Hamas never dreamed of such success, like 9/11 for Israel, says Mideast analyst

Middle East analyst Avi Issacharoff tells The Times of Israel on Saturday that the unprecedented assault on Israel by land, sea and air is an inadvertent benchmark for the Israel-Hamas relations, as significant as the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

“I think that they wanted to kidnap a few people, to negotiate over them, and not to get into the threat of their collapse — of their ending” — that this coordinated attack will inevitably bring, Issacharoff says. “Everyone knows that Gaza will pay a very heavy price.”

Any former policies of cooperation with the Gaza-based terrorist organization are “not even relevant anymore,” he says, and negotiations “under or over the table” will no longer take place.

Asked whether he believes Israel’s northern border will become another front in the current war, he says it is as yet unclear whether Hezbollah is planning a coordinated attack.

“Either they’re going to jump in and be very stupid, or not,” he says.

“Starting another front with Israel may bring more [Israeli] casualties… but at the end of the day, we might end up with the end of Hamas and Hezbollah.”

“It’s the 9/11 [for Israel], and if this doesn’t go into a major ground operation, it’s the end of this government’s political life,” says Issacharoff.