Reading Pakistan from Tel Aviv: Islamabad and the Edges of Concern

If nations were not distinct and unique, the world would be a single large family devoid of border disputes, ethnic strife, and prolonged conflicts. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Israel, although exhibiting substantial divergence in modern-day approaches and politically contrasting in nature, orientation, and direction, are born of a similar foundation. 

Illustration by The Geostrata

Both Israel and Pakistan were created with the explicit purpose of securing a haven for the religious minorities. They were built around the same time, fixated on building a national identity with strong religious undertones. 

WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN?

Israel ascertains its deep-seated vitriolic views on Islamabad not simply on account of current geopolitical strains or scathing moves but rather from its uninterrupted arc of history.

Israel has, throughout history, faced persistent hostilities and prolonged conflict, with the Six-Day War marking the absolute point of no return- where Tel Aviv acted preemptively against the mounting existential threat from neighbouring Arab states. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s action in the current geopolitical realm is far from being a mere play in the power matrix but is seen rather as a  calculated culmination of the grand strategy to consolidate Israel as the main regional power in the Levant, a premise first conceived by the founder of the Likud party, Menachem Begin in 1981.

Begin was driven by the “never again” principle predicated on the memory of the Holocaust, that Israel would never allow any future existential threat to fully materialise. He propounded the infamous Begin doctrine which altered the fate of nations altogether and initiated a long lasting international crisis of the 21st century. 

In 1981, Begin proclaimed the basis for the doctrine as a means to prevent potential enemies of Israel in the Middle East from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

During the final decade of the Cold War, such an aggressive deterrence policy, willing to strike first rather than to counterattack, proved to be very daring and also successful. Far from being a marginal strategy, it got deeply embedded in its defence tactics so much so that it barred any other state in the region from potentially experimenting with nuclear strategic interests.

“A giant clock hung above our head and it was ticking” these words by Begin were recorded following the 1981 strike on the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad, Iraq, codenamed Operation Opera -Israel’s first anticipatory self-defense operation to prevent an adversary from acquiring nuclear weapons. Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon came under attack pursuant to this doctrine. Israel's past trajectories no longer circle back; all these roads lead up to Pakistan. 

PAKISTAN AND ISRAEL SITUATION 

The Pakistan Nuclear Weapons Program began in the early 1970s, spurred by regional tensions, particularly following India's nuclear test in 1974. Officially entering the "nuclear club" in 1998 when it conducted six nuclear tests, Pakistan joined a select group of nations wielding nuclear capabilities and somehow became the only “islamic state” to acquire nukes. 

But the curious case of Pakistan and its so-called “Islamic bomb” has dodged the Begin Doctrine so far. Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear warheads was largely driven by India's earlier procurement of nuclear capability. We will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own, as then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said. For the longest time, Pakistan's strategic objective remained India-centric and did not target or strike a nerve with the Jewish state of Israel.

IS PAKISTAN A GROWING THREAT ?

From the outset, Pakistan adopted a pro-Palestine rhetoric coupled with an aversion of Jewish state. However, even after acquiring nukes, and with their existing geographical, operational and “ally” network, it failed to elicit any consequential apprehension on their part mainly due to its cooperative rapport with the United States. 

However, with Tehran & Washington DC peace talks being unfolded this mid April, Islamabad has vividly come under the purview of Israel.

With Pakistan having very slim chances to actually meditate and settle talks between the two, Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif recent public airing of perspective and calling out israel "curse for humanity” and “cancerous” elicited an expectedly sharp rebuke from Israel.

Senior ministers in Tel Aviv have perceived this hate speech as “call for the extermination of Israel”, which inadvertently brings forth the memories of the “begin doctrine” as they further iterated that Israel will defend itself against the terrorists who pledge to destroy it. This puts Pakistan under Israel's close monitoring. 

Israel under Netanyahu has particularly put up their guards against Pakistan owing to his earlier catalogisation of existing potential threats to Israel “The first is called Iran, the second is called Pakistan, or more specifically, a Taliban takeover of Pakistan”. This places Pakistan in a position of strategic vulnerability. 

Thus, Israel's proactive steps towards safeguarding its interests and preserving sovereign prerogatives stand at odds with Pakistan's fervent and fanatical policy configuration which ambiguously centres around its nuclear supremacy in the ulama world. As Pakistan now wades offhandedly into the tense sensibilities of Israel, the haunting spectre of the Begin Doctrine clearly looms.

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BY YUVNA

TEAM GEOSTRATA

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