Did Taliban really offer to fight Israel? A statement purportedly from the Afghan Taliban movement began making the rounds on social media hours after the largest attack on Israel in decades was launched by the Palestinian liberation movement Hamas.
This statement claims that the Taliban requested safe passage to Jerusalem so they could fight the Israeli Army from the Muslim nations bordering Palestine and Israel.
The statement has been widely reported in both Urdu and English, and it was prominently featured in Israeli newspapers.
Israel National News reported, “Sunday 3:50 AM: The Taliban terror organization, which controls Afghanistan, has reportedly asked its neighbors for passage so it could join Hamas in its attack on Israel.”
Did Taliban really offer to fight Israel?
However, a fact-check shows the statement attributed to the Taliban was fake.
Reacting to the fresh wave of violence in Palestine, Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement saying, “Afghanistan has been closely monitoring the recent events in the Gaza Strip and considers such events to be the result of the violation of the rights of the oppressed Palestinian nation by the Israeli Zionists and repeated insults and disrespect to Muslim holy places.”
The statement reads, “Any kind of defence and resistance of the Palestinian people for the freedom of their land and holy places is their legitimate right.”
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan declares its support for the legitimate, historical and legal right of the Palestinian people to have a permanent country in the historical Palestinian land and calls upon the Islamic countries, The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the international community and especially the influential countries in the region to stop the violence of the Israeli occupying forces.”
Also read: Israeli death toll rises to 40: What is Hamas?
On the other hand, the Arab League Council’s emergency meeting at the ministerial level was requested by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates through its permanent delegation.
Pakistan reaffirmed its stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict and extended support for Palestine becoming a sovereign nation with East Jerusalem as its capital.
According to President Arif Alvi, making progress toward peace requires denouncing Israel’s infringement of Palestinian rights and brutal treatment of its citizens.
