| | There’s an interesting post on the rabidly anti-Muslim website Harry’s Place about this speech by the former British Army Colonel Richard Kemp CBE on ‘Hamas, the Gaza War and Accountability Under International Law’, delivered at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs.
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It’s no surprise really that the hawks on Harry’s Place are enamoured of the good colonel’s opinions. According to Colonel Kemp, ‘the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other Army in the history of warfare’.
Why, because the colonel contends, ‘Soldiers from all Western armies, including Israel's and Britain's, are educated in the laws of war. …In the most basic form these rules tell you when you can and when you cannot open fire.’
‘But in the type of conflict that the Israeli Defence Forces recently fought in Gaza and in Lebanon, and Britain and America are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, these age-old confusions and complexities are made one hundred times worse by the fighting policies and techniques of the enemy.
‘Do these Islamist fighting groups ignore the international laws of armed conflict? They do not. It would be a grave mistake to conclude that they do. Instead, they study it carefully and they understand it well.
‘They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses.
‘It is not simply that these insurgents do not adhere to the laws of war. It is that they employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law.’
Which all sounds a tad sanctimonious. Invoking international law when the invasion of Iraq has been proven to have been illegally undertaken by the UK and US? Israeli commanders and soldiers bound by international law and observing the rules of engagement that flow from it? This recent Amnesty International report which accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza puts paid to any such claims. As does this news story on Israel’s frequent violation of resolution 1701, on Lebanon’s territorial integrity.
And what of the US and UK armies’ conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan? Dispatches last month broadcast a documentary on the killing of 91 Afghan civilians in Azizabad on a false tip off from a rival Afghan village, a tip off the US army acted on. And yesterday, the Guardian reported on an independent inquiry that is to be set up to investigate allegations of mutilation and murder of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers.
Colonel Kemp further argues:
‘In Gaza, as in Basra, as in the towns and villages of southern Afghanistan, civilians and their property are routinely exploited by these groups, in deliberate and flagrant violation of any international laws or reasonable norms of civilised behaviour for both tactical and strategic gain.’
Which would seem an odd argument to make given the testimonies of Israelis soldiers on the ‘flagrant violation of any international laws or reasonable norms of civilised behaviour’, they witnessed and engaged in in Gaza.
‘On the strategic level, any mistake, or in some cases legal and proportional response, by a Western army will be deliberately exploited and manipulated in order to produce international outcry and condemnation.
‘And in sophisticated groupings such as Hamas and Hizballah, the media will be exploited also as a critical implement of their military strategy.
‘Hamas, like Hizballah, are also highly expert at driving the media agenda. They will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.
‘Their people often have no option than to go along with the charades in front of the world's media that Hamas so frequently demand, often on pain of death', the Colonel said. Which is a disturbing as well as a despicable allegation. The ‘hasbara’ (propaganda) that Israel and Israeli sympathisers engaged in during the bombardment and invasion of Gaza is well known. Are they surprised that Hamas should try to counter their media campaigns with its own?
Kemp states that ‘During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This sort of task is regarded by military tacticians as risky and dangerous at the best of times. To mount such operations, to deliver aid virtually into your enemy's hands, is to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable.
‘By taking these actions and many other significant measures during Operation Cast Lead the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other Army in the history of warfare.
‘But the IDF still did not win the war of opinions - especially in Europe.’
Perhaps because we’re rather more discerning in our news consumption and are unwilling to accept the official Israeli version of events as synonymous with the truth.
No surprise that Melanie Phillips also chimes in with praise for the Colonel’s speech.
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