Yes, unfortunately I agree. This is tragedy of Pakistan. All he did was dumped on the image of Pakistan even more as if it was not bad enough. CNN and other such media make global opinion. And if what SMQ did actually was of benefit to the Palis at least he could say I did some good. But it served no purpose. It only gave others opportunityt to bash Pakistan more.
On the other hand the Egytptian's have actually done something. Beause they recognize Israel they engaged with Tel Aviv and Hamas. By having open access to both parties Egypt managed to arrange a ceasefire - thus coming out as relevant.
While Pakistan came out as the as*s.
I beg to differ
I believe he did pretty well on LIVE TV after being blamed for making anti Semitic remarks. I also do believe our speakers and ministers should be trained to deal with these situations in a better way in the future.
In my opinion, although there was no need to mention the "connections", but once said, he should have called her out right away and gone on the offensive once she said that. A simple "excuse me!, how is this anti Semitic?" would have put her on the spot. We can not let criticism of Israel to become anti Semitic.
Anyhow, here is why I believe he did a pretty good job.
1: Called for the two state solution, aligns with the US policy
2: He said he doesn't condone the rocket attacks, just as he doesn't condone the Israeli bombings
3: All loss of life, be it Israeli or Palestinian is bad in his view
4: Wants hostilities to stop and talks to start and solve the issue
5: He mentioned that the world perception is changing, and Israel is losing the media war (important)
Why is this good
A peaceful means to a two state solution dismantles Israeli propaganda, which has always been that they are being surrounded and they are alone vs the Middle East. And all the neighbours want to "push them into the sea".
Optics
In all my life this is the first time I am seeing prominent western journalists take a pro Palestinian stance. Never has it been this pro Palestinian. This is very positive, because finally we are seeing peoples conscious wake up, and see the conflict for what it is. In particular I really enjoyed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
SMQ also called out the change in public perception, I loved it.
Social media is rising, independent reporting from VICE and others is really beginning to take centre stage. And I am certain the time isn't far when CNN and the likes are gone down the drain.
Another interesting thing that nobody is talking about is, how bold Pak has become. I am impressed. We have our ministers and big brains sent out to the world, to the US to play a key role in geopolitics of regions far from us. It is understandable that we would have a bigger role to play though, since we cleaned up our backyard.
All in all, these are positive developments.
Oh and these anti Semitic blames are never gonna stick. There is nothing substantial there to go on. Nothing we or SMQ need to worry about.