Former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has firmly dismissed any possibility of Pakistan establishing ties with Israel, classifying it as an unrecognised apartheid state perpetuating genocide against the Palestinian people.
During the interview, prominent commentator Mario Nawfal pressed the former foreign minister on where Israel fits within Pakistan’s strategic framework, asking: “Do you look at Israel as a threat? …Would Israel fall in India’s, seen as a rival or is it an enemy? Where would Israel fit on that on that scope?”
In a comprehensive response, Bilawal outlined Pakistan’s foundational foreign policy principles regarding regimes practicing systemic segregation. He stated: “From the time that Pakistan was founded, it was part of our outlook on the world that we would not recognise any apartheid state.”
Drawing a parallel to the past, he noted that Pakistan initially refused to recognize both South Africa and Israel. While South Africa ended the apartheid, Israel has chosen to perpetuate one. He further noted: “One of them ended the apartheid and now we have great relationships with the country of South Africa. Israel has not. Israel continues to perpetuate its apartheid, continues to perpetuate genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Elaborating further on Tel Aviv’s geopolitical ambitions and the absolute prerequisite of Palestinian self-determination, Bilawal added: “It has an expansionist foreign policy agenda that constantly sees its desire to expand its borders within the Middle East around this concept of a Greater Israel. So, if that is Israel’s agenda, then it’ll be very difficult for it to find allies indeed within the Middle East or in the region in general.”
