Pakistan, Israel Clash at UN Over Doha Strike, Bin Laden Reference

Islamabad: Netanyahu dragged Pakistan into Israel’s war this week at the United Nations Security Council. In a move as reckless as it was cynical, the Israeli prime minister invoked Osama bin Laden and Abbottabad to defend his bombing of Doha.

On September 10, Netanyahu likened Hamas’s October 7 attack to 9/11 and compared Israel’s strike in Qatar to the US raid that killed bin Laden. “We did exactly what America did,” he boasted. But Israeli jets had hit a residential compound in Doha, killing six people, including a Qatari guard. Israel claimed Hamas operatives were eliminated. Hamas said its negotiators narrowly escaped. What Netanyahu framed as self-defence was in reality an attack on the sovereignty of a state hosting peace talks.

Pakistan pushed back. Its UN envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmad dismissed the comparison as “ludicrous” and reminded the Council of Pakistan’s sacrifices against al-Qaeda – tens of thousands of lives lost. But Islamabad went further. It called the Doha strike an assault on diplomacy itself. “Bombing the territory of a principal mediator is a deliberate attempt to sabotage negotiations,” Ahmad said. The message was unmistakable: Israel is not just flouting law, it is wrecking peace.

Israel’s envoy doubled down, accusing Pakistan of hypocrisy. “Bin Laden was found and killed in your country,” he shot back. But the claim collapsed on itself. The Abbottabad raid was already viewed as a sovereignty breach. To twist it into precedent for future aggression is not law but provocation. Netanyahu’s analogy exposed the logic at the heart of Israeli policy: what is unlawful for others is permissible for Israel.

Qatar’s fury underscored the danger. Its prime minister denounced the raid as a “cowardly attack” on negotiators and families. The foreign ministry reminded the world that Hamas’s Doha office existed with US and Israeli consent as part of mediation. Striking it was not just unlawful but betrayal.

The global response was telling. France, Britain, China and Algeria condemned the attack outright. Even Washington – usually Israel’s shield – expressed rare disapproval. The Trump administration called the raid contrary to US interests and pressed Netanyahu not to repeat it. For America to distance itself from Israel so openly revealed just how reckless this gamble was.

The implications reach far beyond Doha. If Israel can bomb a mediator’s capital and justify it as counterterrorism, no city is safe. If Netanyahu can invoke Abbottabad to excuse aggression, then international law is not just eroded – it is inverted.

For Pakistan, the moment cut deep. It was smeared in Israel’s narrative and saw its long, bloody war on terrorism brushed aside. Its firm stand at the UN was necessary. But speeches alone are not enough. Islamabad must work with allies to show that normalising such strikes threatens every state, not just Qatar.

This was more than another episode in Israel’s war. It was a direct assault on sovereignty, diplomacy, and the fragile idea that negotiations are still possible. The question now is whether the world allows Netanyahu’s distortion to harden into precedent – or finally confronts Israel’s belief that power trumps law.

The clash at the UN also revealed a larger truth. Netanyahu’s bin Laden analogy was not history. It was a strategy, designed to shift moral ground. Pakistan’s rebuttal insisted that ground cannot be shifted without consequence. The real verdict will come not in words but in action. If the world’s response stops at condemnation, the Doha strike will stand as another step towards a world where might makes right. If accountability follows, it may yet prove a turning point.