Israeli envoy labels Pakistan 'unreliable’, dismisses reports of rift between Trump-Netanyahu

In a sweeping assessment of global and regional security, Israel’s Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, has dismissed reports of a "wedge" between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, while labelling Pakistan an "unreliable" mediator and warning India that current Middle East hostilities are a “preview to a movie” of radicalism heading for South Asia.

In an interview with PTI, the envoy characterised the geopolitical landscape as a high-stakes chess match between "world champions of negotiation" and defended the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against what he termed a "machinery of reports" fuelled by international bias.

Ambassador Azar flatly rejected media reports suggesting a growing divide between Netanyahu and Trump following a supposedly heated phone call regarding military operations. “I think that a lot of people will be happy to be able to identify a wedge between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu... I think that we will have to wait a bit more,” Azar stated. He characterised such friction as “friendly tactical disagreements” and noted that the two countries are actually “working in sync,” marking the first time they have engaged in a “joint military operation”.

Regarding the broader US-Iran standoff, Azar described the two powers as “two world champions of negotiation” attempting to “outsmart one another”. While the Iranian regime has a “tradition of stalling for time,” Azar noted that Trump “wrote the book, The Art of the Deal,” and urged patience, stating that “at the end of the day, the cards will fall in place”.

Turning to South Asian dynamics, Azar dismissed the notion of Pakistan as a credible mediator, labelling the country “unreliable”. He warned that when mediators lean toward “terrorist entities,” the U.S. must exercise “special caution not to fall into traps” set by both the opposing side and the mediator.

Addressing the India angle, Azar issued a stark warning that radical groups are drawing “twisted inspiration” from the October 7 attacks. He alleged that the methodologies of hybrid warfare, such as using human shields are likely to see “copycats” in India's neighbourhood. (With inputs from PTI)