An analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a D.C.-based think tank, has told the VOA that "a catastrophic intelligence failure'' by the Israeli state led to the unprecedented deadly attack by the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, on Saturday. David Shenker, a senior fellow at the institute and a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs said attempts by the U.S. to champion a normalization agreement between Israel and Arab states could have triggered the attack. VOA's Ignatius Annor has been speaking spoke to Shenker on Monday.