Mufti Taqi Usmani, a former judge of Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court and a prominent Deobandi cleric, announced a fatwa after eighteen months of the Gaza conflict, declaring that “it is the duty of every adult Muslim to wage war against Israel.”

Following this fatwa, Fawad Chaudhry (Fawad Hussain), a former federal minister and senior leader of Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), publicly praised Mufti Taqi Usmani and offered to bear all travel expenses for individuals trained to cross into Gaza and fight alongside Hamas terrorists against Israel.

In the towns of Larkana and Mirpur Khas in Sindh province, angry crowds led by militants belonging to outfits such as Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) attacked American-owned Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlets. The mobs looted and set them on fire, falsely portraying KFC as an Israeli-owned business. In at least one reported incident, a daily-wage laborer was injured during such an attack.

Similarly, violent campaigns were launched against McDonald’s and PepsiCo, which were branded as “Israeli businesses.” Mobs even had their own definition of Pepsi—“Pay Every Penny Saved to Israel”—to incite anger, despite knowing that Pepsi is not an Israeli product.

Meanwhile, a member of the Sindh Bar Council in Karachi filed a petition in the Sindh High Court requesting the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The slogan “Jang rahey gi, jang rahey gi, Israel ki barbadi tak” (“The war will continue until the destruction of Israel”) has long been chanted in rallies across Pakistan, both by left- and right-wing groups protesting against Israel and the United States.

Recently, rumors circulated about the death of Dr. Adeeb Rizvi, a noted philanthropist and surgeon-urologist, and a former left-leaning student leader of the 1950s. He is widely revered in Pakistan, often compared to the late social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi. However, a member of a left-oriented WhatsApp group speculated that the rumor of Dr. Rizvi’s death might be the handiwork of a “Jewish lobby,” alleging that such forces had long been active against Pakistan.

The phrase “Jewish lobby” has become a notorious and recurring trope in Pakistani media and political discourse. For many national crises and internal problems, blame is often placed either on India or on an alleged “Jewish lobby,” despite lacking evidence of its existence in Pakistan. More recently, Israel has also been blamed for unrest in Balochistan province, where Baloch separatists have been engaged in a prolonged and largely underreported conflict with Pakistan’s military.

Ironically, most Pakistanis have rarely seen or encountered a Jew in their lives.

In one of the most tragic examples of antisemitic violence, a terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi. Pearl, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and held hostage before being killed. A prominent Pakistani television anchor, Kamran Khan, claimed on his show that Pearl was Jewish and mentioned that a street in Tel Aviv was named after his grandfather.

However, French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy, in his book Who Killed Daniel Pearl?, argued that Pearl’s murder was linked to suspicions within Pakistan’s Military establishment and its most fearsome Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), which suspected he was investigating the country’s nuclear program.

In response to this tragedy, the Pearl family chose compassion over revenge. They established the Daniel Pearl Foundation and created a scholarship fund for young Pakistani journalists selected for the US Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship. Among the foundation’s directors were Abdul Sattar Edhi and former US President Bill Clinton. Many young Pakistani journalists benefited from this initiative.

The roots of antisemitism in societies such as Pakistan are often traced by local clerics to a particular Qur’anic verse which they interpret as stating that “Jews and Christians are not your (Muslims’) friends.” Over time, such interpretations are widely debated by and also dismissed as misinterpretation by a section of Muslim scholars.

Politically, antisemitism in South Asia can be traced to the period around the Second World War and its aftermath, including the backdrop of the Holocaust. At that time, Indian nationalists were divided. Some extremist elements, rather than condemning Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, absorbed antisemitic propaganda. Subhas Chandra Bose aligned himself with Japan in pursuit of independence from British rule. In certain political and religious circles, antisemitic narratives found sympathy instead condemning the Holocaust.

In Sindh province during undivided British India, a Chief Secretary reported to the government that at a meeting of the All-India Muslim League in Karachi’s Katrak Hall, one speaker equated the Hindus of Sindh with the Jews of Germany and ominously remarked that a similar fate awaited them. Although the report did not name the speaker, the principal figures present reportedly included Shaikh Abdul Majeed Sindhi and G. M. Syed. The latter would later table the Pakistan Resolution in the Sindh Assembly but eventually part ways with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and later known to be the proponent for a separatist movement for Sindhudesh.

On August 14, 1947, Pakistan emerged as an independent state based on the Two-Nation Theory. The partition of India triggered a massive exodus of Hindus and Sikhs from Sindh and other regions, accompanied by violence and massacres.

The following year, on May 14, 1948, Israel declared independence. Pakistan has often described itself and Israel as two states created on the basis of religion. Yet Pakistani passports explicitly state as valid for all countries “except Israel,” even as Israel is frequently labeled an “apartheid state” in Pakistani political discourse.

