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.