Israel–Pakistan relations

Israel–Pakistan relations refer to the bilateral ties between the State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, owing to Pakistan's non-recognition of Israel as a sovereign state due to the Arab–Israeli conflict, the two countries' relationship has been defined by multiple instances of close covert coordination and cooperation during events such as the Soviet–Afghan War and the Black September conflict. Pakistan officially endorses the two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and has maintained its longstanding position of non-recognition of Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established within the pre-1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital city. Nevertheless, Pakistan and Israel almost regularly use their embassies and consulates-general in the cities of Ankara and Istanbul in Turkey to mediate and exchange necessary information with each other. A publishing by the Pakistani newspaper ''Dawn'' in 2010 reported that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, following up on reports received in Washington, had used its embassy in Ankara to pass on newly discovered information to Israel's Mossad about potentially upcoming terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, where a Jewish cultural centre was listed as a major target. This information first surfaced in a WikiLeaks publishing one year after the 2008 Mumbai attacks were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani Islamic terrorist organization.

In 2020, following a series of successful back-to-back agreements that saw Israel normalize its relationships with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, stated that the United States was mounting increased pressure on Pakistan to recognize Israel, with Khan stating that "the pressure is because of Israel's deep impact in the United States," and that "Israel’s lobby is the most powerful, and that’s why America’s whole Middle East policy is controlled by Israel." However, after being asked directly whether or not he would establish diplomatic relations with Israel, Khan reaffirmed Pakistan's position on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, stating that there will be no normalized relationship between Israel and Pakistan until a "just settlement" is given to and accepted by the Palestinians.

Background

Earlier, Muhammad Ali Jinnah played pivotal role in the awareness struggle on the Palestine issue in the Subcontinent. In post Khilafat Movement scenario, All India Muslim League (AIML) kept staunch support to Palestine and rights of the Arabs. The decade of 1930's witnessed significant developments on Palestine under leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. League, under Jinnah, not only broadened its basis among the masses but also took up Palestine issue through various measures inside and outside India. Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal put Palestine issue on top of agenda list of the meetings and sessions and opined that 'Balfour Declaration was unjust'. When the Lahore Resolution was passed in March 1940 by the AIML, Jinnah also permitted a resolution on the status of Palestine to be moved, whereby support for the Palestinian cause was reaffirmed. Just a few days after partition, Jinnah announced to send a delegation to Cairo under Abdur Rehman Siddiqui to participate in Inter-Parliamentary World Congress on Palestine to be held in last week of August 1947. Furthermore, Zafrullah Khan was sent to represent Pakistan in the United Nations. He attended deliberations of UN Ad Hoc Committee over Palestine and vividly declared Balfour Declaration as illegitimate and clearly rejected partition of Palestine that Pakistan would not accept that unjust plan.

On October 12, 1945 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. By 1949, Israel's Foreign Ministry believed that it was possible to open an Israeli legation in the Karachi Federal Capital Territory of Pakistan, or to begin conducting trade openly. Initial contact between Pakistani diplomats in London and representatives of Israel along with various Jewish organizations was made in early 1950. The Pakistani government was asked to issue passage permits to India for a few hundred Jews who wished to leave Afghanistan and emigrate to Israel. The government rejected the request and the Afghan Jews left through Iran.

In 1952, Pakistani foreign minister Muhammad Zafarullah Khan promoted hardline state policies against Israel, and advocated for Pakistan's unwavering support for the Palestinians 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.Moshe Yegar, "Pakistan and Israel", ''Jewish Political Studies Review'' 19:3–4 (Fall 2007)

The Pakistan Air Force sent a group of its fighter pilots to engage the Israelis in combat during the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, greatly bolstering the Palestinians who were suffering repeated defeats to the Israel Defense Forces. A Pakistani fighter pilot, Saiful Azam, had shot down at least four Israeli fighter planes during the Six-Day War. After the Yom Kippur War, Pakistan and the PLO signed an agreement for training PLO officers in Pakistani military institutions.Mushahid Hussain, "How Pakistan Views Israel and the Palestinians", ''Middle East International'', September 1988, 21; P. R. Kumaraswamy, ''Beyond the Veil: Israel–Pakistan Relations'' (Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, 2000), 34 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.India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb", McNair Paper Number 41, Radical Responses to Radical Regimes: Evaluating Preemptive Counter-Proliferation, May 1995

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
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