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Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif's comments came as Islamabad positions itself as a major player in ceasefire talks between the US, Israel, and Iran.
Israel is “evil and a curse for humanity,” Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said in a since-deleted Thursday post to X/Twitter, adding that he hopes its founders will “burn in hell.”
His remarks come as Islamabad tries to position itself as a diplomatic player in efforts to contain the widening regional war.
Pakistan has publicly pushed for an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon while also preparing to host diplomatic talks about the Iran war in Islamabad.
Pakistan said Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had sought its support for an “immediate end” to the attacks, Reuters reported. An Iranian delegation was due in Islamabad that night for talks tied to the broader crisis, a separate Reuters report said.
“Israel is evil and a curse for humanity,” Asif wrote in the deleted post. While peace talks were taking place in Islamabad, “genocide” was being carried out in Lebanon, he said. Innocent civilians were being killed by Israel “first in Gaza, then in Iran, and now in Lebanon,” and the bloodshed was continuing without pause, he added.
In the post, Asif wrote that he hoped those who created “this cancerous state” on Palestinian land “to get rid of European Jews” would “burn in hell.”
His language went far beyond standard diplomatic criticism and amounted to one of the most incendiary anti-Israel statements by a serving Pakistani official. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry used more formal, though still harsh, language on Thursday. Israel’s actions in Lebanon constituted “a blatant violation of international law and fundamental humanitarian principles,” it said.
Last month, the ministry condemned Israel’s “continued military aggression” in Lebanon and said Pakistan stood in “complete solidarity” with the Lebanese people.
Asif has used extreme rhetoric against Israel this year. In January, he said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “the biggest criminal of humanity” and urged that he be “kidnapped” and brought to court. He suggested that Turkey could abduct him.
Zionism a 'threat to humanity,' says Asif
“Zionism is a threat to humanity,” Asif wrote in March, escalating his criticism from Israeli policy to Zionism itself.The timing of Thursday’s outburst made it especially striking.
Islamabad has tried to cast itself as a mediator and regional stabilizer as US-Iran diplomacy moved through Pakistan. Nevertheless, one of its senior cabinet ministers used language that attacked not only Israel’s conduct but the state’s very creation.
That contrast is likely to draw fresh scrutiny to Pakistan’s role as it seeks diplomatic relevance in one of the region’s most volatile moments.
Huckabee, Leiter condemn Asif over antisemitic comments
Israel's Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned Asif for his inflammatory comments on X."The Ayatollahs chanted “Death to Israel” - and now a so-called “mediator” is echoing the same language," Leiter wrote in a Friday morning X post, calling Asif not a mediator, but "the problem."
