Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif has triggered a diplomatic flashpoint with Israel after an incendiary post on X in which he described the Jewish state as “evil and a curse for humanity” and said he hoped those who founded it would burn in hell, remarks that landed just as Islamabad is preparing to host US-Iran peace talks it helped broker.
In the post, Asif accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Lebanon even as peace negotiations got underway in the Pakistani capital, and said innocent civilians were being killed first in Gaza, then in Iran, and now in Lebanon. He went on to describe Israel as a “cancerous state” created on Palestinian land to displace European Jews, and prayed that its founders would face damnation.
Netanyahu’s office hits back
Israel’s response was swift. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement on X calling the remarks “outrageous” and amounting to a call for Israel’s annihilation. The PMO said such rhetoric could not be tolerated from any government, and pointedly questioned how Pakistan could claim to act as a neutral arbiter for peace while one of its senior cabinet ministers used language attacking the very existence of the state.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar went further, accusing Islamabad of peddling “blatant antisemitic blood libels” from a government that claims to mediate peace. Sa’ar said that branding the Jewish state cancerous was, in effect, a call for its destruction, and vowed that Israel would defend itself against those who sought its end.
Timing puts Islamabad in an awkward spot
The outburst comes at a sensitive moment for Pakistan, which is credited with brokering a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week, and is due to host the follow-up talks in Islamabad. An Iranian delegation was expected in the capital on Thursday night, while Pakistan has also publicly backed Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s push for an immediate halt to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
Asif’s framing of the talks has already caused friction. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had earlier suggested Lebanon was covered by the US-Iran ceasefire — a claim rejected by both Washington and Jerusalem, adding to questions over Islamabad’s handling of the mediator role.
A pattern of escalation
Asif is no stranger to scorched-earth rhetoric on Israel. Earlier this year, he described Netanyahu as the biggest criminal in humanity and suggested Turkey should seize him and bring him to court. In March, he escalated his attacks from Israeli policy to Zionism itself, calling it a threat to humanity.
Pakistan and Israel do not maintain formal diplomatic ties, but Thursday’s exchange marks one of the rare instances of a direct public confrontation between the two governments — and threatens to complicate the delicate choreography of the Islamabad talks before they even begin.