ISLAMABAD: Amid reports of an exchange of goods between Pakistan and Israel, Pakistan strongly rejected the reports of trade relations with Israel and termed that such information was sheer propaganda.
The Foreign Office (FO) and the Ministry of Trade and Commerce denied on Sunday having made any trade with the middle-eastern nation.
The American Jewish Congress (AJC) had claimed that a bilateral trade occurred with the offloading of the first shipment carrying Pakistani-originated food products in Israel.
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Issuing a clarification over the purported trade, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Pakistan does not have diplomatic or trade relations with Israel. “There is no change in the policy,” she stressed.
She stated that the rumours about beginning of Pakistan-Israel trade are sheer propaganda after the press release of American Jewish Congress which was misrepresented.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said that the AJC’s press release was wrongly attributed as it does not make any mention of Pakistan’s official trade relations with Israel.
“Rumours about beginning of Pakistan-Israel trade are pure propaganda. We neither have nor do we intend to start trade relations with Israel,” the spokesperson said.
On March 30, the American Jewish Congress released a statement on “trade between the State of Israel and Pakistan” claiming that the first shipment from the country had been received in Israel.
“This week, the first shipment of Pakistan-origin food products was offloaded in Israel, in a transaction that involved Pakistani-Jewish businessman Fishel Benkhald, based in Pakistan’s business hub of Karachi, and three Israeli businessmen from Jerusalem and Haifa,” the statement read.
Fishel Benkhald is a Pakistani citizen from Sindh with a Jewish background who is a strong proponent of trade ties between Israel and Pakistan. He is engaged in the business of the Kosher food industry.
On March 28, Fishel claimed to have exported the first consignment of dates, dry fruit and spices from Pakistan to Israel via the UAE. He congratulated himself on being the first Pakistani to be able to export Pakistani products to Israel.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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