ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani Jewish citizen has reportedly been allowed to travel to Israel by the government.
Fishel Benkhald, a resident of Karachi on Wednesday said that he has been allowed to visit his religious places in Israel on Pakistani passport by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
https://twitter.com/Jew_Pakistani/status/1088013736902832129
In a series of tweets, the 31-year-old said that he received a call from the Foreign Office, telling him that he can visit Jerusalem on a Pakistani passport.
“I will now apply for a visa and wait for Israel’s approval to visit Jerusalem Israel in April,” he added.
Benkhald said that he can apply for a Palestinian visa to visit their side of the territory and from there he can visit Israel. Another option is that he can directly apply for an Israeli visa as the country does not limit any visit from Pakistan.
Dubbed as “Pakistan’s last Jew,” Benkhald, reportedly applied for permission through MoFA’s on October, 28, three days after an Israeli journalist, Avi Scharf, claimed that a plane flown from Tel Aviv landed in Islamabad, although the government dismissed these claims.
Pakistan has not recognized the status of Israel and both the countries have no diplomatic relations; the residents of Pakistan cannot travel to Israel as it is clearly mentioned in their green passports.
Pakistan and Israel came closer only in 2005 when the then Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Qureshi held dialogue with Israeli counterpart, Silvan Shalom in 2005 in Turkey.
There are around 700-800 Jews left in Pakistan but they mostly hide their religious beliefs because of fears of persecution.
However, the Foreign Office is yet to comment on the matter.
Pakistan’s last Jew?
Often referred to as Pakistan’s last surviving Jew, Fishel Benkhald originally registered as a Muslim, In March 2017 was allowed by the interior ministry to change his religion from Islam to Judaism.
Fischel – born Faisal Benkhald – said that he was born in Karachi to a Jewish mother and Muslim father, the fourth of five children. Fischel claimed he grew up reciting blessings over Shabbat candles, cooking the unleavened bread known as challah every Friday and watching his mother prepare kosher dishes. Unlike his siblings, Benkhald felt a strong pull to his Jewish ancestry.
However, Mohammad Iqbal, who claims to be Fischel’s brother and lives in Saudi Arabia, had reached out to Daily Pakistan and have lambasted his claims as a ticket to “foreign financial aids and asylum in western countries.”
“I’m his elder brother working in Saudi Arabia, would like to let you know that he is 100% lying, “Alhamdulillah” our parents both (Mother and Father) were Muslims and they together performed Hajj before their death. Our father Mohammad Khalid Pervez and our Mother Naseem Akhter lived in KSA for almost more than 10 years,” Iqbal said in his email to Daily Pakistan.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/pakistans-last-jew-not-a-jew-at-all-claims-brother/
“My mother’s father was a Rajput Punjabi and her mother was a Syed Muslim, she never migrated from Iran like Faisal says. Can he [Faisal] explain how Saudi Government allows a Jewish woman to performed Haj or letting her go into Makkah or Medina Mosques?”
Faisal Benkhald’s three older brothers have prepared two notarized documents that call him “insane and in need of mental treatment” and assert that their mother has no Jewish background nor practiced any kind of Judaism.
