Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been accused of propagating anti-semitic tropes throughout an interview with CNN.
During a section on Israel-Palestine battle, Qureshi instructed CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga, who’s Jewish herself, that Israel “controls the media” and has “deep pockets”. “Israel is losing out,” Qureshi mentioned. “They’re losing the media war, despite their connections…The tide is turning,” he added.
When Golodryga requested him to make clear what he meant, Qureshi responded that the nation had “deep pockets”. A visibly perturbed Golodryga requested, “What does that mean?”
OMG, it is a must-see: Discussing Israel’s actions in Gaza, Pakistani FM mentioned Israel has “deep pockets” and “they control media,” prompting a formidable pushback from CNN’s @biannagolodryga 👇 pic.twitter.com/BuxqtsDpo1
— Noa Landau נעה לנדאו (@noa_landau) May 20, 2021
“They’re very influential people,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister replied. “I mean, they control media.” When Golodryga accused Qureshi of constructing an anti-semitic comment, he retorted: “Well, you see, the point is, they have a lot of influence, and they get a lot of coverage.”
He went on to talk about the continued battle within the Gaza Strip for a couple of minute, earlier than the CNN anchor pushed him to handle his earlier feedback. “I will not justify any rocket attacks…and I cannot condone the aerial bombardment that is taking place,” Qureshi mentioned, describing Israel’s assault on Hamas as “genocide”, “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes”.
The heated seven-minute change was aired simply shortly after Qureshi spoke at a United Nations Security Council session earlier within the day. In a brief clip of the interview shared by CNN, Qureshi claimed that the accountability to cease the violence within the area lay with Israel. Hours later, Egypt was in a position to dealer a truce between Israel and Hamas after 11 days of preventing.
“I had planned to speak with Pakistan’s foreign minister about paths towards a peaceful resolution between Israel and Hamas. Instead, he began the interview by invoking an anti-Semitic slur,” Golodryga tweeted after the interview.
The ceasefire was on account of take impact at round 2 am on Friday, simply over three hours after the choice was introduced.