Category Archives: Articles

Col. Richard Kemp: Feeding Gaza Means Facing Reality

Article published by Breitbart, 25 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

Last week I crossed into Gaza with a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) security convoy. What I saw at the GHF distribution base was both distressing and uplifting. Tens of thousands of people desperate for food pouring into the place, wide-eyed at the piles of aid boxes. But now actually getting their hands on the flour, sugar, cooking oil and other commodities they need to survive.
Several of them told me that, until GHF began working a month ago, they’d received hardly any free aid at all for a very long time. Now they can get it and are movingly grateful, with several telling me: ‘I love America.’

Many also said ‘kill Hamas’, which was met with cheers from those nearby, because they all know it is Hamas that has brought the death and destruction all around them, and on top of that have been depriving them of food.

Inside Gaza, Hamas controls everything. There is no neutrality here, as much as those who defend the status quo want to believe it. There is barely any aid getting to civilians—and certainly not at scale. UN convoys haven’t reached their destinations in days. They’re looted before they ever make it across–if they can even find drivers willing to brave the journey.

Criminal gangs, armed terrorists, and desperate civilians are all converging on unsecured aid convoys—and people are being killed in the chaos. Shootouts are erupting during looting attempts, with civilians caught in the crossfire. But you wouldn’t know it from the official casualty reports, which are filtered through a Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health that routinely downplays these incidents and obscures the true picture on the ground.

Traditional humanitarian actors have grown comfortable with this setup. They’ve told themselves that preserving their idea of neutrality means they must preserve access to aid.

GHF isn’t a perfect solution, nor have they pretended to be. It is, however, a real solution that is built for the world as it is, not the one we may wish existed.

Secure delivery? That’s not a radical idea. The UN and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use private security or police escorts routinely in high-risk environments. I myself have been involved in this in the past.

What’s different in Gaza is the level of discomfort it creates—because it breaks with the inertia that has defined humanitarian operations there for years.

Hamas hates the GHF for wresting control of aid from them, as several Gazans confirmed to me. That’s not surprising but the equal opposition of much of the aid community certainly should be. It is deeply misplaced and reflects a stubborn unwillingness to adapt to a radically changed landscape. Or to think outside the box in the middle of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Some in the humanitarian establishment seem more committed to the idea of how aid should be delivered than whether it actually is. That’s how we ended up in a situation where GHF is the only organization consistently feeding people across Gaza, while others sit back and hurl criticisms from afar. It’s easy to write op-eds from Geneva or Jerusalem. It’s harder to walk into Gaza, stare down a hungry crowd, and keep the line from breaking.

GHF is not trying to replace anyone; in fact they are quietly working with a number of NGOs to get their aid into Gaza. I say quietly, because these groups are blackballed by the UN for cooperating with GHF on the one hand, and threatened with death by Hamas on the other.

Let that sink in.

And they have extended a hand to international organizations to work with them or to propose better solutions that meet Israel’s security concerns while also getting food to those who need it desperately. A courageous few who can no longer look away are quietly starting to engage, hoping they won’t be discovered and canceled, too.

In the face of a humanitarian tragedy, the aid community needs to decide what it’s going to be: self-righteous or effective. I hope they choose the latter. But that requires honesty about the operating environment and a willingness to adapt. Sitting on the sidelines criticizing a flawed but functional model while doing nothing to feed people—that’s not humanitarianism. That’s hubris.

If you’ve seen what I’ve seen, and what GHF staff see every day as they do what they can to meet the needs of the Gazan people, you wouldn’t be asking why they’re doing it. You’d be asking why more people aren’t.

Arab nations should be grateful to Israel for destroying the Iranian hydra

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

Only those who don’t understand Middle East politics will take seriously reports that some Arab leaders and diplomats are concerned about Israel’s recent pre-emptive action against Iran. This mostly amounts to posturing for the benefit of their own populations. Many of their people are vehemently against Israel, for religious reasons but also to a large extent due to their governments’ own anti-Israel indoctrination from previous times.

