(Algemeiner) Deborah Danan interviews Col. Richard Kemp - Hamas' use of human shields is possibly the key element of their strategy. So you see images of dead babies, women screaming about their children, and no reality can overcome those images. It is heart-wrenching. The problem is that there's no reference, no open-mindedness to the fact that the only reason that these children have been killed is because of Hamas' aggression towards Israel. Israel is at a disadvantage too because while Israel might understand the need to come out with a rapid message of the truth of what's happening in the conflict, it still has to be utterly faithful to facts and cannot afford to get it wrong, or to exaggerate. Hamas, on the other hand, can say whatever they want and it doesn't get challenged, and if it does get challenged it doesn't matter for them because they're not accountable to anyone. A few days ago I spoke to an Israeli pilot that told me that the same morning he had aborted an enemy target a total of 17 times because there were civilians in the target zone, and eventually he abandoned the operation. That to me, is one of the best things about the Israel Air Force - that the very last thing they want to do is bomb a target and have that on their conscience for the rest of their lives. And it was the same thing with infantry soldiers. In fact, in terms of civilian casualties, the attitude of IDF solders is the exact mirror image of the way they're portrayed to the world. British soldiers lives have also been saved by Israeli battlefield medical technology and also by Israeli counter-bomb technology, that is, technological equipment that stops or detects improvised explosive devices like roadside bombs. British soldiers' lives in Afghanistan have been saved and are being saved by that technology. Beyond that, British and Israeli intelligence cooperation is extremely tight and that has saved the lives not just of soldiers but of British civilians as well. The Jewish people should be extremely proud of the State of Israel. They should try their best to disregard the terrible anti-Israeli propaganda that is designed solely to contribute to the conspiracy to exterminate the State of Israel. Israel is the one country in the Western world today that is standing up for its morality and for its values against the onslaught of international jihad. Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp is the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan.
2014-08-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive