Pakistan calls for declaring Netanyahu a 'terrorist' and boycotting companies supporting Israel

Islamabad has called on the world to declare Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "terrorist" and boycott companies that support Israel, according to a news conference held by Rana Sanaullah, the Pakistani prime minister's political adviser, on Saturday.

Rana Sanaullah said Islamabad had “formed a committee to identify and boycott companies and products in Pakistan that may directly or indirectly help Israel or its forces commit war crimes against the Palestinians,” adding: “We will not only boycott Israel, but we will boycott all products associated with Israel and companies that are directly or indirectly involved in or assisting in the atrocities (in Gaza).”

The move came after an agreement between the government and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party. The TLP organised a march and sit-in in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, which ended late on Friday night after the agreement was announced.

The agreement calls on the authorities to provide more humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, and ban all products from companies that support Israel. Islamabad also urged the world to declare Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "terrorist," saying it considers him such.

The agreement stated that "Netanyahu is responsible for the atrocities committed by Israeli forces in Palestine, and we consider him a terrorist, and we demand that the international community declare him as such."

Alongside representatives of the "Labbaik" movement, Sanallah told reporters that "Israel is a terrorist state, and Netanyahu committed war crimes," stressing that his country "will use all possible means to help the Palestinians, and condemn Israel as a terrorist state."

He explained that "Labbaik and the government also agreed to accelerate efforts to provide 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, including food, medicine and other materials." Sanallah called on the world, especially the global Muslim community, to hold Netanyahu accountable and bring him to justice.

He stated that his country is "also ready to transfer the wounded Palestinians to Pakistan in case the Palestinian Authority makes any such arrangements for their treatment." Sanallah concluded his speech by saying that "our schools and hospitals are open to provide educational and medical facilities to the innocent Palestinians."

Earlier in July, Pakistan announced that it would provide scholarships to Palestinian medical students from Gaza to pursue their education in the South Asian country. The Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement at the time that Palestinian students from Gaza would soon be enrolled in medical colleges in Pakistan in batches of 20 to 30 students.

With full American support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, resulting in more than 128,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children.