It is a similar position to the one Western European governments find themselves in. Keir Starmer’s false criticisms and actions against Israel, such as arms suspension and sanctions, are surely due not to genuine concerns about Israel but the need to bolster support among Labour’s electorate, much of which is vehemently anti-Israel.

Arab leaders are well aware of the dangers they face from Iran. The ayatollahs are most vocal against Israel but they hate the Sunni Arab states just as much, if not more. This is more than mere rhetoric. Iran’s proxies have attacked the UAE and Saudi Arabia in recent years and Iran itself attacked US bases in Iraq and a few days ago in Qatar. Meanwhile Iran has for years been working to subvert Jordan and use it as a base of attack against Israel.

An Iranian nuclear capability threatened Arab countries as well as Israel. For years Israel has been understood to possess a nuclear capability. The Arabs knew that presented no threat to them. Only as the Iranian nuclear programme gained momentum did several countries in the region, especially Saudi Arabia, begin to seriously investigate acquiring their own nuclear capability.

With the exception of Iran itself and Syria, Israel has not attacked any country in the region and the Arabs know it will not. All of its offensive operations, in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, have been only against Iranian proxies that have attacked Israel.

In the case of Syria, which is formally at war with Israel, the destruction of much of its military capability was a necessary defensive action to counter a potentially developing threat.

And today Israel and the new regime in Syria have a constant dialogue with talk of al-Julani normalising relationships and even potentially joining the Abraham Accords. That of course remains precarious, to say the least, but is perhaps symptomatic of a new reality in the Middle East that is forming as a result of Israel’s strong defence against Iranian aggression.

With talk of Arab fears of Israel, what’s been happening on the other side of the ledger? When Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel in April last year, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain joined in its defence. And behind the scenes many Arab countries have been quietly cheering Israel on in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Some have provided practical support. They want Israel to prevail in Gaza because they also fear the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot. They know that if Hamas prevails it will encourage jihadists in their own countries.

The main motivation for Arab countries joining the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first administration was Israel’s military strength and Benjamin Netanyahu’s willingness to use it. That was bolstered by Obama’s apparent abandonment of America’s Sunni allies in favour of strengthening Iran. If America could no longer be relied upon to shield them from Iranian aggression, Israel could be. That has been redoubled in the recent 12-day war. This makes an expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries much more likely. They may have confidence in the current US administration, but what about the future? They may not fall in love with Israel but they do know that it has no choice but to remain the strong horse forever.

Iran has no cards left to play: Trump has broken the regime

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 22 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

We should expect Iran to lash out after Trump’s bunker busters bombed its nuclear sites last night. Here in Israel, after an unusually missile-free 24 hours or so, we saw a barrage of up to 30 ballistic missiles fired at population centres.

Nothing new there: Israel has been targeted almost every night in the week since it launched its pre-emptive attack campaign and that is likely to continue until the ayatollahs decide discretion is the better part of valour or have their armoury wiped out or expended.

But now that America is fully in the game we should also expect retaliation against it and its other allies. That can come in various forms and may be immediate. Iran is known for strategic patience but at the same time might feel the need to act speedily to shore up a regime that has now been even further humiliated.

Already the Houthis, an Iranian proxy in Yemen, have cancelled their “ceasefire” with the US announced a few weeks ago. Iran also has proxies in Iraq that are heavily armed with missiles. They recently threatened to respond if the US attacked Iran.

Tehran itself, or any of these proxies, could attack energy infrastructure in Gulf states as well as US bases in the region. Iran, and the Houthis, could revert to their previous aggression against international shipping and potentially might block the Strait of Hormuz.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, once the most powerful terrorist organisation in the world, and also an Iranian proxy, was supposed to be a major player in exactly the situation Tehran faces today. But it was shattered by Israel last year and so far has not joined the fight for fear of being totally destroyed.

