Pakistan Minister Calls Israel "Illegitimate" After Pact
A day after signing a mutual-defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Pakistan’s defence minister branded Israel “illegitimate” and called for a “united military front” of Muslim nations against it. The remarks were the first significant fallout from the Mecca agreement, which binds the three powers to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. Israel’s prime minister was reported to be weighing how to respond.
The comments, political rhetoric rather than policy, nonetheless captured the alarm the pact has stirred in Israel, coming as Mr Netanyahu faces elections and a widening regional war. The Mecca agreement unites Turkey’s large army, Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth and Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and Sunni states have cast it as a hedge against threats from both Iran and Israel. How Israel reads the pact — as a defensive bloc or a hostile alignment — will shape its next moves. The signatories insist it is not aimed at any one country. Watch whether more states join and how Israel responds.