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I Fought in Iraq - I Know Israel's Doing All It Can to Save Civilians

(The Times-UK) General Sir John McColl - Expressions of support and sympathy for Israel after the brutal massacre of Israeli citizens, led by Hamas on Oct. 7, have rapidly turned into widespread criticism, including from allies. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are accused of the reckless use of force and the murder of civilians, while international organizations have expressed concern about inadequate flows of aid. Last week I visited Israel with a team of military experts from six NATO countries to see for myself. I have seen war and know how difficult it can be to minimize civilian casualties. Basing my views about the Israel-Hamas war on UK media coverage, I arrived in Israel critical and skeptical of their military operations. What we, military observers with decades of combined experience in leading NATO armies, saw was the most complex and demanding operational environment any of us had come across, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our briefing from the independent military legal directorate laid out in detail the rules designed to protect civilian life. The procedures are at least as rigorous as those applied in the UK armed forces. In addition, the Israeli military carries out civilian evacuations of war zones, forgoing the element of surprise, to which it would be entitled in armed conflict. Accompanying troops in Rafah, we found that the rules of engagement were being adhered to rigorously and that a significant number of engagements were being aborted because the clearance of civilians could not be verified. The perspectives that we gained indicate that there is balance missing in the reporting of events in Gaza. I came away from the trip satisfied that the IDF's operations and rules of engagement were rigorous compared to the British Army and our Western allies. War is terrible, but sometimes necessary. And Israeli soldiers are fighting in conditions of extraordinary complexity and risk. It's time for the world to have its eyes opened to that. The writer is a former deputy supreme allied commander of NATO who served for 38 years in the British Army and saw combat in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.
2024-09-12 00:00:00
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