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A Pakistani Group Visited Israel. Then Pakistan Erupted
It was unprecedented: Two Pakistani citizens openly visited Israel on their Pakistani passports – and re-entered Pakistan without hindrance, despite a fierce media controversy. So how open is the Pakistani state now to normalization with the Jewish state?
For Muslims, Jews are fellow
Ahl e Kitab (People of the Book) and children of Abraham, a religious kinship that, ideally, should translate into warm ties between the world's Muslims and Jews.
But the domination of politics means religious affiliations take a back seat and more potent rhetoric comes into play. Too often, in too many places, Muslims and Jews have been unable to translate their similarities into good ties, falling into the trap of preconceived notions,
propaganda and in some cases,
blatant hatred and
violence.
It’s a sad fact that antisemitism has been accepted in various Muslim-majority countries where their citizens have long been fed a steady diet of gross exaggerations and falsehoods painting Jews in a negative, conspiratorial light.
A common but unsubstantiated belief amongst many Pakistanis is that the Jews control the world’s finance and media industries. Just last year, during an interview with CNN, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi alleged that Israel had "deep pockets" and "
they control the media."
Supporters of the Pakistani religious group, Jamaat-e-Islami, take part in a rally in support of the Palestinian cause, in Peshawar, Pakistan last yearCredit: AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad
The contention that
Israel and/or Jews are
obsessively engaged in a long-term plot to destabilize or defang Pakistan (in cahoots with
Islamabad’s enemies), and that Pakistan has a foundational, if not sanctified, duty to dismantle Israel, is practically an
iron rule of Pakistani grassroots and political discourse.
Supporters of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami rally in Karachi, Pakistan against the United Arab Emirates-Israeli deal to establish full diplomatic tiesCredit: AP Photo/Fareed Khan
A consequence of this constant normalization of prejudice is that many Muslims, not least in Pakistan, consider that Jews
deserve our hatred and disdain. Perhaps it is easier to hate, because hatred amplifies our own opinion of ourselves, while positive engagement forces us to appreciate the good in someone else.
But is this hatred based on a lack of understanding? If Muslims and Jews understood each other’s stories, would they still hate each other? How could relations between Pakistani Muslims and Jews, particularly in israel, change? What could relations between Pakistan and Israel,
historical twins founded as havens for Muslims and Jews respectively, then look like?
A recent attempt to test exactly this premise has attracted significant
controversy – in Pakistan. A 15 member delegation, led by two civil society groups, visited Israel in order to promote interfaith harmony primarily between Muslims and Jews. The trip was organized by the American Muslim and Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council and by Sharaka, an NGO founded in the wake of the Abraham Accords to embed
people-to-people normalization between Israel and Muslim-majority states.
American Pakistanis, a British Pakistani, prominent Pakistani journalist Ahmed Qureshi and Pakistani Jew
Fischel BenKhald were also a part of this delegation.
Every Pakistani passport includes a warning in bold letters that it is valid for all countries except Israel. Nonetheless, Qureshi and BenKhald entered Israel on their Pakistani passports, making it the first-ever trip of its kind: a Pakistani journalist on a Pakistani passport, and an individual whose Pakistani passport states that he is a Jew, both travelled to Israel and, no less significant, were able to re-enter Pakistan without hindrance.
This trip clearly signals a change in attitudes about Israel and Jews within the Pakistani state.
Qureshi, who works for Pakistan’s state broadcaster, Pakistan Television (PTV), is considered an expert on the Middle East and holds an excellent reputation within powerful civilian and military quarters in Pakistan, reflected in the fact that the previous government appointed him to host a show on PTV and he was one of the commentators in Pakistan Day’s military parade on 23rd March 2022.
Qureshi told me: "All Israelis we met went the extra mile to show us that they have nothing against Muslims, that they respect Muslims, they respect Palestinian Muslims, they respect Muslims from other countries in the world, they would like to make the experience of local Palestinians and visitors from outside who want to visit [Jerusalem’s] Masjid al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock and other holy sites as smooth as possible."
Qureshi also noted how the Chief Rabbis of Israel have consistently
forbidden Jews to enter the Haram al-Sharif, which surrounds Masjid al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, a position
reiterated by prominent rabbis since the Abraham Accords were signed.
Such testimonials by a Muslim journalist regarding Israeli hospitality greatly influence the perception of Israel within Pakistan, since the number of Pakistanis who have ever had an interaction with any Israeli or any Jew is infinitesimally small.
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