Indian-born Swedish academic and political analyst Ashok Swain has said that Israel now sees Pakistan as the “main challenger” to its plans for the region.
“After Netanyahu accused of Pakistani bots for misinformation about Israel, Lindsey Graham vents anger against other alleged Pakistan sheltering of Iranian military aircraft. Israel now sees Pakistan as its main challenger to its plan in the region [sic],” he wrote in a post on X, sharing a video of Lindsey Olin Graham, the senior United States (US) senator from South Carolina.
Although Swain did not mention any specific plan, officials in Tel Aviv have in recent months publicly stated their agenda focused on projecting Israel as a central geopolitical, economic and security anchor connecting Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The strategy, they say, is built on countering Iranian influence, forging economic and infrastructural ties with Gulf Arab states, and establishing direct administrative control over contested territories.
The video shared by Swain showed Graham, a long-time proponent of the US-Israel alliance and one of President Donald Trump’s closest Republican allies on foreign policy, questioning whether Pakistan could remain a credible intermediary after a CBS News report alleged Iranian military aircraft had been moved to Pakistani airbases during the recent Iran-Israel-US conflict to shield them from potential American strikes.
“I don’t trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them,” Graham said during a Senate hearing, adding that if the reports were true, “maybe somebody else should mediate”.
While the report was rubbished by Pakistan as “misleading and sensationalised”, Trump doubled down in rejecting any impact on Islamabad’s efforts to secure peace between Washington and Tehran.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked whether he was reconsidering Pakistan’s role in the talks. “No, they’re great,” the president said.
“I think they’re great. The Pakistanis have been great. The field marshal [Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir] and the Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan [Shehbaz Sharif] have been absolutely great,” he added.
