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Friday, January 22, 2021

Pakistan's anti-Israel rally includes antisemitism



On Thursday, thousands of activists in Pakistan who belong to opposition Islamist parties, led by the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, held an "Israel Unacceptable" rally.

Speeches included explicit antisemitism. 

Chief of JUI-F, Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday asked President Joe Biden to revert the capital of Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. 

While he seemed semi-moderate for an extremist Muslim when he said that the recognition of Israel is unacceptable to the people of Pakistan without the establishment of a Palestinian state. At the same time, the rally welcomed a video address from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who would never recognize Israel.

Haniyeh said that Muslims will never recognize the Zionist state and called the Zionist state "illegal."

Mehmood Khan Achakzai, chief of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, said that Jews faced persecutions all across Europe and were expelled from Poland, England, Germany, and Spain,  but acted like their oppressors to Palestinians. He said that Jews inflicted bloodshed on Palestinians and expelled them from the holy land.

He added that Pashtuns respect all religions.