Would General Allen — or any other general today — recommend contracting out his country’s defences if it were his country at stake? Of course not.

The Iranian regime remains dedicated to undermining and ultimately destroying the State of Israel. The Islamic State also has Israel in its sights and would certainly use the West Bank as a point from which to attack, if it were open to them.

There can be no two-state solution and no sovereign Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan, however desirable those things might be. The stark military reality is that Israel cannot withdraw its forces from the West Bank.

Fatah leaders ally themselves with the terrorists of Hamas, and, like Hamas, they continue to reject the every existence of the State of Israel.

If Western leaders actually want to help, they should use all diplomatic and economic means to make it clear to the Palestinians that they will never achieve an independent and sovereign state while they remain set on the destruction of the State of Israel.

When in 1942 American General Douglas MacArthur took command of the defence of Australia against imminent Japanese invasion, one of the plans he rejected was to withdraw and fight behind the Brisbane line, a move that would have given large swathes of territory to the Japanese. Continue reading →

David Cameron says the fight against the Islamic State is a struggle that will last years, not months.

He has committed Britain to a leading role in Iraq and has suggested our forces will expand their operations into Syria.

But our forces have been savaged by ill-judged and excessive defence cuts.

Even our limited role in Libya for just a few months in 2011 left us severely over-stretched, according to RAF and Navy chiefs.

And that was before huge new cuts to both services, as well as the Army.

Cameron has ruled out boots on the ground in the fight against Islamic State.

Such public statements are grossly irresponsible and serve only to encourage the enemy by signalling our weakness. Nor does this policy make military sense. Continue reading →

Irresponsible allegations suggest an equivalence between Israel and Hamas and encourage and legitimize terrorism.

Grinning Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s V for Victory sign beside the rubble that was his house reminded me of Saddam Hussein’s spokesman Muhammad al-Sahhaf’s wild claims that the Americans were on the verge of surrender as their tanks poured into Baghdad during the shock and awe of 2003.

The ayatollahs have no compunction supporting both sides in conflicts if it’s in their interest

In an article this week on the dangers to the UK of Islamist extremism, David Cameron suggested that Britain could work with Iran to combat the Islamic State’s offensive against Iraq. This is a dangerous and misguided proposal. Continue reading →

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. We have never seen so much as a glimpse of killed or wounded fighters.

Continue reading →

Palestinian rockets are like the Nazi V1s. Civilian casualties were inevitable then and now

‘The Israelis are doing it all wrong. The RAF didn’t fly off to bomb Belfast in the troubles.”

These words from a respected media commentator embody the extraordinary lack of understanding by so many in this country who think the Israelis’ fight with Hamas is like ours with the IRA and can be dealt with in the same way. Continue reading →

The British government should deny its enemies the opportunities for exploitation presented by the International Criminal Court and withdraw now from the process. Any other course would represent an unprecedented and historic betrayal.

Today the United Kingdom sits alongside Libya, Darfur and Sudan as the International Criminal Court [ICC] launches an investigation into alleged war crimes by the British Army in Iraq. Continue reading →

During my conduct-after-capture training we were instructed not to draw attention to ourselves but to melt into the background, to be the grey men. No one told that to the “Old Contemptibles” or to the men of Kitchener’s Army. But to a man they were the product of a
society that inculcated the virtues of pluck, patriotism and duty. And to their eternal glory, they did resist when they fell into German hands. Every step of the way.

Continue reading →

COLONEL RICHARD KEMP says Sergeant Blackman should be given special pleading when he is sentenced

The Chief of the Defence Staff says ‘murder is murder’ and there must be no special pleading on behalf of British Marine Sergeant Alexander Blackman when he is sentenced today for murdering an injured insurgent in Afghanistan.

But General Sir Nicholas Houghton could not be more wrong. I believe it is imperative there should be special pleading for a fighting man our government sent into battle with orders to forfeit his life if called upon to do so.

Some 47 per cent of the British public understand this, according to opinion polls, and want leniency to be shown. Continue reading →