LAHORE: Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai on Thursday condemned Israel and reaffirmed her support for Palestinians in Gaza, after a backlash in her native Pakistan over a Broadway musical she co-produced with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, has been condemned by some for partnering with Clinton, an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas.
The musical, titled “Suffs,” depicts the American women’s suffrage campaign for the right to vote in the 20th century and has been playing in New York since last week.
“I want there to be no confusion about my support for the people of Gaza,” Yousafzai wrote on X, the former Twitter. “We do not need to see more dead bodies, bombed schools and starving children to understand that a ceasefire is urgent and necessary.”
She added: “I have and will continue to condemn the Israeli government for its violations of international law and war crimes.”
Pakistan has seen many fiercely emotional pro-Palestinian protests since the war in Gaza began last October.
Yousafzai’s “theatre collaboration with Hillary Clinton – who stands for America’s unequivocal support for genocide of Palestinians – is a huge blow to her credibility as a human rights activist,” popular Pakistani columnist Mehr Tarar wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.
“I consider it utterly tragic.”
Whilst Clinton has backed a military campaign to remove Hamas and rejected demands for a ceasefire, she has also explicitly called for protections for Palestinian civilians.
Yousafzai has publicly condemned the civilian casualties and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The New York Times reported the 26-year-old wore a red-and-black pin to the “Suffs” premier last Thursday, signifying her support for a ceasefire.
But author and academic Nida Kirmani said on X that Yousafzai’s decision to partner with Clinton was “maddening and heartbreaking at the same time. What an utter disappointment.”
The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas militants also abducted 250 people and Israel estimates 129 of them remain in Gaza, including 34 who the military says are dead.
Clinton served as America’s top diplomat during former president Barack Obama’s administration, which oversaw a campaign of drone strikes targeting Taliban militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan’s borderlands.
Yousafzai earned her Nobel Peace Prize after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban as she pushed for girls’ education as a teenager in 2012.
However, the drone war killed and maimed scores of civilians in Yousafzai’s home region, spurring more online criticism of the youngest Nobel Laureate, who earned the prize at 17.
Yousafzai is often viewed with suspicion in Pakistan, where critics accuse her of pushing a Western feminist and liberal political agenda on the conservative country.
Malala Yousafzai vows support for Gaza after backlash over Broadway musical
https://arab.news/63ntn
Malala Yousafzai vows support for Gaza after backlash over Broadway musical
- Yousafzai was criticized in Pakistan for co-producing a play with Hillary Clinton who supports Israel’s Gaza campaign
- The Nobel laureate says ‘we do not need to see more dead bodies’ to understand the urgency of a ceasefire in Gaza
Pakistan, US launch joint initiative to redevelop New York’s Roosevelt Hotel
- Manhattan property is one of Pakistan’s most valuable overseas assets that remains closed since 2020 due to losses
- Objective remains to secure maximum value for hotel, strengthen Pakistan-US economic ties, says Finance Division
Islamabad: Pakistan and the US have formally launched a strategic economic initiative to jointly redevelop the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, the Finance Division said on Thursday, as Islamabad aims to secure maximum value for the property in line with its privatization strategy.
The hotel, a century-old Manhattan property near Grand Central Terminal and Times Square, is one of Pakistan’s most valuable overseas assets and is owned by the state through the recently privatized Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Closed since 2020 due to losses, the hotel has been under review for years as successive governments have weighed whether to sell, lease or redevelop it while pursuing state-owned enterprise reforms linked to International Monetary Fund bailouts.
“The Governments of Pakistan and the United States have formally launched a strategic economic initiative, including collaboration with the US General Services Administration (GSA) regarding the operation, maintenance, renovation, and redevelopment of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York,” the Finance Division said.
Both sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Washington. The MoU was executed by GSA Administrator Edward C. Forst on behalf of the US and by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Pakistan’s behalf.
The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is in Washington to attend the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, and by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The Finance Division said the agreement establishes a structured, time-bound framework for joint evaluation of the technical, commercial and economic parameters of cooperation.
It said the agreement also reflects a shared commitment to transparent, disciplined and mutually beneficial progress of the transaction.
The Finance Division said that due to the hotel’s prime Manhattan location and the complexity of New York’s zoning and municipal processes, the institutional coordination aims to reduce execution risk, enhance regulatory clarity and maximize transaction value.
It said such frameworks are consistent with international practice in cross-border real estate and infrastructure projects.
“The objective remains to secure maximum value for this property in alignment with the government’s privatization strategy while strengthening Pakistan-United States economic ties,” it concluded.
Prime Minister Sharif’s aide on privatization, Muhammad Ali, last month announced that Islamabad plans to redevelop the Roosevelt Hotel into a high-rise building through a joint venture that could involve up to $5 billion in equity and debt financing.
Ali said the government had decided against an outright sale of the property after a detailed study conducted last year showed the site could support a significantly larger structure, potentially rising to 60 stories.
