Pakistan's Defense Minister Denounces Israel as "Evil and a Curse on Humanity," Echoing Global Shift in Opinion

In one of the strongest diplomatic condemnations to emerge from a Muslim-majority nation in recent years, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has labeled Israel "evil and a curse on humanity," accusing the state of relentless violence against civilians across Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon. Speaking on social media platform X, Asif declared: "Israel kills innocent citizens, first in Gaza, then in Iran, and now in Lebanon," adding that bloodshed continues "without mercy." He went further, invoking historical grievances: "I pray that those who created this cancerous state on Palestinian land to rid themselves of European Jews burn in hell." As usual, Israeli officials rejecting his statement as anti-semitism, without refuting the alleged crimes and violation of shared moral norms Israel has been accused of. committing. 

The statement, issued amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon despite a U.S.-Iran ceasefire mediated by Pakistan, sparked an immediate rebuke from Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the remarks "provocative" and "unacceptable," particularly from a nation positioning itself as a neutral peace broker. Yet the exchange reflects more than a bilateral diplomatic spat—it signals a broader, accelerating transformation in how Israel is perceived across the Global South and increasingly among younger generations in the West.

Asif's comments did not emerge in isolation. They arrive at a moment when international opinion is undergoing a measurable and sustained shift. While Pakistan has long supported Palestinian statehood, the severity and public nature of this denunciation align with growing frustration among nations and civil societies over military practices that many argue violate core tenets of international humanitarian law.

Reports from United Nations investigators, human rights organizations, and independent media have documented patterns of conduct that fuel this global reassessment. These include allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees—including children; the weaponization of everyday communication devices in attacks affecting civilian populations; repeated strikes on hospitals, universities, places of worship, and cultural sites; and the targeting of individuals with no apparent direct role in hostilities, such as journalists, aid workers, and academics.

Nowhere is this recalibration more consequential than in the United States, Israel's closest ally. Recent polling from the Pew Research Center shows that negative views of Israel have risen sharply among Americans, particularly young people. Six-in-ten U.S. adults now hold an unfavorable opinion of Israel—a figure that has nearly doubled since 2022. Among adults under 50, unfavorable views are now the majority position across both political parties. For young Republicans under 50, disapproval has climbed to 57%; among young Democrats, half express no confidence whatsoever in Israeli leadership to act responsibly on the world stage.

This generational shift is not merely rhetorical. It is reshaping campus activism, influencing congressional races, and pressuring institutions to reconsider longstanding positions on military aid and diplomatic support. For many young Americans, the issue is framed not through the lens of traditional alliance politics, but through principles of human rights, accountability, and the universal application of 

Central to the global critique is the argument that certain military practices breach well-established legal norms. The Geneva Conventions explicitly protect medical facilities, educational institutions, and religious sites unless they are being used for military purposes—a determination requiring rigorous verification and advance warning. Similarly, international law prohibits attacks that cannot distinguish between combatants and civilians, as well as acts of sexual violence, which may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

When communication devices are turned into weapons in densely populated areas, or when detainees report systematic abuse, or when cultural heritage sites are reduced to rubble, the international legal community—and increasingly, the global public—asks: Are these isolated incidents, or part of a pattern that demands accountability?

Pakistan's statement is part of a wider diplomatic realignment. Spain recently condemned Israeli military operations in Lebanon and moved to reopen its embassy in Tehran, signaling a recalibration of European engagement in the region. Human rights organizations have called for targeted sanctions, arms embargoes, and trade measures to end impunity for violations of international law. Meanwhile, UN bodies continue to document allegations and urge independent investigations.

These developments suggest that the cost of perceived non-compliance with humanitarian norms is no longer confined to moral condemnation—it is beginning to carry tangible diplomatic and reputational consequences.

Asif's fiery rhetoric may reflect domestic political pressures, but its resonance abroad points to a deeper truth: public tolerance for actions perceived as violating shared moral and legal standards is eroding. For policymakers, the challenge is to navigate legitimate security concerns while upholding the principles that underpin the international order.

For a new generation of global citizens—whether in Lahore, London, or Los Angeles—the demand is increasingly clear: justice must not be selective, and the rules of war must apply to all. As public opinion continues to evolve, the international community faces a pivotal moment—one that will test its commitment to universal human rights and the rule of law in an age of asymmetric conflict and digital warfare.

Resources

Al Jazeera. (2026). Pakistan defense minister calls Israel "evil and a curse on humanity". https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/4/pakistan-defense-minister-israel-evil-curse-humanity

Pew Research Center. (2026). Negative views of Israel, Netanyahu continue to rise among Americans, especially young people. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/07/negative-views-of-israel-netanyahu-continue-to-rise-among-americans-especially-young-people/

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2025). "More than a human can bear": Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/more-human-can-bear-israels-systematic-use-sexual-reproductive-and-other

Associated Press. (2025). UN report accuses Israel of sexual violence against Palestinians. Netanyahu claims anti-Israel bias. https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-palestinians-sexual-abuse-human-rights-9cb6955b34a86631b30225fe23d5567f

Human Rights Watch. (2025). UN: End Impunity for Israeli Crimes Against Palestinians. https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/22/un-end-impunity-for-israeli-crimes-against-palestinians

Reuters. (2026). Spain condemns Israeli attacks on Lebanon, reopens Tehran embassy. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-condemns-israeli-attacks-lebanon-reopens-tehran-embassy-2026-04-09/

