2017: What Started

In August 2017, activist Noor Dahri and a joint Israeli–Pakistani team launched Pak Israel News, the first Urdu-language newspaper published from Israel. It also appeared in Hebrew and English, and its stated purpose was educational: to tell Pakistanis about Israeli society, technology and culture, in the language they speak at home.

The need was real. Urdu dailies in Pakistan have long framed Israel in hostile terms, and Middle East Quarterly notes that some outlets, including Khabrain, Jang and Express, have contributed to emotional and at times antisemitic reporting. The paper aimed to offer neighbours, not enemies, and to show Israelis as people with families, faith and ingenuity.

The paper grew from a wider idea, people-to-people diplomacy, that the Abrahamic Movement now carries through more than twenty chapters worldwide, including in Pakistan. Its premise is simple: a shared father, Ibrahim/Abraham, gives Muslims, Jews and Christians a respectful place to meet.

Today: Where It Stands

Honesty first: I can find no evidence of regular publication of Pak Israel News in 2024–2026. Directories do not list it among circulating papers, and the 2017 announcement post has not been followed by updates. Please treat this as an assessment from public sources, not an official statement from its founders.

Why it likely slowed

• Funding: Noor Dahri has said his UK-based think tank works with minimal funding.
• Distribution: an Israeli Urdu paper faces political sensitivities and import barriers in Pakistan.
• A shift online: advocacy moved to opinion columns, social media and interviews.
• Safety: activists face investigation, detention or job loss. I was held for four months on suspicion of cooperating with Israel.

That last box matters. After the 2022 delegation, thousands of young Pakistanis wrote to a journalist asking about Israeli life. The audience exists. What is missing is a credible, sustained channel.

Tomorrow: If We Start Again

If the Abrahamic Movement relaunched this work, it should not simply copy 2017. It should do four things together, in both languages, Urdu and Hebrew (with English as the common bridge), so the flow runs two ways: Pakistanis and South Asians learning about Israel, and Israelis and Jews learning about Pakistan and India.

The four pillars

Nothing here asks anyone to abandon faith or to forget Palestinian suffering. It asks only that we meet before we judge.

What could change, and what we do not know

No one can promise numbers. The chart shows a hypothetical planning scenario to illustrate the scale of ambition; it is not a forecast.

Illustrative only. “Today” uses the Pew figure cited above; the scenario is an assumption that depends on funding, safety for participants and political conditions.

The honest limits

• Pakistan officially links recognition to Palestinian statehood, and school textbooks omit the Holocaust and vilify Jews.
• Internet access is uneven, and content from Israel may be dismissed as propaganda until credibility is earned.
• The Gaza war has hardened attitudes, so tone, humility and patience matter more than speed.

Abraham welcomed strangers to his tent. A newspaper, a classroom and a shared evening of poetry are small tents. Together, in two languages, they may be enough to begin.

Editor’s note: This is an opinion piece. Survey figures are cited from linked sources, which we have not independently verified; the paper’s current status is based on public information. Views are the author’s own.