“Pakistan is like Israel, an ideological state. Take out the Judaism from Israel, and it will fall like a house of cards. Take Islam out of Pakistan and make it a secular state; it would collapse.”
This famous quote from Pakistan’s President Zia-ul-Haq in a 1981 interview with The Economist reveals the contours and contradictions that shape Pakistan’s relationship with Israel.
Pakistan has been a staunch opponent of Israel. The Muslim League, even before independence, had opposed the existence of a Jewish national home.