The Roots & Routes of Pakistani Antsemitism

By Daphne Anson

Ever wondered why anti-Israel demonstrations in the West seem to be attended by disproportionately large numbers of people of Pakistani origin and descent?

Earlier this year, in California, Pakistani-born Toronto-based journalist Raheel Raza tells a Jewish audience of the fierce antisemitism that from the late 1970s onwards swept into Pakistan “from the sands of Arabia” and which has so infected Pakistani populations at home and abroad that the “tremendous Hate Fest” that is Al Quds Day sees Pakistani men, women and children bussed in to such events (as in Toronto, and, I may add, London) and which means that even in the remotest villages of rural Pakistan illiterate inhabitants who could not find Israel on a map are filled with hate and loathing.