Khawaja Asif makes nuclear threat against Israel over fake news
Asif's outburst came in response to a fake news article published on awdnews.com.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday threatened Israel of a nuclear attack while responding to a fake news, which claimed that Israel had warned Pakistan against intervening in Syria.
In a bizarre move the minister tweeted:
Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh.Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too AH
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) December 23, 2016
Asif’s outburst came in response to a fake news article published on awdnews.com titled, “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.”
The story doesn’t mention Israel’s current defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and instead quotes a former minister, Moshe Yaalon, who resigned in May.
In reply to Khawaja Asif’s tweet, Israel’s Defence Ministry denied the report and tweeted for clarification.
@KhawajaMAsif The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said
— Ministry of Defense (@Israel_MOD) December 24, 2016
@KhawajaMAsif reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false
— Ministry of Defense (@Israel_MOD) December 24, 2016
According to fact checking website snopes.com, AWD has a record of promoting conspiracy theories and fake news.
Previously, it claimed that King Abdullah of Jordan had killed his wife Queen Rania whereas she is alive and well.
It also maintained that the CIA tried to assassinate Trump and Putin has been murdered.
Israel has a policy of ambiguity in relation to its nuclear arsenal, neither confirming nor denying its existence, but is widely believed to be an atomic power.
Pakistan, who conducted its first nuclear test in 1998, has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
Asif was widely mocked for his blunder.
"Our nuclear program is too serious a business to be left to Twitter-addicted politicians", said prominent TV journalist Nusrat Javeed.
There is a rising tide of fake articles being widely shared on social media.
Last week Google said it was working to refine its algorithm to weed out "non-authoritative" information after a British news report showed a Holocaust denial website was the top result when users asked "Did the Holocaust happen?"
-- with inputs from AFP
