Why Pakistan Can’t Recognize Israel

If there was any imminent chance of Pakistan establishing formal ties with Israel, that’s now been pushed back a few more years after the latest phase of violence between Israel and Palestine.

“I am PM of Pakistan. We stand with Palestine,” tweeted Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9 to condemn Israel’s newest military campaign against Palestinians. The majority of the Pakistani civilian leadership has condemned the latest phase of violence and called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its alleged crimes.

Currently, there is so much anger in Pakistan over the Israeli military’s targeting of Gaza that the president of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, criticized the Dawn newspaper for publishing what he thought was a “bad headline” describing the events in Gaza. Commenting on Dawn’s headline, which stated “Israel pounds Gaza as deadly conflict intensifies,” Alvi wrote in a Twitter post: “This is NOT a conflict Sir! This is one-sided brutal, murderous assault. A massacre of people who are fighting to live on THEIR land stolen from them. A free Palestine shall emerge.”

Pakistan has actively reached out to its international friends and allies to raise the issue at important forums, particularly the United Nations. Pakistan’s human rights minister, Shireen Mazari, called on United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to label the Israeli attacks against Palestinians a “massacre” not a “conflict.” While replying to Guterres’ tweet that called for “de-escalation” and “cessation of hostilities” between Gaza and Israel, Mazari said, “With respect honorable SG [Secretary General] this is not a conflict but a massacre by an occupation power and UN needs to enforce its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people against Israel’s state terrorism.”

Pakistan and Turkey have also vowed to work together to raise the issue at the U.N. while Islamabad has reached out to its closest ally, China, to seek help. Pakistan has also assured Saudi Arabia of its “unequivocal support” over the ongoing situation in Palestine.

Recent anti-Israeli rallies have attracted thousands of people in Pakistan. This is perhaps the first time that Islamists and civil society groups have marched together to record their protest over the situation in Gaza. While some protesters believe that Pakistan needs to do more to support the Palestinians, others say Islamabad should support the people of Gaza militarily. “We are ready to fight alongside the Palestinians against Israel. We have a strong army. We should send the army to support our Muslim brothers and sisters,” Murtaza, a protester in Lahore, told The Diplomat.

Another protester, Yasir Ali, told The Diplomat that “the situation in Gaza should be a lesson for Pakistan’s leadership that establishing ties with Israel will amount to supporting Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians.”

He was referring to the Abraham Accords, under which Israel and a number of Arab countries (including the UAE, Morocco, and Bahrain) established diplomatic relations last year. There have been reports over the last few months that Pakistan is under pressure from different countries to develop direct diplomatic ties with Israel. In November 2020, Khan said in an interview that his country was facing pressure from the United States to recognize Israel. When asked if Muslim countries were also pressuring Pakistan, he said, “There are things we cannot say. We have good relations with them.”

For decades, Pakistan’s leadership has kept unofficial contact with Israel. Reports revealed earlier this year that former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a delegation to Israel in an attempt to normalize ties with Tel Aviv. Former Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Ajmal Qadri, who was also part of the delegation, said in an interview that “I found him [Sharif] very passionate to develop a relationship with the Jewish state.”

“The people of then foreign ministry [of Pakistan] wanted to know whether Pakistan could develop relations with Israel or not,” he added.

Many policymakers in Pakistan fear that, if Islamabad recognizes Israel, the Palestine crisis may become a Pakistan crisis every time there is a conflict between Israel and Palestine. The idea of recognizing Israel has existed in Pakistan for years, but the costs of such a decision may be far larger than the anticipated gains. With the Abraham Accords, the countries recognizing Israel have been rewarded in different forms, primarily internationally. Pakistan could have gained some similar dividends, but the decision would have been very unpopular domestically.

And now the current crisis has called into question the viability of the Abraham Accords. The violence in Gaza “has embarrassed Gulf states which forged ties with the Jewish state and put a strain on their ‘Abraham Accords’ that were billed as a game-changer,” noted one AFP story last month. Had Pakistan recognized Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, the country might have seen mass protests against the Pakistani government with the outbreak of fresh violence in Gaza in May, which could have led to a major political and security crisis in Pakistan.

The idea of recognizing Israel has remained an unpopular prospect in Pakistan. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in May has only served to harden that opposition. With civilians, including children, being killed in the violence, no Pakistani leader, whether civilian or military, can take up the idea of recognizing Israel in a serious fashion. The issue is toxic domestically, with each recurrence of violence worsening the prospects of establishing normal diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Israel. In the meantime, Pakistan is backed into a corner, left with little to do but condemn Israel and seek a position pushing for the state to be held accountable for the oppression of the Palestinians.

Pakistanis policymakers are counting their blessings that they were not part of the  Abraham Accords after all.