Israel–Pakistan relations

Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal put the Palestine issue on top of agenda and opined that "the Balfour Declaration was unjust". On October 12, 1945, Muhammad Ali Jinnah said, ==History==

Following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in May 1948, David Ben-Gurion attempted to contact Muhammad Ali Jinnah via a telegram to establish diplomatic ties, but received no particular response. In 1952, Pakistani foreign minister Muhammad Zafarullah Khan promoted hardline state policies against Israel, and advocated for Pakistan's unwavering support for the Arabs in the Arab–Israeli conflict. Thus, Khan's policy laid the groundwork for Pakistan's strategic ties with the Arab world. ==Political tension==

Pakistani attitudes towards Israel During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel's diplomatic mission in Washington received information that Pakistan was trying to provide military assistance to the Palestinians alongside rumours that a Pakistani military battalion would be sent to Palestine to fight the Israelis. Pakistan had apparently bought 250,000 rifles in Czechoslovakia that were meant for the Arabs, and a later discovery revealed that Pakistan had bought three military-grade aircraft in Italy for the Egyptians. After the Yom Kippur War, Pakistan and the PLO signed an agreement for training PLO officers in Pakistani military institutions. During the 1982 Israel-Lebanon War, irregular Pakistani volunteers served in the PLO and 50 were taken prisoner during the Siege of Beirut. The relationship between Pakistan and Israel continued to be ridden with hostilities following these direct engagements, and when Mossad was unable to stop Pakistan's nuclear weapons program from making major developments, a plan to bomb Pakistani nuclear facilities in a similar fashion to Operation Opera was authorized. Israel subsequently made contact with India in an effort to gain support and secure a launching point for Israel's aircraft. However, India refused to allow Israeli aircraft to station on its soil, whereas Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency had discovered the plan and prepared suicidal one-way retaliatory measures to bomb strategic sites in Israel. According to Time Magazine, French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy said that Daniel Pearl, a Jewish American journalist, was assassinated by elements with backing from Pakistan's ISI over his alleged role in attempting to gather information linking a continued relationship between the ISI and the Taliban. According to other reports from BBC and Time, Pakistani militants murdered him because of their belief that Pearl was an Israeli Mossad agent who had infiltrated Pakistan under the cover of being an American journalist. Pakistan's religiously-oriented political parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami and militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba fiercely oppose any relationship with Israel, and have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel due to its standing as an alleged sworn enemy of Pakistan. Currently, as Pakistan refuses to recognize Israel until a viable solution is reached with Palestine, all Pakistani citizens are unable to travel to Israel, with Pakistani passports bearing an inscription outlining the invalidity of the passport for this purpose. Tashbih Sayyed was a well-known Pakistani-American scholar and Zionist who openly expressed his support for relations between Israel and Pakistan in many of his columns and writings throughout his journalistic career. Israeli attitudes towards Pakistan In the 1980s, Israel was said to have planned, with or without Indian assistance, a possible attack on Pakistan's nuclear facilities Israel's plan met with disapproval from some Indian officials on the grounds that Israel would not face any major consequences after the strike while India would surely face full-scale retaliation—possibly nuclear—from Pakistan for its involvement in the Israeli attack. The plan was discouraged out of the fear of a fourth Indo-Pakistani war starting as a consequence of this operation, and was shelved indefinitely after Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. A paper published in the U.S. Air Force Air University system—''India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb"''—also confirmed this plan's existence. It stated that "Israeli interest in destroying Pakistan's Kahuta reactor to scuttle the 'Islamic bomb' was blocked by India's refusal to grant landing and refuelling rights to Israeli warplanes in 1982." India's refusal to cooperate forced Israel—which on its part wanted the attack to be a joint Indian-Israeli strike to avoid being held solely responsible—to drop the plan. In October 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled his booking at a dine-in hotel in New York City, due to the fact that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was dining in at the same time to avoid a confrontation over what Sharif stated to be "Israel's naked brutality in Palestine". == Intelligence cooperation==

in West Jerusalem with British Indian poet Allama Iqbal, Despite their hostilities, both countries are reported to have directorates to deal with each other at an intelligence level. Following these attacks, It was reported that Pakistani Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha was in direct contact with Israel's Mossad. During the Cold War, Israel was part of the United States-led Western Bloc to which non-aligned Pakistan was allied, whereas non-aligned India was allied to the Soviet Union-led Eastern Bloc. Consequently, India supported the Soviets in Afghanistan as well as the pro-Soviet Afghan leader Mohammad Najibullah. American-allied Pakistan and Israel strongly opposed the Soviet invasion, and Israel and the United States ran arms and funds to and through Pakistan in support of the Afghan mujahideen. Israel had captured the Soviet armaments from Palestinian and other Arab groups (who were all supported by the Soviet Union) from previous conflicts. ==Normalization of ties==

