Tel Aviv, Aug 12 (IANS) Describing Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s recent remarks on Israel as “incendiary, genocidal and reckless”, a report said that responsible Muslim governments and leaders should be among the first to repudiate him.
It argued that Asif’s claim that he speaks for the Muslim world should not go unanswered.
The Pakistani Defence Minister termed Israel an illegitimate state and “a threat to the entire Muslim world” and urged Muslim countries to form “a united military front” against it.
His remarks came a day after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, with Turkey’s foreign minister reportedly comparing the collective defence pact to Article 5 of NATO.
“Asif is the Defence Minister of a nuclear-armed country. Every part of that sentence should set off alarms. This was no criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu, the war in Gaza, settlements, occupation, or any particular Israeli policy. Asif denied the legitimacy of Israel itself. He then called for countries united by religion to organise militarily against it. That is a genocidal threat,” a report in the ‘Times of Israel’ detailed.
“Israel is home to nearly half the Jews in the world. It cannot be eliminated as a political abstraction. A military campaign capable of destroying Israel would necessarily place millions of Jews at risk of expulsion, subjugation, or death,” it added.
According to the report, Asif did not advocate negotiations, territorial compromise, coexistence, or a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Instead, it said, he described Jewish sovereignty as “illegitimate” and called on the Muslim world to confront Israel militarily.
Asserting Saudi Arabia and Turkey must address the issue, the report said, “They cannot sign a collective-defence agreement with a nuclear-armed state and then treat its Defence Minister’s call for a military front against Israel as incidental rhetoric.”
It stressed that Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, must clarify whether Asif’s remarks reflected the government’s position. If it did not, then Asif should be removed from office; and if it did, the international community should reconsider its engagement with Pakistan accordingly.
“Saudi Arabia and Turkey should declare explicitly that their new agreement cannot be invoked in support of aggression against Israel. Turkey is a member of NATO. Its allies should demand clarification about whether a NATO member has entered a military arrangement that another signatory intends to mobilise against the Jewish state,” the report noted.
“The United States, United Kingdom, European Union, United Nations Secretary-General, and every government that claims to oppose genocidal rhetoric should condemn Asif’s statement plainly,” it added.
–IANS
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