Amnesty International. (2024). Lebanon: Establish international investigation into deadly attacks using exploding portable devices. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/09/lebanon-establish-international-investigation-into-deadly-attacks-using-exploding-portable-devices/

United Nations. (2025). Pattern of Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals raises grave concerns about serious crimes under international law. https://palestine.un.org/en/286847-pattern-israeli-attacks-gaza-hospitals-raises-grave-concerns-about-serious-crimes-under

To Those Debating Verification in Front of Corpses Confirmed by Israel Itself A Palestinian resident of the West Bank called President Lee Jae-myung's retweet "God's response to our prayers." That single sentence most precisely reveals the essence of the debate unfolding in this country right now. What we're quarreling over isn't the president's SNS communication style. It's the tears bursting forth in a world where silence has become the norm, at the fact that someone has finally seen them. Israel's Foreign Ministry strongly condemned President Lee Jae-myung's remarks as "trivializing the massacre of Jews on the eve of the Holocaust." Representative Lee Jun-seok criticized sharing an unverified video as a reckless act that disregarded diplomatic weight. This is blatant sophistry. Representative Lee Jun-seok himself is the one who slipped up in his eagerness to find an excuse to attack. First, let's confirm the facts. The video shared by President Lee Jae-myung was filmed on September 19, 2024, in the West Bank town of Qabatiya, showing IDF soldiers hurling a Palestinian's body from the roof of a building. The BBC, Washington Post, and New York Times have confirmed it as fact, and John Kirby, the White House National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications under the Biden administration, publicly described it as "deeply disturbing" and an "unacceptable horrific act." Even Israeli military authorities have launched an investigation into the incident. Israel's Foreign Ministry claim that it's from a "notorious account spreading false information" doesn't erase even a single letter of the reality captured in the video. The "verification issue" pointed out by Representative Lee Jun-seok has as much legitimacy as an ant's fingernail. The initial sharing included an inaccurate description of "throwing a child while alive," which President Lee himself corrected within hours. But the essence remains unshaken. Whether it's a survivor or a corpse, a child or a fighter, hurling a Palestinian's body from a building rooftop violates the obligation to protect the dignity of the dead as explicitly stated in the Geneva Conventions—an infraction of international humanitarian law. There's an even more decisive fact. Even after President Lee completed his own correction, the criticism didn't stop. What does this prove? That the critics' real problem wasn't "verification," but the very fact that the leader of the Republic of Korea dared to question Israel's actions. Israel's Foreign Ministry rebuttal is even more absurd. They accuse President Lee of "not saying a word about terrorists." But this logic is an outdated shield. We can certainly condemn Hamas's terrorism too. Yet that fact cannot serve as a blanket pardon covering suspicions of IDF war crimes. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered provisional measures in January 2024 requiring Israel to prevent acts that could be considered genocide. The UN Commission of Inquiry concluded in September 2025 that four out of the five acts of genocide as defined by international law were perpetrated in this war. Amnesty International officially declared that blocking food and water constitutes genocide. This isn't President Lee Jae-myung's SNS statement. It's the official judgment of the international community. Israel's Foreign Ministry protest that comparing it to the Holocaust is blasphemous only ends up trivializing the Holocaust's world-historical tragedy themselves. Even within Israel, it's being refuted. - Omer Bartov, a world-renowned authority in Holocaust and genocide studies and an Israeli-American historian who holds the Brown University chair, defined Israel's Gaza operation as genocide and stated in May 2024 that the conclusion had become unavoidable from that point onward. - Amos Goldberg, professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, publicly declared that what's happening in Gaza is genocide and that acknowledging it was a painful process. - David Grossman, the Israeli winner of the Man Booker International Prize, finally used the word "genocide" himself after long refusing to do so. President Lee Jae-myung's comparison doesn't diminish the Holocaust. It questions who is ignoring the lessons of the Holocaust. I sincerely ask whether the Netanyahu regime has the qualification to call that question blasphemous. Representative Lee Jun-seok asks, "Will the same principle be applied to North Korea, China, and Russia?" This question pretends to demand consistency in principles but is actually a rhetorical device to block criticism of Israel at the source. If a head of state's remarks only gain legitimacy by addressing every human rights-violating country simultaneously, no leader in the world could ever say anything. Furthermore, the Republic of Korea is a nation that experienced forced recruitment into sexual slavery and forced labor, as well as civilian massacres, under Japanese imperialism's occupation. From the forge of that historical pain, our declaration not to turn a blind eye to the atrocities in Palestine isn't unprincipled bias. It's moral consistency drawn from the lessons of history. Primo Levi warned in his work *The Truce* that the real danger doesn't come from monstrous villains, but from ordinary people ready to believe and act without question, from functioning bureaucrats. In this country right now, the busiest voices aren't those worried about Israel's atrocities. They're the ones flustered by the fact that the president gave voice to those atrocities and now debating "diplomatic cleanup." It's a landscape that Levi's warning doesn't feel unfamiliar to. The Palestinian resident of the West Bank wrote, "All we wanted was to be noticed, to have our voices heard." They weren't asking for miracles or special favors. They just wanted their existence acknowledged as humans. When the president of the Republic of Korea finally listened to that voice, the first outcry from within us was worry over "national dignity" and "diplomatic interests." History will surely remember which is the more shameful. True national dignity begins when universal human rights take precedence over diplomatic calculations.

Quote

Israel Foreign Ministry

@IsraelMFA

·

19h

The remarks by the President of Korea, Lee Jae Myung, including the trivialization of the massacre of Jews on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, are unacceptable and warrant strong condemnation.