Discussions on Diplomatic ties Some Israeli leaders believe that diplomatic relations with Pakistan should be established as the latter could possibly serve as a bridge or mediator between Israel and the Muslim world, including the Arab states. Although the governments of Israel and Pakistan do not officially have diplomatic relations with each other, there have been a number of instances of close contact and cooperation between the two states. According to the Pakistani news outlet Daily Jang, there are continuous reports that many top Pakistani leaders and representatives have visited Israel. Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri supported the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Israel. Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has openly spoken for the immediate pursuit of close diplomatic relations with Israel as soon as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reaches a viable solution. He expressed that Pakistan will full-heartedly recognize Israel and come forward for open relations when a two-state solution that gives equal opportunities to the Palestinians and Israelis is achieved and peace is restored. He is the first Pakistani to be interviewed by American-Israeli Haaretz writer Danna Harman in London. In 2016, a Pakistani Ph.D. scholar and writer, Malik Shah Rukh, started the Israel–Pakistan Friendship Group, which campaigns for a diplomatic relationship between the two nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on an official visit to India in 2017, responded to speculations that Israel's engagement in pursuing closer ties with India was to bolster its position against Pakistan, stating "We [Israel] are not an enemy of Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either." Following this, in 2018, widespread news (especially in Israeli media outlets) had begun to surface about an Israeli passenger aircraft stopping and staying in Pakistan for a day—stirring rumours that Israeli diplomats had made a covert official visit to Pakistan. There have been increased calls in Pakistan for pursuit of relations with Israel in light of what some Pakistanis view as the Arab world's naked abandonment of Pakistan—which had diplomatically, financially and militarily supported the Arabs against Israel during the Arab-Israeli wars—in regards to the Kashmir conflict with India. Following Pakistan's agreement to join the Board of Peace, the country's Foreign Office stated this does not mean it is going to join the Abraham Accords, as it is committed to Palestine. Alleged Military links Britain's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed in 2013 that Israel had exported military technology to Pakistan. It was also reported that Israel sought to purchase British military equipment such as electronic warfare systems and military-grade aircraft parts that were meant for the Pakistanis. Israel and Pakistan both immediately denied the report and called the revelations "misleading". It was unknown why Israel was possibly exporting military equipment to Pakistan covertly, but speculations were made that could be to bolster Pakistan's fight against insurgents and terrorists waging wars inside the country. Sports ties Israel and Pakistan have not participated in any sports together with the exception of a single football match in which they played against each other at the 1960 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. During the 2002 Wimbledon Open, Israeli tennis player Amir Hadad teamed up with Pakistani tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi to play in the 3rd round doubles together. The duo would later break news headlines as the first open Israeli-Pakistani partnership anywhere, which was positively received in Israel and criticized in Pakistan. Dan Kiesel, an Israeli Jew with German citizenship, served as the Pakistan national cricket team's trainer and physiotherapist while living in Lahore. During his time in Lahore, which he described as "a beautiful city", Kiesel said he never hid his identity as an Israeli Jew and that he never faced any problems or felt threatened as a result of this. == Timeline ==