That may also account for an absence so far in this war of terrorist attacks beyond the region. Hezbollah has sleeper cells across Europe and in the US that were created under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to retaliate against Israel’s and America’s allies if Iran came under fire. Continue reading

After the Brize Norton attack, Britain should be placed on a war footing

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

Many were astonished recently at Russia’s inability to defend its military aircraft when Ukraine carried out drone strikes against them deep inside Russian territory. Well now the inadequacy of our own air base security has been exposed, although thankfully in a far less serious way. For now.

RAF Brize Norton was attacked not by external forces but the enemy within. This was not a protest; it was a deliberate act of sabotage against military assets used to defend our country. What is shocking is that these saboteurs were able to access a highly defended base, put two air to air refuelling tankers out of action, and leave without being detected.

That should not have happened at any time. But right now military bases should have been on a substantially heightened state of alert. Whether or not we are providing any assistance to Israel in its defensive operations against Iran, Tehran certainly believes we are. They see us as a key ally of Israel and also attribute to Britain a disproportionate level of influence over US actions.

We are therefore a high priority target for Iranian terrorism. Don’t forget only weeks ago seven Iranians were arrested here on allegations of preparing terrorist attacks and other security offences. And in 2015 our security service disrupted an Iranian-backed bomb plot on the outskirts of London. The threat from Tehran has significantly increased since the latest arrests, with Iran under attack and the ayatollahs desperate to find effective ways of hitting back at Israel and its allies.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has long positioned sleeper cells in European countries including the UK for precisely the situation they find themselves in now. This was a known specific threat back in the early 2000s, when I was working for the UK Joint Intelligence Committee. We don’t know exactly their capabilities but it would be irresponsible not to assume that terrorist attacks in Britain could be initiated from Tehran at any time.

The fact that the British Government has repeatedly refused to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation suggests a dangerous degree of complacency. That should have happened a long time ago and certainly should happen now.

Beyond the very real and immediate threat from Iran there is Russia. Putin has identified Britain as its number one enemy in Europe. We have led the way in supporting Ukraine both economically and militarily. British intelligence and surveillance have been a critical element of Kyiv’s operations against Russia. Donated British tanks and other armoured vehicles are in Ukraine now and our long range missiles have been used to attack Russian forces both inside Ukraine and on Russian sovereign territory.

Furthermore, like Iran, Putin has previously ordered terrorist strikes on UK soil, including a nerve agent attack in Salisbury in 2018. Since then suspected Russian sabotage has been suspected here and cyber attacks carried out against government and private sector targets.

Security, even of military bases, can never be 100 per cent; but this penetration of RAF Brize Norton by the Palestine Action activists, brazen enough to cross the airfield on electric scooters, shows the most serious shortcomings. What if they had been armed not with paint but explosives?

Those planes could have been destroyed, not temporarily disabled, and airmen could have been killed. What we have seen amounts to an open invitation to even more serious saboteurs and terrorists to attack.

The threat is going to get worse, not only from Iran and Russia, but also from people here who hate our country and want to cause us harm. The thousands of illegal immigrants pouring in on small boats, with no way to screen, document or control them, adds yet another dimension.

All of Britain’s military bases, as well as other critical targets, should immediately be placed on a war footing, where they should have been at least since we started supporting Ukraine and even more so since Iran came under attack.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Here in Israel, it’s very clear: Iran cannot seriously damage this nation

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 19 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

Hezbollah was the dog that didn’t bark when its Iranian masters came under attack. That’s because it had been muzzled by Israel. Over decades Tehran had built up a massive arsenal of missiles in Lebanon using its number one proxy, Hezbollah. That had a specific purpose which was to deter Jerusalem from attacking Iran, and if it did, to unleash hell across the length and breadth of Israel. But Hezbollah’s fighting capabilities were severely written down last year with huge numbers of missiles and launchers taken out by attacks from ground and air. And Mossad decapitated the terrorist organisation in a breathtaking wave of attacks against terrorist leaders with explosive-laden pagers. The IDF eliminated many others with precision air strikes, including the long-standing Secretary General, Hasan Nasrallah.

