{"id":579058,"date":"2026-08-09T01:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T01:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/579058\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T01:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T01:04:11","slug":"pakistans-defense-minister-threatens-illegitimate-israel-after-inking-pact-with-saudis-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/579058\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan’s defense minister threatens ‘illegitimate’ Israel after inking pact with Saudis, Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pakistan\u2019s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday told a news outlet in his country that \u201cIsrael is a threat to the entire Muslim world,\u201d and called for \u201ca united military front\u201d against it, just a day after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed a joint defense agreement.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the context of Israel, all Muslim countries must unite. I have no doubt about this,\u201d Asif said<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is a product of the Balfour Declaration, which was established in the 1940s as an illegitimate state, and it could pose a direct threat to any of the countries in the region,\u201d he continued, referring to the 1917 British declaration of support for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in the Land of Israel, setting the stage for Israeli independence three decades later. Pakistan was similarly established on the basis of a British declaration in 1947, just a year before the founding of Israel.<\/p>\n

Asif, who has in the past called <\/a>Israel \u201cevil and a curse for humanity,\u201d and a \u201ccancerous state,\u201d told the interviewers that his fierce opposition to Israel will not change even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defeated in this year\u2019s elections, which are set for October 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter who comes to power in Jerusalem \u2013 whether it\u2019s [former premier Naftali] Bennett or any other leader \u2013 the differences are only marginal,\u201d Asif said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTheir attitude towards the Palestinians and their anti-Islamic mindset will not disappear. They continue to incite Muslim countries against each other,\u201d he charged, \u201cand as long as the Palestinian issue is not permanently resolved, the Islamic world must stand against them as one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Israel:<\/p>\n

When it comes to Israel, all Muslim countries should come together. There is absolutely no ambiguity in my mind about that. <\/p>\n

Given Israel\u2019s current conduct, as well as the historical evidence of what it has been doing\u2014at one\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/3Uqzo1cdnR<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Clash Report (@clashreport) August 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

There was no immediate Israeli reaction to Asif\u2019s threat. After his since-deleted social media post earlier this labeling Israel \u201ccancerous,\u201d in which he also called \u201cto get rid of European jews [sic],\u201d Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his \u201ccall for Israel\u2019s annihilation is outrageous,\u201d particularly coming from a member of a government \u201cthat claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace,\u201d referring to Islamabad\u2019s role as a mediator in talks between Washington and Tehran on ending the US-Israel war against Iran. Israel is not a party to those negotiations.\n<\/p>\n

Nuclear-armed Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel. It voted against the establishment of modern Israel at the UN in 1947, does not recognize Israeli sovereignty, and says it will not do so until a Palestinian state is established along the pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. During a visit to India in 2018, Netanyahu said: \u201cWe are not enemies of Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same year, the Mossad spy agency seized a trove of nuclear documents from a Tehran warehouse in 2018, detailing Iran\u2019s program to build nuclear weapons, which reporters from the New York Times who viewed the archive said was carried out with foreign assistance, \u201cMuch [of which] was clearly from Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separately Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the trilateral pact that Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a day earlier is technically the same as NATO\u2019s Article 5 mutual defense agreement, meaning that an attack on any of the three countries would be considered an attack on them all.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIn this photo released by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from left, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pose for photo prior to their meeting to discuss the Iran war, in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 29, 2026. (Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)<\/p>\n

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency, Fidan said a committee of ministers similar to that within NATO would be formed as part of the alliance, as well as a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia. Egypt could potentially join the pact once certain technical matters are resolved, he said.<\/p>\n

Fidan added the accord was not targeting Iran and declared the safety of commercial ships in the Red Sea was a Turkish interest, therefore requiring Ankara to be involved in a Saudi-led military coalition aimed at thwarting attacks by Yemen\u2019s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels.<\/p>\n

He stated that the allies would decide through consultations what degree, form, and format of support they would ask for in the event of an attack, but that no country would be considered a threat as long as a member state is not attacked.<\/p>\n

Turkey, which has NATO\u2019s second-largest army, has said the pact was open to expansion to other regional countries and did not seek to replace any existing alliances.<\/p>\n

\u201cNATO is a giant military alliance where there are 32 countries. We have started here as three countries and we have to take very humble but concrete steps,\u201d Fidan said, adding efforts to finalise the pact had been underway for two years and eight months.<\/p>\n

Agencies contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


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