ISLAMABAD: Political leaders in Pakistan on Wednesday slammed Israel for holding elections on illegally occupied Palestinian territory as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election according to exit polls.
Pakistan does not have diplomatic ties with Israel and has been a staunch supporter of demands for a Palestinian state.
In a rare turn during the election race toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Pakistan’s government and foreign office did not respond to calls seeking comment on the results of the Israeli election. But opposition political parties denounced the polls as ‘illegitimate.’
“There will be no recognition of these fake elections” carried out on illegally occupied Palestinian lands,” said Mushahidullah Khan, a senator from the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party.
“The Israeli state itself is not legitimate, how can their so-called elections be [legitimate]?” said Ghaffar Aziz from Pakistan’s largest religious party, the Jamaat-e-Islami. “In any way we look at it, the Israeli administration is an unlawful government and the people of Israel should realize that this territory belongs to the Palestinian people and they have the right to form a government. Israeli can co-exist peacefully with them”.
In a Twitter post, Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Dr. Shireen Mazari said Israel was breaking international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions by annexing illegally occupied territories “simply to gain electoral votes.”
“It reflects their mindset of expanding their countries’ borders illegally,” she said.
On Tuesday Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the top leaders of India and Israel of ‘moral bankruptcy,’ saying they had ambitions of illegally occupying the West Bank and Kashmir to drum up support before crucial elections in both countries this month.
“When ldrs [leaders] in Israel & India show a moral bankruptcy in their readiness to annex occupied West Bank & IOK [Indian Occupied Kashmir] in defiance of int [international] law, UNSC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions & their own Constitution for votes, don’t their ppl [people] feel a sense of outrage,” Khan asked in a Twitter post.
Pakistani leaders call out Israeli 'fake election' as Netanyahu secures victory
Pakistani leaders call out Israeli 'fake election' as Netanyahu secures victory
- Will not recognize “fake elections” carried out on illegally occupied Palestinian lands, says opposition senator
- Human Rights Minister says Israel breaking international law, UNSC resolutions in annexing illegally occupied territories “to gain electoral votes”
Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea
- Rescued migrants were taken to a temporary facility on Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini
- Greece has made deportations of rejected asylum seekers a priority under its migration policy
ATHENS: Greece’s Coast Guard rescued about 540 migrants from a fishing boat off Europe’s southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.
The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken to a temporary facility on the nearby island of Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini, a Coast Guard official said, adding most of the migrants were men from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan.
In a separate incident on Thursday, the EU’s border agency Frontex rescued 65 men and five women from two migrant boats in distress off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard said.
Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.
Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete and Gavdos — the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast — have seen a steep rise in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.
Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc’s pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.
The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected asylum seekers will be a priority.
