Fake news prompts Pakistani minister's threat to send real nukes to Israel

Pakistan’s defence minister threatened Israel that his country could use nuclear weapons after a fake news report that his Israeli counterpart had threatened “nuclear retaliation” for Islamabad’s role in Syria against ISIS

Khawaja Muhammad Asif. Pic/AFP

New York: Pakistan’s defence minister threatened Israel that his country could use nuclear weapons after a fake news report that his Israeli counterpart had threatened “nuclear retaliation” for Islamabad’s role in Syria against ISIS.

A report in the New York Times said a fake news story prompted Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif to threaten to go nuclear. In a post on Twitter, Asif lashed at Israel after a false report, which the minister apparently believed, that Israel had threatened Pakistan with nuclear weapons. “Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh (sic),” the minister wrote on his official Twitter account. “Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.”

The NYT report said Asif appeared to be reacting to the fake news article published on awdnews.com, which was titled ‘Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops to Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.’ The fake story about Israel even misidentified the country’s defence minister, attributing quotes to a former minister, Moshe Yaalon. The Israeli Defence Ministry responded on Twitter to say the report was fictitious.

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