Must see: Colonel Richard Kemp on Operation Protective Edge
Invited by UN Watch, Col. Kemp, former commander of British forces in
Afghanistan, speaks on self-defense and war crimes. Tel Aviv, Aug. 3,
2014. Co-sponsors: Tel Aviv Int'l Salon and StandWithUS.
Richard Kemp: 'Is anyone in Gaza dying of natural causes'?
Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, talks about Gaza's civilian casualties.
With few exceptions, reporters, commentators and analysts
unquestioningly accept the casualty statistics given by Gaza's
Hamas-controlled medical authorities, who ascribe all deaths to
the IDF. Is anyone in Gaza dying of natural causes? Mass executions of
"collaborators," and civilians killed by malfunctioning Hamas rockets,
are all attributed to IDF fire.
Are the "overwhelming majority" of the dead really civilians? It
would seem so. We see a great deal of grotesque and heart-rending
footage of dead and bleeding women and children but never so much as a
glimpse of killed or wounded fighters. Nor do reporters question or
comment on the complete absence of Gazan military casualties, an
extraordinary phenomenon unique to this conflict. The reality of course
is that Hamas make great efforts to segregate their military casualties
to preserve the fiction that Israel is killing civilians only. There are
also increasing indications that Hamas, through direct force or threat,
are preventing journalists from filming their fighters, whether dead or
alive.
We will not get to the truth until the battle is over. But we know
now that Hamas have ordered their people to report all deaths as
innocent civilians. We know too that Hamas has a track record of lying
about casualties. After Operation Cast Lead, the 2008-09 fighting in
Gaza, the IDF estimated that of 1,166 Palestinian deaths, 709 were
fighters. Hamas – backed by several NGOs – claimed that only 49 of its
fighters had been killed, the rest were innocent civilians.
Much later
they were forced to admit that the IDF had been right all along and
between 600 and 700 of the casualties had in fact been fighters. But the
short-memoried media are incapable of factoring this in before
broadcasting their ill-founded and inflammatory assertions.
Analysis of casualty details released by Qatar-based Al Jazeera indicate that so far in the conflict most of those killed in Gaza have been young men of fighting age, not
women, children or old people. According to one analyst, despite
comprising around 50% of the population, the proportion of women among
the dead is 21%.
Preliminary analysis by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism
Information Center in Israel suggests that 71, or 46.7%, of the first
152 Palestinians killed were fighters and 81, or 53.3%, non-involved
civilians.
None of this analysis is definitive. But it does cast doubt upon the
accusations of indiscriminate attack against the population by the IDF
and upon the UN estimates – widely trumpeted as fact by the media and
the not-exactly unbiased United Nations – that between 70 and 80% of
Palestinian casualties have been civilians.
Nevertheless, many innocent civilians have tragically been killed.
How has this happened, given the IDF's measures aimed at minimizing such
deaths?
IDF commanders say they never intentionally fire at targets where
uninvolved civilians are present, a policy that goes much further than
the Geneva Conventions demand. This policy has been confirmed to me by
foot soldiers on the ground and F16 pilots carrying out strikes into
Gaza.
But mistakes happen. Surveillance and intelligence can never be
foolproof. There have been reports of Hamas forcing civilians back in
once buildings have been evacuated. There is sometimes unexpected
fallout from attacks, for example when an adjacent building containing
civilians collapses, often caused by secondary explosions resulting from
Hamas's own munitions.
Errors can be made in interpretation of imagery, passage of
information and inputting of target data. We don't yet know what
happened to the four boys tragically killed on a Gaza beach; it is not
credible that they were identified as children and then deliberately
killed.
Weapons guidance systems sometimes malfunction and bombs, bullets or
missiles can land where they are not supposed to. Even the most hi-tech
communications systems can fail at the critical moment.
Nowhere are these errors more frequent and catastrophic than in
ground combat, where commanders and soldiers experience chaos, noise,
smoke, fear, exhaustion, danger, shock, maiming, death and destruction
that are beyond the comprehension of our interviewer in her air
conditioned TV studio.
These mistakes and malfunctions happen in all fighting armies and in
all conflicts. And in all conflicts, mistakes include the deaths of
soldiers by friendly fire. Do those who condemn the killing of
Palestinian civilians as deliberate acts by the IDF suggest that the
friendly fire incidents in Gaza are also intentional?
Read the whole thing. I have been told by a reliable source that on average, 15 people per day die in Gaza of natural causes. We're now on Day 26 of Operation Protective Edge. That means you can probably knock out 390 casualties (26 x 15) already.
