Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Pakistan

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Pakistan: the vanished Jewish community of Karachi, a state that does not recognise the Israeli state, secret and public contacts, Pegasus targeting of Imran Khan, and Israeli-made drones used against it by India

Pakistan once had a Jewish community of about 2,500 in Karachi, most of whom left after 1948; its synagogue was destroyed in 1988.[1] Pakistan does not recognise "Israel". Its foreign minister held the first public meeting with an Israeli counterpart in Istanbul in 2005, and acknowledged that secret contacts had gone on "for decades".[2] In 2021 a number used by the prime minister, Imran Khan, appeared in the leaked Pegasus Project data.[3] In May 2025 Pakistan's military said it had shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones launched by India.[4]

Jewish community and religious life

According to a paper by the researcher Kalmatti reported in Dawn, Karachi's Jews came mostly from Maharashtra. In 1893 they built the Magain Shalome synagogue near Ranchhor Line; a senior community member, Solomon David, who held municipal posts, was instrumental in founding it. Karachi had 482 Jews in 1901 and about 2,500 at partition. Many migrated to "Israel" after 1948, and most of the rest left after the Arab–Israeli war. In 1988 the synagogue was burnt and demolished by "religious zealots"; Madiha Plaza now stands on the site.[1] The World Jewish Congress has no community page for Pakistan, and no Jewish communal organisation in Pakistan today was found.

How far is it Zionist? No organised community remains. Dawn reports that much of the community emigrated to "Israel" from 1948.[1]

Chabad

Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement

There is no Chabad Bot page for Pakistan.

Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomacy

Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with "Israel", and the Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of relations does not include it.[5] On 1 September 2005, after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, met the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, in Istanbul. Kasuri said Pakistan had "decided to engage with Israel"; Shalom called it "a historic meeting" and praised President Pervez Musharraf's "courage".[6] Kasuri said the meeting did not mean recognition, and admitted the next day that secret contacts between the two countries "have been going on for decades". Musharraf said recognition would follow only the creation of a Palestinian state.[2]

In May 2022 a group of Pakistani-Americans visited "Israel" and was received by President Isaac Herzog, who called it "an amazing experience" and attributed it to the Abraham Accords. The former prime minister Imran Khan accused the new government of being "tasked with recognising Israel".[7] The foreign ministry said no delegation from Pakistan had visited "Israel",[8] and the information minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, announced that a state television anchor who had been part of the delegation had been dismissed; Dawn identified the journalist Ahmed Quraishi, who works for the state broadcaster, as a member of the group.[9]

Surveillance: Pegasus

The Guardian reported in July 2021 that Imran Khan was among the heads of government listed in the leaked Pegasus Project data of numbers selected by government clients of the Israeli NSO Group; the appearance of a number did not mean that a hack had been attempted. Neither India nor Pakistan commented specifically on claims that Delhi may have selected Khan.[3] Pakistan's information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, said the government was investigating whether a number once used by Khan had been targeted.[10]

Israeli weapons in the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict

On 8 May 2025, during fighting that followed the killing of tourists at Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, Pakistan's military media wing (ISPR) said it had shot down "25 Israeli-made Harop drones" launched by India, including over Lahore and Karachi.[4][11] The Harop loitering munition is made by Israel Aerospace Industries.[11] According to SIPRI, India ordered 50 Harops in 2009.[12] SIPRI records no Israeli arms transfers to Pakistan.[12]

Trade

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not list Pakistan separately in its trade-by-country table.[13]

Migration and aliyah

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics counts immigrants born in Pakistan together with those born in India and Sri Lanka, so no separate figure is available.[14]

Political interference

UN voting

Pakistan voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[15]

Jeffrey Epstein

Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files include the following references to Pakistan:

  • Polio and Imran Khan, 2013. In June 2013 Terje Rød-Larsen forwarded to Epstein messages from Nasra Hassan of the International Peace Institute (IPI) about the eradication of polio in Pakistan. Hassan complained that a much-publicised letter from Bill Gates to Imran Khan, "a few days after the US droned the No. 2 Pak Taliban leader", would "harden the Pak Taliban's position" and might jeopardise a "very discreet and very confidential outreach". Epstein forwarded it to Boris Nikolic, who "sent it to Bill".[16] Two days later Rød-Larsen forwarded updated "Talking Points Polio for Paris", noting that Khan's secretariat had confirmed receiving the letter.[17]
  • In February 2015 Rød-Larsen forwarded to Epstein an IPI report on two polio-related attacks in Pakistan, including one in Zhob, Balochistan, with the request "plz pass on to Bill Gates".[18]
  • In May 2019 Epstein told Steve Bannon that an emissary of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi had said that Modi's "main enemy is CHINA! and their proxy in the region pakistan".[19]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Peerzada Salman, Role of Jews in Karachi's uplift highlighted Dawn, 3 November 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pakistan/Israel: Foreign Ministers Hold Landmark Meeting In Istanbul Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2 September 2005.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Emmanuel Macron identified in leaked Pegasus project data The Guardian, 20 July 2021.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 25 Israeli-made drones used by India in attempt to attack Pakistan, all shot down: ISPR Dawn, 8 May 2025.
  5. ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011 (Israeli government-side).
  6. ↑ Pakistan, Israel open talks Al Jazeera, 1 September 2005.
  7. ↑ Imran says rulers 'tasked with recognising Israel' Dawn, 30 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Khan says govt 'to recognise Israel', Israel's president praises Pakistani delegation The Current, 30 May 2022.
  9. ↑ PTV anchor part of delegation to Israel terminated: Marriyum Dawn, 30 May 2022.
  10. ↑ Pegasus snooping: Pakistan probes whether PM Khan's phone hacked Al Jazeera, 20 July 2021.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Have India and Pakistan started a drone war? Al Jazeera, 8 May 2025.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy) (Israeli government-side).
  14. ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Statistical Abstract of Israel 2024, Table 2.55: Immigrants, by period of immigration, country of birth and last country of residence CBS, 2024 (Israeli government-side).
  15. ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).
  16. ↑ Email thread between Jeffrey Epstein, Terje Rød-Larsen and Boris Nikolic, "Re: Fw: urgent, hope can be salvaged", 7 June 2013, EFTA00962453, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  17. ↑ Email from Terje Rød-Larsen to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fw: updated Talking Points Polio for Paris 10 June 2013", 9 June 2013, EFTA00962574, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  18. ↑ Email from Terje Rød-Larsen to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Urgent, Conti, plz pass on to Bill Gates", 19 February 2015, EFTA00864113, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  19. ↑ iMessage exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon, 23–24 May 2019, EFTA01615873, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 10, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
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