A spokesperson for Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar on Saturdaydismissed reports of trade between Pakistan and Israel as “sheerpropaganda.”
This statement was made in response to claims made by the American JewishCongress that a shipment of Pakistani food products had been delivered toIsrael by Pakistani-Jewish businessman Fishel Benkhald. Benkhald shared avideo on Twitter of the goods he had “exported” to Israel, including dates,dried fruit, and spices.
However, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister denies any official trade relationswith Israel and has stated that the transaction was not supported by thePakistani government. Pakistan does not recognize Israel as a state andsupports the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
According to the spokesperson, Benkhald sent the food samples tobusinessmen in Jerusalem and Haifa in a “personal capacity,” with noinvolvement from the Pakistani government or official channels. Thespokesperson also noted that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recentlyreduced tariffs on goods traded with Israel, benefiting traders from theUAE to Israel.
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The UAE and Israel established diplomatic relations in 2020 under theAbraham Accords, brokered by the Trump administration to normalizerelations between Israel and other Middle Eastern states.