Video: Colonel Richard Kemp on Operation Protective Edge
Colonel
Richard Justin Kemp CBE (born 14 April 1959) is a retired British Army
officer who served from 1977 to 2006. He was Commander of British Forces
in Afghanistan, and experienced the complexity of fighting militants
embedded within a civilian population.
Kemp was interviewed by
Israeli Channel 1 regarding his position on the legality and morality of
Israel's actions in operation Protective Edge.
British MPs, British citizens and indeed citizens of the free world at large may want to listen in.
I'm not into watching TED talks, but many people I know - mostly brilliant people - including Mrs. Carl, are very much into watching them. This week, media watchdog CAMERA took TED to task for airing a talk by one of its fellows, Gaza photojournalist Eman Mohammed, which accused Israel of maximizing casualties during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09. This is from the second link.
CAMERA wrote: “During Operation Cast Lead, Israel dropped over 2.5 million leaflets throughout Gaza and phoned residents in order to warn them of impending attacks. Israel likewise dropped warning fliers during the 2002 Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank.”
The watchdog quoted testimony from Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, who addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2009, praising the “extraordinary measures” that Israel took in Cast Lead to avoid civilian casualties.
Kemp said, that “based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.”
“Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population,” Kemp said. “Hamas, like Hezbollah, are expert at driving the media agenda. Both will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.”
“The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls,” the former British commander said. “Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy’s hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.”
An Israel Defense Forces investigation into the army’s conduct during Cast Lead discussed the precautions that Israel took in this particular strike to safeguard civilian lives. The investigation noted “the unfortunate deaths” of four civilians in the Al Saraya strike, but it also maintained that the strikes were in accordance with international law.
Mohammed said she was injured during the strike, breaking her nose. It was not from IDF fire or shrapnel, but from her own camera.
Kemp: Agreement on Syrian chem weapons 'not realistic'
I am sure that many of you remember Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, whose testimony before the United Nations 'human rights council' (after the Goldstone commission refused to hear him) was the beginning of the end for the credibility of the Goldstone Report in the international arena.
Kemp has told the Jerusalem Post that the US-Russia plan to force Syria to turn over its chemical weapons is 'not realistic.' Here's hoping Matt Lee asks the State Department about that assessment at Monday's briefing.
The agreement reached between the US and Russia for the destruction
of chemical weapons in the possession of the Assad regime is fraught
with difficulty and danger and, in the best case scenario, would likely
end up with a token show of disarmament, Col. Richard Kemp, former
commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Speaking to the Post by
phone, Kemp, who also served in the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee
and Cabinet Office Briefing Room, said: “I think it’s extremely
difficult to do something like this during an active conflict, during a
war. I think it’ll take a very large amount of time, with a significant
amount of military protection, so that the inspectors can be as safe as
they can be. That aspect will present huge challenges. Which country,
first of all, will provide the scientists who will take these risks and
the military forces to back them up? It’s a very dangerous situation.”
...
“Secondly, to get verification in this kind of situation, I would say,
is impossible,” he stated. “It would be very easy for President Assad to
hide or remove out of the country significant quantities of chemical
weapons.
What we might end up seeing is a token show of disarmament. I don’t think it is realistically feasible.”
In turn, it would end up harming regional – and global – security, the former military commander warned.
Assad’s
position would be strengthened by a more positive international stance
towards him, “combined with very active Russian support and American
collusion with that support,” Kemp said. Iran’s position, too, would be
strengthened significantly, he continued, as the value of American
deterrence “appears to be degraded as a result of this, and Iran’s own
position is obviously strengthened by what will be its closer relations
with Russia.”
This spells bad news from Israel’s perspective, Kemp
said, adding nonetheless that “Israel appears to be the only reliable
power in the region. America’s power and American deterrence is reduced.
Israel remains the one reliable power that the world can count on to
intervene if the situation gets too dangerous.”
Before the IDF hit Hamas-operated targets, it scrutinized them to protect the safety of non-combatants.
“Our goal,” Captain O says, is to assure that “no innocent civilians are hurt.”
This objective
is complicated severely by the fact that Hamas routinely locates its
weapons among civilians, for reasons discussed below. It does so in
total violation of the Geneva Convention and some700years of the just-war tradition.
Amid these
difficulties during Pillar Defense, the IDF aimed to blast a residential
building in Gaza that it believed contained ammunition. While the IDF
simply could have bombed the joint, it took multiple steps to protect
Palestinian civilians.