Perhaps the ayatollahs should have paid more attention to both elements of Israel’s operations against Hezbollah, because they gave a devastating foretaste of what was to come on their own territory. Now, reeling from strike after strike over the last week, its military rudderless and deprived of its primary deterrent, Tehran is having to rely exclusively on an armoury of ballistic missiles to hit back. Its fleets of drones – considered by many to be the future of warfare – have achieved nothing. Of 1,000 launched, not one impacted on Israeli territory.

I have been in various parts of Israel since the start of this war and can confirm that the most widespread effect of Iran’s missile campaign has been sleep deprivation, with most salvoes fired during the night and citizens repeatedly sent running to their bomb shelters. That is not to understate the tragic deaths of 24 Israeli civilians, the wounding of many others and destruction and damage to buildings, the most recent being a direct hit on Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. As with all Iranian missile impacts in this war which have struck civilian population centres, firing at a hospital is a war crime. Tehran claimed that it was aiming at a nearby army base but there are no military installations within 2 kilometres. With all the patients inside shelters, fortunately there were only light casualties.

That is one reason why Iran’s barrages have had only limited effect so far. Israel has engineered a highly-developed alert and shelter system, and it is estimated that, had every citizen taken cover as instructed, the death toll would have been only three. There are two other reasons for Tehran’s failed counteroffensive. First, a very sophisticated intelligence and surveillance system that has been able to provide up to half an hour’s warning of most missile launches. Second, ground, air and sea based air defences. The US Navy and Air Force have made a significant contribution, and Israel’s Arrow ballistic missile defence system has been backed up by America’s Thaad and Patriot launchers based inside Israel.

Then there has been the relentless air campaign against Iran’s weapon stocks, launchers and production facilities which has taken out an estimated 40 per cent of launchers and many missiles. Iran has only managed to fire some 400 missiles since the war began, with at least 80-90 per cent successfully intercepted. Just 23 have hit urban areas.

Tehran had by far the most powerful ballistic missile capability in the Middle East, with an arsenal of 2,000-3,000, although many of these did not have the range to reach Israel. Tehran was estimated to have the capability to produce 50 missiles per month which is not adequate to meaningfully replenish its ever-dwindling stocks. In any case, probably nothing like that number can be achieved now following Israel’s attacks on production facilities.

With their military strategy failing, the ayatollahs might decide to change tack, and start using some of their short-range missiles against energy facilities or US military targets in the Gulf. Iran also has anti-ship missiles capable of attacking maritime targets in the region. It has threatened to block the Straits of Hormuz to strangle global oil trade. Any of these moves would increase the chances of President Trump’s direct intervention in the war, something that may be imminent in any case. Khamenei, now in a desperate situation, with his most trusted military advisers all dead and the IDF rampant in his skies, seems to fear that the most. His request for a meeting in the White House has been rejected and his foreign ministry is about to meet its appeasement-seeking European counterparts to discuss nuclear disarmament.

Although that will achieve nothing, the last thing the Europeans should be doing now is to throw this tottering terrorist regime any kind of lifeline. Instead they should be joining forces with Israel, at least diplomatically, to hasten the end of Iran’s war on the West, which began at the dawn of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The best outcome is not a badly wounded Khamenei who can lick his wounds and live to fight another day, as the Europeans might like, but a more enlightened Iran under new management that does not have the arrogance to provoke a militarily stronger power and believe it can prevail.

Iran-Israel war outcome talked up by commentators that’s actually highly unlikely

Article published in The Daily Express, 18 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

There’s a surprising truth that may seem counterintuitive to those watching from the West.

We now have an argument about whether Iran is really in pursuit of a bomb, with an apparent spat between President Trump and his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. In March, she assessed that Iran had not yet decided to build a bomb. That may have been true. But it is also irrelevant. Iran has been enriching uranium to near weapons grade for years.

