Pakistan reacts to fake news nuclear ‘threat’ from Israel

PAKISTAN’S defence minister has threatened to retaliate in kind to any Israeli nuclear strike after apparently being tricked by a fake news site into a confrontation on social media.

Khawaja Asif was responding to an invented story published online by AWD News, which was attributed to Min Yaalon, the former Israel defence minister. It read: “If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.”

Mr Asif tweeted: “Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh (Islamic State). Israel forgets Pakistan is a nuclear state too.”

His missive prompted a clarification from Israel’s defence ministry, which responded to him: “@KhawajaMAsif The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said,” adding: “KhawajaMAsif reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false”.

Israel has a policy of ambiguity in relation to its nuclear arsenal. Pakistan, which conducted its first nuclear test in 1998, is believed by analysts to have around 120 nuclear weapons and the fastest growing stockpile.

Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel and Mr Asif was widely mocked for his blunder.

“Our nuclear program is too serious a business to be left to Twitter-addicted politicians”, Nusrat Javeed, a prominent TV journalist in Pakistan said.

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.