Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif stated today that Israel is a threat to countries in the Middle East and called for a united front of Muslim countries against it, reports the Times of Israel.
“In the context of Israel, all Muslim countries must unite. I have no doubt about that. Israel is a product of the Balfour Declaration, established in the 1940s as an illegitimate state, and could pose a direct threat to any of the countries in the region,” Asif said.
He added that as long as the Palestinian issue is not permanently resolved, the Islamic world must remain united and oppose Israel.
Asif said that his strong opposition to Israel would not change even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defeated in this year’s elections, scheduled for October 27.
Just a day before Asif’s statement, Pakistan signed a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The British government, through the 1917 declaration, supported the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in the territory of Palestine, which from 1516 until the end of 1917 was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The Balfour Declaration laid the foundations for Israel’s independence three decades later.
Pakistan was established in a similar way, based on the British declaration of 1947, just one year before the founding of Israel.
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