peace talks are underway in Islamabad and genocide is committed in Lebanon”. “Innocent citizens are being killed by Israel, first Gaza, then Iran and now Lebanon, bloodletting continues unabated”, Pakistan Defence Minister claimed.
Khwaja Asif further reiterated Israel as a cancerous state and jews as the curse for humanity. “I hope and pray that the people who created this cancerous state on Palestinian land to get rid of European Jews [sic] burn in hell”, Pakistan Defence Minister thus exposed his true affiliations and motives, while masking itself as the mediator and peacemaker. These insensitive comments testifies the fact that Pakistan is not a neutral and credible mediator who takes a balanced stance between the warring parties. Pakistan is just a messenger and aims to take the role of a mediator to fulfill its economic, geopolitical and other personal agenda.
PM Netanyahu warns Pakistan; Khwaja Asif deletes post
Reacting to the inflammatory remarks of Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu severely slammed the country who is acting as a mediator in the war. PM Netanyahu called out the annihilation of Israel comments by Khwaja Asif as “outrageous”. Further the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel posted, “This is not a statement that can be tolerated from any government, especially not from one that claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace”. Thus, Tel Aviv questions the credibility and trustworthiness of Pakistan as a peacemaker.
Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also sharply rebuked the comments from Pakistan. He called out Islamabad as “blatant antisemitic blood libels”. He further asserted that Pakistan by quoting Israel as cancerous is inviting its own destruction. “Israel views very gravely these blatant antisemitic blood libels from a government claiming to mediate peace. Calling the jewish state cancerous is effectively calling for its annihilation. Israel will defend itself against terrorists who vow its destruction”, wrote Foreign Minister of Israel. These sharp comments and warnings from Israel reflect the seriousness asserted by the Netanyahu government towards the irresponsible actions of Pakistan.
Any misadventure by Islamabad, will indeed attract sharp reactions from Tel Aviv. Vowing to warnings from Israel, Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif has deleted his social media post targeting Israel. This exhibits the precarious state of Islamabad. Also, Pakistan and Israel do not maintain full-fledged diplomatic relations. They maintain very low strategic ties and there is no direct engagement. Yet for the maiden time, Israel has outrightly quoted Pakistan as a terror state. Israel’s direct confrontation against Pakistan as a terror state reflects a major shift in its foreign policy approach, which is hitherto silent towards Islamabad. How can a state-sponsor of terrorism who makes biased and inflammatory comments be a credible and neutral mediator, questions Israel.