• 1948—Various news outlets report that first contact between Pakistan and Israel were made in the early days of Pakistan's independence in August 1947, when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sent a secret message via telegram to Muhammad Ali Jinnah (the founder of Pakistan) asking him to recognize Israel when it declares independence, which happened in 1948. Jinnah reportedly did not give any particular response to Israel, possibly due to his severely deteriorating health and succumbed to his illnesses later that year. • 1949—Philippine Airlines became the only carrier to establish a direct air link between Karachi and Tel Aviv as a sector on their Manila–London service, however it is not known whether they had traffic rights between the two which would allow passengers and cargo to be flown on the route. • 1950—Initial contact between the Pakistani ambassador in London and representatives of Israel and Jewish organizations was made in early 1950 in an attempt to open legations in Karachi or at least conduct trade openly. • 1953—A meeting took place in New York between Pakistani diplomat Zafrullah Khan and Israeli diplomat Abba Eban on January 14 to discuss Israeli–Pakistani relations. • 2004—Pakistan postponed a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation meeting scheduled in Islamabad for March, which would have also been attended by Israel's minister for agriculture Israel Katz. It would have been the first visit by an Israeli minister to Pakistan. Pakistan's foreign ministry insisted that while Katz may have been a member of the UN delegation, he was not issued an invitation by Pakistan. However, Katz stated he had been invited to Pakistan and was looking forward to the visit. According to Katz, relations between the two sides had improved since they were collaborating with the United States in the war on terror. • 2005—The foreign ministers of the two countries, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and Silvan Shalom, held official talks for the first time, in Istanbul on 1 September. Before the meeting, Musharraf had met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, both of whom supported the talks.—in Musharraf's words: "Pakistan will eventually recognize Israel". On 15 September, Israeli media reported that Musharraf and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon had a cordial but informal interaction during the World Summit at the UN Headquarters. • 2005—On 17 September, Pervez Musharraf was invited to address the American Jewish Congress in New York at a dinner hosted by Jack Rosen in his honour. The event came in the backdrop of Pakistan's decision to "engage Israel" following the latter's pullout from Gaza and the West Bank. Musharraf was given a standing ovation by Jewish Americans, Visibly moved by the reception, he added that he did not expect a Pakistani leader "to be greeted by this community with this sort of ovation". • 2011—Israel was alleged to have exported British military technology to Pakistan. Known for his pro-Israel views, Javid was tipped as the future prime minister, to which a guest reportedly replied: "Of Britain, or Israel?" • 2015—An Arab-Israeli scientist, Ramzi Suleiman, attended a scientific conference sponsored by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and held in Lahore, Pakistan. • 2016—A Pakistani PhD scholar and writer, Malik Shah Rukh, started the Israel-Pakistan Friendship Group, which campaigns for a diplomatic relationship between the two nations. • 2017—During an official visit to India, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed suggestions that his country's partnership with India is a threat to Pakistan, saying, "We (Israel) are not enemies of Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either." • 2018—It was speculated by Israel's largest newspaper that an Israeli business jet landed and stayed in Islamabad for ten hours. There was further talk that this could have been the first visit to Pakistan by Benjamin Netanyahu or high-ranking Israeli officials. Responding to the media frenzy, Pakistani government officials rejected the veracity of the report and denied that any such visit took place. • 2020—Following the U.S.-brokered normalization agreement and establishment of diplomatic ties between the UAE and Israel, with Muslim nations Bahrain and Sudan also following suit, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan dismissed any possibility of his country doing the same, stating that "Pakistan will never recognize Israel until Palestinians are given their right of a just settlement." According to Khan, this was also in line with the stated position of Pakistan's founder, Jinnah. to recognise Israel, however Pakistan would maintain its position. In a television interview with Israel's i24 News, Pakistani journalist Mubasher Lucman supported the idea of Pakistan having diplomatic ties with Israel albeit without the involvement of any third party, remarks which earned him domestic backlash and criticism. • 2020—A political aide of prime minister Imran Khan, Zulfi Bukhari, was alleged to have visited Tel Aviv, Israel, using his British passport aboard a Pakistani military jet which landed in Amman in November. Bukhari reportedly met with Mossad's chief Yossi Cohen to deliver a message from Khan and Pakistan's army chief, general Qamar Javed Bajwa. Bukhari denied the reports. However, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz maintained its claim regarding the trip. • 2022—A 15-member delegation including Pakistan Television (PTV) journalist Ahmed Qureshi, Pakistani Jewish citizen Fishel Benkhald, and a group of Pakistani-Americans visited Israel to participate in an interfaith harmony dialogue. The trip was sponsored by the non-governmental organisation Sharaka to facilitate engagement between Muslims and Jews. The delegation met Israeli president Isaac Herzog and diplomat Dani Dayan among others. Qureshi claimed that former prime minister Imran Khan had been willing to establish contacts with Israel, and that the delegation's trip had also been approved by his government. Israeli president Herzog later publicly acknowledged the meeting at the World Economic Forum: "And I must say this was an amazing experience. We haven't had a group of Pakistani leaders in Israel in such scope. And that all stems from the Abraham Accords, meaning Jews and Muslims can dwell together in the region...". • 2023—Pakistan strongly supports Palestinians in Gaza after Gaza war breaks out. "The first lesson of the Gaza war is that the so-called recognition of Israel debate or discussion in Pakistan has been buried, and rightly so," Senator Mushahid Hussain, the defense committee chair of the upper house of the Pakistani parliament, said in an interview with the media. ==See also==