JERUSALEM: Israel is working toward formalising relations with a fifth Muslim country, possibly in Asia, during US President Donald Trump’s term, an Israeli cabinet minister said on Wednesday, clarifying that the country was not Pakistan.
The White House has brokered rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco this year. Rabat hosted an Israeli-US delegation on Tuesday to flesh out the upgrade in relations.
Asked if a fifth country could sign up before Trump steps down on Jan 20, Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis told Israel’s Ynet TV: “We are working in that direction.”
“I believe ... there will be an American announcement about another country that is going public with the normalization of relations with Israel and, in essence, with the infrastructure for an accord — a peace accord,” he said.
Akunis said there were two main candidate countries to become the next to move toward normal ties with Israel.
He did not name either but said one is in the Gulf and could be Oman but would not be Saudi Arabia. The other, further to the east, is a “Muslim country that is not small” but is not Pakistan, Akunis said.
Administration officials have said they are trying to get more countries to recognize Israel or warm existing ties to it.
Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, said last week it would not recognize Israel as long as Palestinian statehood demands remain unmet. Malaysia and Pakistan have signalled a similar policy.
“Malaysia’s firm stance on the Palestinian issue will not change,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar told the country’s senate on Wednesday, adding that Kuala Lumpur would not interfere in other nations’ decisions on Israel.
In Dhaka, a foreign ministry official said Bangladesh was not interested in establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. “Our position remains the same,” he told Reuters.
Oman has praised the US-brokered diplomatic drive but has not commented on its own prospects of forging Israel ties.
The Palestinians, whose negotiations with Israel stalled in 2014, fear being sidelined by the normalization process.
Fifth Muslim country likely to recognize Israel is not Pakistan — minister
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Fifth Muslim country likely to recognize Israel is not Pakistan — minister
- Israeli regional cooperation minister says there were two main candidates to become the next nations to move toward normal ties with Israel
- Says one is in the Gulf and could be Oman but would not be Saudi Arabia, other is further to the east but is not Pakistan
Police arrest 49 suspected militants in Pakistan’s Punjab in a month
- The development follows a steep rise in militancy-related deaths in Pakistan last year
- Authorities have lodged cases against the arrested suspects affiliated with banned outfits
ISLAMABAD: The counter-terrorism department (CTD) of Punjab police has arrested 49 militants in different areas of Pakistan’s most populous province in a month and foiled a major terror plan, the CTD said on Saturday.
Pakistan is currently facing an uptick in militant attacks, mainly by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which borders Punjab.
The attacks in KP have forced authorities in Punjab to heighten security and take pre-emptive measures in view of potential spillover of militants into the country’s most populous province.
CTD officials arrested these militants in 425 intelligence-based operations and seized weapons, explosives and other prohibited materials from the arrestees, according to a CTD spokesperson.
“Forty-four cases have been registered against the arrested terrorists and further investigation is being carried out,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The development comes a steep rise in militancy-related deaths in Pakistan in 2025. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) last month, combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387. These included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees, the think tank said.
CTD conducted 6,131 combing operations in the province and arrested 599 suspects, according to the statement. Around 570 police reports were registered against these suspects, which led to 477 recoveries.
In Nov., the Punjab government had launched the country’s “first” mobile counterterrorism unit to monitor complex security operations in real time, while in Sept. the province announced the arrest of 90 suspected militants in a three-month counter-terrorism sweep.
Pakistan has struggled to contain the surging in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban and Islamabad broke down in Nov. 2022. The country faces another decades-long insurgency by Baloch separatists in its southwestern Balochistan province.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegation.
