Strange move by Foreign Office, word Israel removed from condemnation statement

02 August, 2024 16:35

Shiite News: The removal of the name of “Israel” in the statement issued by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry on the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the martyred head of the Palestinian resistance organization “Hamas” in Tehran, has come under criticism.
Ismail Haniyeh was targeted by Israel in Iran on the night of July 31, in which he was martyred.
On the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamic scholars openly condemned this action and criticized Israel, but some felt comfortable not mentioning Israel. However, the most unique move was done by the Pakistani government.
A press release was issued on July 31, 2024 on the official “X” account of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemning the killing of Ismail Haniya in Tehran, but the press release was quickly deleted and republished with one word change, which caught the attention of social media users.

An initial press release issued by the Foreign Office said that Pakistan strongly condemns the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political wing of Hamas, in Tehran. We express our condolences to Ismail Haniyeh’s family and the Palestinian people.
We are shocked to see that this cruel act was done when the swearing-in ceremony of the President of Iran was held, which was attended by many foreign dignitaries including the Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Pakistan expresses deep concern over the growing Israeli aggression in the region. The latest action is a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region that undermines peace efforts.
A few hours after deleting this press release, in the new press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the text remained the same, but only one word was deleted, which changed the entire text.
In the new press release, the word “Israel” was removed and only “aggression” was used.
Simultaneous screenshots of the deleted press release and the new press release are going viral on social media, seeing strong reactions from X users.
Expressing anger, one user wrote that “Shame, Pakistan has been brought to a point where they cannot even condemn aggression.”
Another user wrote that “This state has become a puppet of the Zionists, may God have mercy on this country and its people.”
Another ‘X’ user wrote that ‘this narrative is as weak as our democracy’.
While another user asked, “Why was the name of Israel deleted?”
A post from the official X account of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was also released in this criticism and the change was described as shameful.
The post said that the puppet governments of the N-League and the People’s Party excluded Israel from their statement condemning the death of Ismail Haniyeh.
In the post, the PTI demanded that the puppet government stand with Palestine as per the will of the people of Pakistan.
When asked by a journalist during a press briefing in this regard, the spokesperson of the Foreign Office replied that our public statements are in line with the developments at the international level, especially in cases where the developments are happening at a fast pace. And new information is coming. This is a general statement that I wanted to make.
She further said that regarding the assassination of the head of the political bureau of Hamas in Iran yesterday, I gave a comprehensive statement on the incident.

We have condemned the killing of Ismail Haniya. In our statement, we have expressed our condolences to his family and the Palestinian people.

5:29 PM March 4, 2026
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