The International Atomic Energy Agency a few days ago said the Islamic Republic now has enough such material to manufacture around 10 bombs, with the final stages to achieve weapons grade possible within two weeks, according to US intelligence. Iran has some missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. We have seen their ballistic missiles penetrate Israeli air defences in the last few days. The final component is weaponisation, turning weapons grade uranium into a viable nuclear device.

The ability to identify that programme through intelligence has always been a major challenge given it can be achieved very discreetly. Recently Israel confirmed it had intelligence that Iran is now in fact making progress on weaponisation.

So with the components in place, all that would be needed is for Ali Khamanei to give the order to put them together. It would be suicidal to wait until intelligence confirmed that order had been given. And anyway there could be no certainty such a decision would be identified by intelligence.

Given the enormous stakes Israel had no other choice than to strike when it did. There are some risks you do not take. Perhaps the greatest is to allow acquisition of nuclear weapons by a fanatical religious tyranny with a track record of unrestrained violence that repeatedly declares its intention to annihilate you.

No Israelis that I have spoken to over here in the days since Israel launched its pre-emptive war doubt the need for it. Even opposition leaders, sworn political rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are four-square behind his actions, unheard of in this country.

Of course all Israelis recognise the current dangers to themselves, and almost all of them have been forced to take refuge in bomb shelters several times every day since last weekend. But they do understand they would face hugely greater dangers in just sitting back and watching Iran becoming a nuclear armed state.

Another concern is escalation into a region-wide conflict. That is Continue reading

Real reason Israel had to launch pre-emptive strike against Iran

Article published in The Daily Express, 17 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

Israel and Iran are not ‘trading blows’ as some have phrased it. Israel is dealing strategic devastation on Iran, eliminating much of the terrorist regime’s military top brass and key nuclear scientists , and attacking nuclear weapons sites, air defence systems, and offensive drone and missile capabilities.

Meanwhile Iran is lashing out with drones and ballistic missiles, fired into Israel’s population centres, deliberately killing and wounding civilians in places like Tel Aviv, the most densely populated city in the country. Here, for the last two nights I have heard ballistic missiles roar overhead and seen Israel’s impressive air defences knock some of them out of the sky.

Those missiles that did get through told a terrifying story. What if just one of them had been armed with a nuclear warhead? Vast numbers would have been killed. That’s why Israel had to launch this pre-emptive assault on the Islamic Republic. Israeli intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency both saw that Iran was on the cusp of obtaining nuclear weapons capability.

Had they been allowed to get to that point we must assume they would use them in pursuit of their frequently declared intent of destroying Israel. That Jerusalem has nuclear weapons would not have deterred them.

The fanatical ayatollahs in Tehran wouldn’t care how many of their own people were sacrificed in pursuit of their religious duty of annihilating the Jewish state. As for the rest of the world, it should be grateful to Israel because a nuclear armed Iran would have threatened us all.

The ayatollahs have repeatedly shown their unbridled thirst for violence before, including killing British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and attempting terrorist attacks in our country.

All wars are terrible but sometimes they have to be fought to prevent an even worse evil.

Image: Mehr/Wikimedia Commons

Iran strikes back: but Israel is talking less and hitting harder

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 13 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

When I was woken up this morning at 3am by sirens that sounded across Israel I knew exactly what was happening. Now the sirens are sounding here again as Iran attempts to retaliate against Israel’s deadly, effective strikes against its nuclear weapons enterprise.

But the signs had been piling up for the last few days: International Atomic Energy Agency declaring Iran in breach of its obligations, US pulling non-essential staff out of embassies, hospitals in Israel made ready, a warning issued to Hezbollah in Lebanon against attacking; the list goes on. But the signs of the inevitable had also been there for many years before.

Iran has been a rogue state since the ayatollahs seized power in 1979. The Islamic Revolution that year was built on ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to America’. The US was the ‘Great Satan’, Israel and Britain the ‘Little Satans’. These were not mere words. Iran was behind the suicide bombings that killed 241 US and 58 French military personnel plus six civilians in Beirut in 1983, as well as 63 deaths at the US Embassy there six months before.

