ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Sunday categorically rejected reports that the country had “exported” goods to Israel, reiterating that there has been “no change” in Islamabad’s policy regarding Tel Aviv.
The statement came days after a New York-based group of American Jews said the first shipment of “Pakistan-origin food products” had been offloaded in Israel this week.
The American Jewish Congress said the transaction involved Pakistan-Jewish businessman Fishel Benkhald, based in the country’s financial hub of Karachi, and three Israeli businessmen from Jerusalem and Haifa. Benkhald also shared on Twitter a video of dates, dried fruit and spices he “exported” from Pakistan to the Israeli market.
Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and has repeatedly called for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
In response to a query, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch denied Islamabad had any relations with Tel Aviv.
“Pakistan does not have diplomatic or trade relations with Israel,” she told Arab News. “There is no change in the policy.”
Separately, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Sunday denied any trade relations exist between Islamabad and Israel, promising an inquiry into goods allegedly “exported” to the Jewish nation.
“We may investigate it but our government has not allowed anyone. It is being found that Imran Khan had given such permission to someone in the previous regime,” Sanaullah said in an interview with Independent Urdu published on Sunday.
“There is no such thing [allowing trade with Israel] in our notice.”
In the past, former prime minister Khan has denied allegations against his government of trying to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.
In May last year, Khan even said the government of PM Shehbaz Sharif was about to recognize Israel. His comments came days after Israeli president Isaac Herzog acknowledged he had received a delegation of Pakistani expats living in the US.
The Pakistani commerce ministry also denied reports of any trade between Islamabad and Israel as “sheer propaganda,” saying Benkhald had sent food samples to businessmen in Jerusalem and Haifa through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in “personal capacity.”
“It was not supported by the Pakistani government and no banking or official channel was involved either,” the commerce ministry said.
The UAE and Israel established diplomatic ties under the 2020 Abraham Accords, a deal brokered by the Trump administration to help normalize relations between Israel and other Middle Eastern states.
Reports of the export of Pakistani food items to the Israeli market drew a strong reaction from leading Pakistani cleric, Hafiz Tahir Ashraf, who also heads the Pakistan Ulema Council. Ashrafi demanded the government investigate how the goods reached Israel.
“Although this is an individual act, it must be investigated. [Whether] these goods have gone directly from Pakistan to Israel or from some other country, [rumors] are now being spread in the name of Pakistan,” Ashrafi said in a statement.
Benkhald, who hails from Karachi, was issued a Pakistani passport as a Jew in 2019. Through his social media posts, he often advocates trade and diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Israel.
At a press conference in Karachi this week, members of the Palestine Foundation Pakistan (PFP) raised objections as to how a Pakistani Jewish citizen was acting as an ambassador for Pakistan-Israel relations.
They described the export of Pakistani goods to Israel as a “deviation from the ideology of Pakistan and the ideals of Quaid-e-Azam (supreme leader) Muhammad Ali Jinnah.”