First, IDF aircraftreleasedleafletsin
the area to tell people that the building would be smashed from above,
and that they should evacuate. This tactic also was employed in 2009’s
Operation Cast Lead, a similar campaign to stop Hamas’s missiles. “The
Israelis dropped a million leaflets warning the population of impending
attacks and phoned tens of thousands of Palestinian households in Gaza
urging them in Arabic to leave homes where Hamas might have stashed
weapons or be preparing to fight,” Great Britain’s Colonel Kemp said
of that operation. “Similar messages were passed on in Arabic on
Israeli radio broadcasts.” He added: “When possible, they left at least
four hours’ notice to civilians to leave areas designated for attack, an
action that handed a distinct advantage to Hamas.”
Second, in case anyone thought the Israelis were bluffing, the IDF
signaled that they were serious. Their method is called “Knock on the
Door.” It involves dropping a small, low-impact bomb on the roof of the
targeted building. This tells people the IDF is not kidding and will
return soon to take care of business.
Third, once it was empty, the IDF bombed the building, and Hamas’s weapons were rendered harmless.
Hamas, Captain O
says, gives Gazans a totally different message: Rather than encourage
these civilians to flee, Hamas tells them that it is their Islamic duty
to remain in their apartments and become martyrs. Thus, Hamas tries to
use innocent men, women, and children as human shields. If this
successfully prevents Israel from neutralizing ammunition dumps, bomb
factories, and rocket launchers, all the better for Hamas. And if Israel
bombs such facilities and wounds or kills civilians, Hamas can wheel in
the compliant and sympathetic global media to document the latest
example of “Israeli atrocities.”
...
While admirable
on many levels, such trigger shyness also seems borderline suicidal. Not
only is Israel not as reckless as her enemies claim; the IDF has likely
some terrorists live to kill another day.
Israel’s attempts to limit civilian bloodshed also contrast severely with Hamas, which heavesmissilesonto playgrounds full of Jewish schoolchildren. In the town of Sderot, Israeli kids hear alarms when rockets are en route. At one such facility, they have just 15 seconds to dash into a giant concrete caterpillar. It looks festive — but actually is a cheerfully painted bomb shelter.
In all, Hamas’s rockets can slam any of 994,000 Israelis within 60 seconds of their launch in Gaza.
Given Hamas’s
disdain for human life, why doesn’t the IDF scrap the warning flyers and
“knocks on the door” and just let its bombs rip?
“We won’t be
able to live with these people if we just butcher them,” Captain O says.
He makes a fascinating point. Putting aside for a moment America’s
benevolent occupation of Japan after World War II, the U.S. did detonate
atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It then shipped the vast
majority of its soldiers back home, all the way across the Pacific. Most
Americans gave Japan little thought until Datsuns, Mazdas, and Toyotas
arrived in the mid 1970s.
Richard Kemp speaks to British - Israel Conference
I trust that many of you remember Richard Kemp, the British army officer who famously said
"During its operation in Gaza, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare."
In March, Kemp spoke at the British - Israel Conference, but for some reason his speech has only been published now. Here is some of it.
Lieutenant Paul Mervis was a Jewish soldier.
He grew up in London, and was educated at King’s College School Wimbledon. He spent a gap year in Israel, studying Hebrew. During his service in Afghanistan, His sister Hannah and brother Jack sent him a provisions parcel with matzah and dried chicken soup so that he could mark the Passover festival while on duty. Paul carried a 1936 issue Soldier’s Siddur which had previously belonged to Sergeant Dave Newman, a Jewish soldier who fought in the Battle of El Alamein in World War II.
It would have been equally possible for Paul to have opted to join the Israeli Defence Forces to realise his soldierly ambitions, as do so many young British Jewish men and women. In fact he did undergo training with the IDF during his gap year before joining the British Army.
But had he joined the IDF, instead of developing into a brave, dedicated military leader concerned for the welfare of his men and taking every conceivable step to protect the civilian population, would Paul Mervis have become a callous, brutal thug, haphazardly dropping white phosphorous into the houses of innocent civilians? Would Paul Mervis have deliberately and without qualms killed women and children? Would Paul Mervis have blown up schools, raked ambulances with machinegun fire?
No. No. No. Because that image of the Israeli Defence Forces is horribly false.
This malevolent portrayal of the Israeli Defence Forces is carefully and systematically planned, cultivated, developed, expanded and relentlessly driven forward. It is the key part of what amounts to nothing less than a pernicious and increasingly dangerous global conspiracy of propaganda aimed at the total delegitimization of the state of Israel. A conspiracy that has so far exceeded in its international scope, anything dreamt of even by that master of propaganda, Dr Josef Goebbels himself, spreading the idea that Israel is so evil that it has no right even to exist, aiming for the point where that idea becomes an acceptable, mainstream argument in our societies.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
First, IDF aircraft