Iran’s dirty work was also responsible for the killing of 85 people at a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, as well as 29 in an attack on the Israeli embassy in the same city in 1992. Iran and its proxies killed at least 1,100 British, American and allied troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2007 as well as an unknown number of coalition troops during the Afghanistan campaign. They have targeted US bases, international shipping and oil fields in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

And they have been attacking and killing Israeli soldiers and civilians for decades. That eventually culminated in the October 7 pogrom in Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and many were taken hostage. There is much more to add to Iran’s catalogue of terror: a bomb factory in London, for instance, that was disrupted by British security services in 2015 and alleged attempted terrorist attacks in the UK leading to arrests last month. Iran has also been the major supplier of drones and missiles to Russia which have been used against civilian and military targets in Ukraine.

For decades the Tehran regime has been working to develop nuclear weapons. Although Iran sometimes paused its programme when it feared punitive action from either the US or Israel, it has refused to stop; its upward trajectory has now reached a point where the IAEA believes it now has enough highly enriched uranium to make at least ten bombs.

Iran’s ballistic missile capability has also been proceeding apace, giving it a nuclear capability to span the region, and of course there are also other more covert means of delivering nuclear weapons. Until recently the missing part of the intelligence jigsaw was weaponisation, the ability to turn fissile material into a viable bomb. Today Israeli prime minister Netanyahu revealed that Iran has indeed been working on that important final step.

With all diplomatic pathways to prevent Iran becoming a nuclear armed state closed off, Israel had no choice but to attack. The alternative would have been unthinkable: a regime that has repeatedly proven its capacity for unlimited violence acquiring nuclear weapons capability.

But Iran’s dictators are now in a desperate situation. Israel has decapitated their armed forces and destroyed significant parts of their offensive capability. The IDF will continue to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and to degrade its capacity to strike, although we don’t yet know whether it will be completely neutralised.

If not, like Hitler in his bunker, the unhinged ayatollahs might try to lash out at oil states in the region – either with their own remaining armoury and or using what terrorist proxies remain to them. They might even attack US bases in the Middle East, which they have threatened to do, even though they know that could bring about their Armageddon.

All of that might lead to insurrection in the country. Much of the population in recent years has reached new heights of hatred for rulers that have oppressed, imprisoned, tortured, murdered and impoverished them. But it is far from clear that there is a viable opposition able to step up; one scenario is perhaps some kind of military coup.

Until then Iran and Israel will trade blows: but my money is on Israel talking less and hitting harder.

Khamenei and his Guards are militarily defeated. The rest is up to Iranians

Article published in The Daily Express, 1 June 2025. © Richard Kemp

Operation Rising Lion has inflicted on Iran the most grievous penalty possible in Middle Eastern culture: humiliation. And the ayatollahs’ attempts to restore honour have only led to even more humiliation. Their retaliation so far has been ineffectual.

Three hundred and fifty ballistic missiles each containing half a ton of high explosives as well as more than 100 drones have killed 24 Israeli civilians and damaged or destroyed a few buildings. Each of these deaths is a tragedy, but this is hardly the devastation repeatedly promised by Khamenei and his henchmen following Israel’s pre-emptive attack. The IDF has shot down around 90 per cent of missiles fired from Iran and only about 5-10 per cent have hit residential areas.

The sporadic missile attacks we have seen so far, only 30-60 in each barrage, were always far less likely to overwhelm Israeli air defences than a smaller number of mass strikes combined with drone swarms. IDF interdiction may have prevented hundreds being fired at a time, but it seems almost as if the Iranians have been trying to show strength to their own people rather than having any real hope of inflicting severe damage on Israel.

They have a dire need to show such strength because all they have shown so far is weakness. Israel has total superiority over Iranian air space. IDF planes can fly as freely over Tehran as they can over Tel Aviv. The ayatollahs have been unable to protect even the upper levels of their military command, which has been decimated almost at a stroke. This is unprecedented in the annals of warfare.

