While Israel’s inclusion in the coalition is possible, “it’s going to be a hard sell,” Berman said. Specifically, Israel may be a liability for the U.S., which is trying to build a coalition out of Arab states that mostly do not have relations with Israel.
“Israel is not going to get involved in any air strikes or sending troops in, and I don’t believe that it should,” Sachs said.
But Israel can act in other ways. A senior Israel Defense Forces officer recently quoted by Haaretz confirmed that Israel is providing intelligence to the U.S. on Islamic State, including satellite imagery.
Israel also needs “to develop a different military doctrine from the doctrine of dealing with Arab armies; [it needs] a doctrine of dealing with insurgency that’s based on the capabilities of special units and penetrating operations,” Ganor said.
If Islamic State reaches Jordan or Lebanon, “things can change very rapidly” and “you’re going to see very quickly a lot of coordination against Islamic State,” even between Israel and Fatah [Abbas’s party], explained Berman, who added the disclaimer that he is “just not seeing that yet because the threat is still conceptual.”
Islamic State could also become a threat to other Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Turkey, and Iran.
“When you speak today with decision-makers and security sources, you get the feeling that Iran…is ‘the devil we know’ and ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ ” said Ganor, who believes that attitude is a big mistake.
“When Europe and the U.S. wake up from their dream…they will realize that it is a nightmare because ‘the enemy of our enemy is a bigger enemy of ours,’ ” he added.
(JNS)