Comments by Israeli President Isaac Herzog during the World
Economic Forum have reignited what started as a social media controversy over a
visit to Israel by a “Pakistani” delegation. Herzog was speaking in the context
of improvements in ties with several countries under the Abraham Accords — the
term used to refer to the normalisation of ties between Israel and some Muslim
countries in 2020. The Israeli president mentioned how there is increasing
interaction with other countries, but only one of his examples referred to a
country that does not have ties with Israel. However, the delegation was
technically not “from Pakistan”, but rather was a joint effort by US and
Israeli NGOs. The US NGO was apparently run by Pakistani Americans who,
according to social media, seem to have “links” with every major political
party in Pakistan.
While some people questioned how
Pakistanis were even allowed to enter Israel, the answer is actually quite
well-known. Israel allows travellers from several countries with which it has
no ties to enter using a separate on-arrival paper visa document to enter the
country. This means that a Pakistani with an approved reason for travel can go
to Jordan — or other countries with which Israel has this travel arrangement —
and then drive in and out of Israel, but their passports will only have
Jordanian stamps. This is probably how at least one delegation member — a
Pakistani journalist who claims to have no foreign nationality — managed to
enter the country. Still, amid the hullabaloo, we forget that this delegation
had no official standing as far as Pakistan is concerned; it was a bunch of
private citizens, mostly Pakistani-Americans, speaking in their private
capacity.
The Pakistani government and ministers have also pointed this out,
noting that Pakistan’s position remains to back the Palestinians and through
the “establishment of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state
with pre-1967 borders and [Jerusalem] as its capital”. Till the time this
becomes a reality, Pakistan refuses to recognise Israel. Unfortunately, some in
Pakistan, including former PTI ministers, would rather malign the country by
claiming the delegation was “official” and using anti-Semitic language, rather
than sticking to the facts and reserving their ire for the participants.
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