Senate deplores Israel’s plan to ally with India

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• Resolution passed against Netanyahu’s remarks about ‘hexagon of alliances’ in and around Middle East
• Condemns continued violations of Gaza truce deal, blatant disregard of international law by Tel Aviv

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks about a plan to ally with India and other countries to counter Muslim nations.

The resolution moved in the upper house of parliament by PPP senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan deplored the continued provocative steps and statements by the Israeli leadership that threatened the regional and international peace and stability, including the latest statement about forming “alliances” against Muslim nations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that his country “will create an entire system — essentially a kind of hexagon of alliances — around or within the Middle East”, Times of Israel reported. It added that he mentioned India, Greece, Cyprus, and “unnamed Arab, African and Asian countries” as part of the alliances.

“The intention here is to create an axis of countries that see reality, the challenges, and the goals in the same way, in contrast to the radical axes. Both the radical Shia axis, which we have hit very hard, and also the emerging axis — the radical Sunni axis,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

The Senate condemned any attempts by Israel to undermine the “sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of brotherly Islamic countries. It took strong exception to the “vile proclivity of the leadership of the Israeli occupying power towards diminishing the unity and integrity of Muslim Ummah on political and ideological grounds”.

The House condemned in the strongest possible terms the Israeli occupying power’s continued violations of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as well as its blatant disregard of international law, the UN Charter, relevant UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

It rejected any attempt by Israel to change the legal or historical status of the occupied Palestinian territory, including the status of the holy sites; enforce any new legal and administrative reality in the occupied territory, especially the occupied West Bank; expand its illegal settlement activities in the occupied territory, and encourage settler violence; or forcibly displace Palestinians from their land.

The Senate urged the international community to “end Israeli impunity and to hold it accountable for its crimes against humanity, as well as its provocative actions that pose a threat to all regional countries”.

It demanded full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories; increased, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza, including through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA); and an early start of the recovery and reconstruction process in Gaza.

Through the resolution, the Senate also rejected the Israeli announcement regarding the so-called Somaliland region of Somalia.

Karachi province

Among other issues, the contentious ‘Karachi province’ also echoed in the House when PPP parliamentary leader Sherry Rehman called the issue of Sindh’s division “unnecessary” and a “non-issue”.

She said, “The debate on the division of Sindh needs to move to a realistic close because there’s really no debate when it’s based on myth-making. There can be no change in any province’s borders without a 2/3 majority in the provincial assembly. That is the bottom line.

“It is unfortunate that some members of the federal cabinet from Sindh were even part of spewing toxic rhetoric that inflamed sentiments across the federation.”

She said the politics of “ethnic divisions” have no place in modern Pakistan, because that era of sponsored, spurious politics was over.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2026

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