‘Fake news’ report leads to Pakistan nuclear threat against Israel

A story on a fake news website prompted a nuclear threat against Israel from the defence minister of Pakistan.

According to the fake story published last week on the AWD website, former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon,  threatened to launch a nuclear attack on Pakistan if it sends troops to Syria.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif on Friday tweeted: “Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh. Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.”

Israel’s Ministry of Defence on Saturday tweeted in response: “The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Moshe Ya’alon,  re Pakistan was never said” and then: “reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false.”

On Sunday, Asif tweeted in apparent acknowledgement: “Our nuclear prgrm is only a deterrence to protect our freedom. We desire to coexist in peace, both in our region & beyond.”