Ironically, at the United Nations, Pakistan opposed recognition of Israel despite its Permanent Representative, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, belonging to the Ahmadi community. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community maintains a long-standing center in Haifa. In Pakistan, however, Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims by the National Assembly in 1974 during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Since then, Ahmadis have faced systemic persecution, legal discrimination, and violence. Pakistani citizens applying for passports or national identity documents are required to sign declarations denouncing Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement.

After Pakistan’s creation, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, frequently visited the new state. Pakistan’s political alignment increasingly tilted toward Arab causes. Zia-ul-Haq, later military ruler of Pakistan, had earlier served in Jordan and was believed by many to have assisted King Hussein during the Black September conflict with Palestinian militants. Zia eventually overthrew and executed elected prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

The Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1956, 1967, and 1973 deeply influenced Pakistani society. During the Suez Crisis, Pakistani students demonstrated in support of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, antisemitic rhetoric intensified. Bhutto, then foreign minister, reportedly declared  “we pluck out the other eye of Moshe Dayan,” the Israeli defense minister. Posters and doctored images circulated widely.

The 1973 war further solidified Pakistan’s alignment with Arab states. Pakistan provided military assistance to Syria under Hafez al-Assad. In 1974, Bhutto hosted the Islamic Summit in Lahore, attended by leaders including Kimg Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Lahore’s cricket stadium was renamed Gaddafi Stadium in honor of the Libyan leader.

Arab nationalist literature flourished in Pakistan during these decades. Works by Palestinian intellectual Edward Said and poets such as Mahmoud Darwish were translated and widely read. At the same time, the small Jewish community in Karachi largely emigrated to Israel after a synagogue was attacked during the 1967 war.

Yet there were voices of dissent. Sindhi literary giant Shaikh Ayaz introduced readers to Israeli author Isaac Bashevis Singer and wrote moving poetry about the Holocaust and Anne Frank. His writings encouraged a more empathetic understanding among Sindhi readers.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 added a new ideological dimension. Inspired by Ayatollahs, Shia political activism in Pakistan increasingly incorporated slogans such as “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Iranian-backed sectarian organizations emerged, contributing to internal violence.

In cultural life, anti-Israel sentiment often blended with conspiracy theories, including claims of global Jewish control. The belief that Israel survives solely due to American support became common rhetoric across left and right political spectrum.

Despite this entrenched hostility, there have been individuals seeking dialogue. Sindhi Journalist Imtiaz Mir, who visited Israel and hosted Israeli commentators on his television program, was reportedly attacked and later died from gunshot wounds in Karachi after receiving threats by an Iranian terrorist group.

Pakistan’s engagement with the Palestinian cause has included scholarships for Palestinian students, support for the Palestine Liberation Organization, and solidarity movements across campuses and political parties.

Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz lived in Beirut in self-exile, editing the magazine Lotus and writing poetry inspired by Palestine and the Lebanese civil war, including his collection Sar-e-Wadi-e-Sina.

For many Pakistanis, Israel remains an abstraction—few have ever met a Jew. Yet attitudes are often intense and emotionally charged.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran under the Ayatollahs set a new tone of antisemitism and anti-Israelism in Pakistan, particularly among segments of Shia youth and within parts of the Shia community more broadly. During the mourning processions of Ashura—the ten days of lamentation commemorating Imam Hussain and his companions at Karbala—some mourners began chanting slogans such as “Marg bar America” (“Death to America”), “Marg bar Israel” (“Death to Israel”), and “Jang rahegi, Israel ki barbadi tak” (“The war will continue until the destruction of Israel”). At the culmination of these processions, clerics would often deliver fiery speeches condemning Israel and the United States.

Iran, under the Ayatollahs, was widely believed to have trained and funded Pakistani Shia militant and sectarian organizations such as Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan and Imamia Students Organization (ISO), groups that were associated with sectarian violence and bloodshed within Pakistan.

Across both left- and right-leaning circles in Pakistan, a common belief persists that the United States sustains Israel through military and economic support, and that without American backing, a “tiny” Israel could not remain powerful. Yet, during my visits to Israel, I encountered a different perspective. In a touch of irony, I saw a T-shirt in Jerusalem—sold in a gift shop owned by an Iranian Jew—bearing the slogan: “Don’t worry, America, Israel is on your back.”

I have visited Israel twice, in 2024 and 2025, and written my reflections in the form of a travelogue. Following these visits, several friends—individuals regarded as enlightened figures within Pakistani literary and intellectual circles—socially distanced themselves from me, ending communication simply because I had traveled to Israel and written about my experiences there. Ironically, some of them are themselves widely read in Israel.

I do not consider their estrangement a loss. In Israel, I found friends and communities who were kind, caring, and welcoming. I encountered a society far more diverse and humane than the image often portrayed in my own country—a community and a nation that, to me, reflected not hatred, but warmth and human connection. As a senior most Pakistani journalist Altaf Hassan  Qureshi, known for his rightist leaning, had written after return from his visit to Israel, “streams of love flow in Israel.”

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)