As Pakistan contemplates sending its troops to Gaza as part of US President Donald Trump’s ambitious International Stabilisation Force (ISF), Israeli media and analysts are already raising alarm bells against the move, calling it “dangerous” and a “red line” that shouldn’t be breached for Israel.
An article that appeared in Hebrew-language media, Channel 14, said Trump’s ISF plan was a strategy to “get others to pull the coals out of the fire while the US reaped the benefits”.
“For years, we have been warned about the control of the Gaza Strip by a Shiite Islamic power - Iran - through Hamas. Now, in the 90th minute, two days before the Netanyahu-Trump meeting, we are exposed to an attempt to create a new and equally dangerous reality: the deployment of Pakistani military forces into the Strip,” political commentator Yaakov Bardugo wrote.
Calling it madness, Bardugo claimed that after Israel imposed a complete and justified veto on the deployment of Turkish soldiers, various elements, including the Qataris, and perhaps even elements in the American administration, are examining the Pakistani alternative. “This is a proposal that seems like an act of madness: to deploy some 3,500 soldiers of an Islamic power, which possesses nuclear weapons and serves as an intermediary between the United States and Iran, into the heart of Gaza,” he said, adding that the attempt to introduce a powerful Islamic force into Gaza is baseless and raises serious concerns in Jerusalem.
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“Pakistan maintains extensive trade and commerce relations with Iran, and there is no fundamental difference between it and Turkey in terms of the risk to Israel's security,” the article said.
He also stated that Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar’s statement that Islamabad would only be willing to send troops to Gaza for peacekeeping missions and not for the operation to disarm Hamas was “disturbing.”
“The most worrying detail in the emerging initiative is the declaration that military force that will enterGaza will not work to disarm Hamas and will not lead to the demilitarisation of the Strip. In fact, these soldiers may find themselves facing IDF forces instead of terrorism,” he said.
The analyst also said the desire of the Qataris and other parties is to install a power in Gaza that is not sympathetic to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to work very hard with the American administration and President Trump to stop this move, he said.
“The people of the national camp must raise a black flag over this initiative. Just as Israel knew how to insist that not a single Turkish soldier enter the Strip, so we must ensure that Pakistan does not have a military foothold in our backyard. Israel must make it clear in a loud and clear voice: This initiative will not pass,” he added.