The same goes for some of the most important nuclear scientists who should have been among the most protected people in the country. Heavily guarded nuclear sites have been repeatedly struck, as has energy infrastructure. Substantial numbers of ballistic missiles and drones have been destroyed before they could be launched. Israeli special forces have been operating on the ground in Iran with impunity and the extent of intelligence penetration of the regime and its military seems breathtaking.

An evacuation order from Israel is enough to see huge numbers of Tehran’s citizens on the move. In short, the regime has lost sovereignty over its own territory. Can it survive this and the even more powerful blows that are likely to come? Israel is a long way from the culminating point of its military domination. We have already seen protesters on the streets in large numbers, chanting “death to Khamenei” and “death to the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]”. Multiple car bombs have exploded near government buildings.

Israel denies involvement, so who is doing it? There are many underground groups representing various factions in Iran and they will certainly be emboldened by the increasingly glaring weakness of the regime. The army, not thought to be the greatest fans of Khamenei or his IRGC, perhaps might step into the breach.

Israel is not seeking to impose a new government on the people of Iran. But as a by-product of its actions in the last few days, for the first time since 1979 it is giving an opportunity to Iranians to replace the widely hated dictators with whatever leadership they themselves decide. Prime Minister Netanyahu has appealed directly to the Iranian people to unite against the regime and free themselves from oppression, a message met with widespread enthusiasm among many Iranians.

Other world leaders should also do what they can to encourage an end to the rule of the ayatollahs that have been responsible for so much bloodshed, repression and instability, rather than more empty talk about the dangers of a nuclear Iran accompanied by contradictory calls for de-escalation.

Britain is inciting violence with sanctions against Israeli ministers

Article published by Ynetnews.com, 12June 2025. © Richard Kemp

The British government has sanctioned two Israeli ministers for incitement to violence. By this despicable action against the State of Israel it is they who are inciting violence, both at home and abroad.

First, they are guilty of the most appalling double standards. The British, along with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Norway, indict Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich but completely ignore the dictatorial Palestinian Authority’s encouragement, financing and glorification of terrorism.

Why has UK Foreign Minister David Lammy not sanctioned their ministers and officials, at the very least? What about Mahmoud Abbas, time-expired PA president and infamous Holocaust denier, who has praised Hamas’s genocidal invasion on 7th October? Instead, accusing Israel and not the PA, Lammy is de facto approving of their violent actions and encouraging them to do more. There is no other way to read it.

Lammy does concede a half-hearted condemnation of Hamas and says he wants the hostages returned. But his actions say something entirely different. With Britain and its four international accomplices ganging up on Israel, they are sabotaging a potential peace deal and hostage exchange in Gaza by giving Hamas hope at a time they sorely need it.

The fact that Hamas applauded an earlier statement from Britain, France and Canada threatening sanctions should surely have told Lammy something. Instead he demands that Israel end the conflict. What does that mean? Israel withdraws from Gaza, Hamas survives and the hostages remain captive. That is the only alternative to prosecuting the war until Hamas is destroyed or forced to give up.

The British Foreign Office cites the two ministers’ inflammatory rhetoric. That is undeniable, but how many other government ministers around the world has the UK sanctioned for such words, and you can be sure there is no shortage of targets for such ire if they wanted to find them. But unlike many of them, Israel is a democracy with a hugely powerful judicial system. It can itself deal with such allegations if they amount to a crime, without the former Mandatory power shoving its nose in where it has no business to be.

Israel has done exactly that many times before. Indeed Ben-Gvir was convicted in 2007 for incitement and support for extremist groups. In any case, should Britain really be casting the first stone? Don’t forget that until 2017 the murderous IRA terrorist leader, Martin McGuinness, was Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, part of the UK’s apparatus of government. His crimes were infinitely worse than anything Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have been accused of. And McGuinness was far from the only former terrorist to hold political office in the UK, and many are still in power.

The reality is that none of this is about Israel. It’s all about British domestic politics and a Labour Party plunging in the polls and desperate to shore up its position ahead of the next elections. Continue reading