American senior fellow Michael Rubin: India should do to Pakistan’s ISI what Israel did to Hamas

Washington, DC: Former Pentagon official and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Michael Rubin made a strong statement after the deadly Pahalgam attack, saying that “it is now the duty of India to do to Pakistan and to Pakistan’s ISI what Israel did to Hamas,” and he called for swift action against Pakistan’s intelligence for allegedly aiding terrorism.

Rubin compared the assaults to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, stating that both operations targeted innocent people, namely middle-class Hindus in India and liberal Jews in Israel.

“That’s exactly what happened when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023,” Rubin said in an interview with ANI. In addition to targeting Jews directly, it also targeted the most liberal Jews, who were most likely to want peace and normalization with the Gaza Strip. Now, it is clear that the Pakistanis are using the same strategy, targeting middle-class Hindus at a holiday resort. Pakistan shouldn’t have any more success than Hamas had. To be honest, India now has a responsibility to treat Pakistan and Pakistan’s ISI the same way Israel treated Hamas.

He said, “It’s time to wipe out the leadership of the ISI, treat them as a designated terror group and demand that every country that is an ally of India, every country that is an ally of the world’s largest democracy, do the same.”

Rubin said that the Pahalgam incident could have been directly provoked by recent statements made by Asim Munir, the chief general of the Pakistan Army.

“Undoubtedly, that speech seemed to encourage fear. Kashmir is the jugular vein, according to Asim Munir. India must now strike Pakistan square in the jugular. No ifs, ands, or buts are involved. Shortcuts are no longer available. “It was approved by Asim Munir,” Rubin said.

“We are aware that Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of several terrorist organizations that call Pakistan home… Regretfully, the issue has become worse not just in Pakistan but also, to be honest, in Bangladesh due to a lack of coordinated counterterrorism efforts and Pakistani officials deceiving the West,” he said.

One of the most horrifying events since the 2019 Pulwama terror attack occurred in Pahalgam on Tuesday when terrorists opened fire on visitors in the Baisaran meadow, killing 26 people. The incident has sparked anger nationwide and been compared to other high-profile attacks.

To send a strong diplomatic statement against cross-border terrorism, India responded by announcing strict actions against Pakistan, including the suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty and the immediate closure of the integrated check post at Attari.