Article published in The New York Times, 26 June 2015. © Richard Kemp

As a British officer who had more than his share of fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans, it pains me greatly to see words and actions from the United Nations that can only provoke further violence and loss of life. The United Nations Human Rights Council report on last summer’s conflict in Gaza, prepared by Judge Mary McGowan Davis, and published on Monday, will do just that.

The report starts by attributing responsibility for the conflict to Israel’s “protracted occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” as well as the blockade of Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza 10 years ago. In 2007 it imposed a selective blockade only in response to attacks by Hamas and the import of munitions and military matériel from Iran. The conflict last summer, which began with a dramatic escalation in rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians, was a continuation of Hamas’s war of aggression.

In an unusual concession, the report suggests that Hamas may have been guilty of war crimes, but it still legitimizes Hamas’s rocket and tunnel attacks and even sympathizes with the geographical challenges in launching rockets at Israeli civilians: “Gaza’s small size and its population density make it particularly difficult for armed groups always to comply” with the requirement not to launch attacks from civilian areas.

There is no such sympathy for Israel. Judge Davis accuses the Israel Defense Forces of “serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.” Yet no evidence is put forward to substantiate these accusations. It is as though the drafters of the report believe that any civilian death in war must be illegal.

Referring to cases in which Israeli attacks killed civilians in residential areas, Judge Davis says that in the absence of contrary information available to her commission, there are strong indications that the attacks were disproportionate, and therefore war crimes. But all we get is speculation and the presumption of guilt.

The report is characterized by a lack of understanding of warfare. That is hardly surprising. Judge Davis admitted, when I testified Continue reading →

Article published in The Jerusalem Post, 28 March 2015.

By RICHARD KEMP, CHRIS DRIVER-WILLIAMS, JOSEPH RASKAS

Legislators weighing a vote on whether to curtail or continue sanctions against Iran should view the nuclear talks in the context of the regime’s continued confrontation with the West – like Iranian leaders do.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has consistently responded to American overtures of peace with brutal force. When Ayatollah Khomenei sensed weakness in president Jimmy Carter, he increased hostile actions toward the US.

Now, when Washington is downsizing the production of aircraft carriers, Tehran is conducting exercises to blow them up.

Iran’s militant Islamic creed promotes confrontation with the West. Immediately after 9/11, some in the policy community suggested the US and Iran shared a mutual interest in stabilizing the region. Only later, when it was irrefutably discovered that Iran was facilitating both sides of the conflict and funneling weapons to insurgent groups that killed US and allied troops, did the idea fall into disfavor. It should not be forgotten that Iranian-sponsored attacks killed an estimated 1,100 US soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2010.

Currently, the US is conducting air strikes in Iraq and Syria in effective cooperation with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to dislodge marauding Sunni militias.

Yet, depending on further US action in Iraq and Syria, Iran will likely resume proxy attacks against American troops.

Because Iranian foreign policy is driven by bellicosity toward the US, it is by definition impossible for Iranian leaders to abandon hostility against the West without undermining the raison d’etre of the Islamic regime.

America’s traditional Sunni Arab allies have cast doubt on whether or not Washington is serious when it comes to combating Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East. They view US policies as accommodating, rather than confronting, Iranian behavior.

In Egypt, hitherto US support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its deposed leader, Mohammed Morsi, is perceived by moderate Sunni states as bad policy implemented for bad reasons. Current Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Sisi has expressed bewilderment over the lack of American support for his government’s battle against the Iranian-funded Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip and against radical Islamic groups taking up arms in the Sinai Peninsula. Continue reading →

BY COLONEL RICHARD KEMP CBE

GENEVA, 20 FEBRUARY 2015

I was a Colonel in the British Infantry. Much of my 29 years’ military service was spent countering terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Macedonia. I was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan in 2003. I fought in the 1990-91 Gulf War and commanded British troops in Bosnia with the UN Protection Force and in Cyprus with the UN Force.

From 2002 – 2005 I was seconded to the UK Cabinet Office working on intelligence relating to international and domestic terrorism. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were among the extremist groups that I monitored and assessed in this role, and I had access to all secret intelligence available to the UK on these and other Palestinian extremist groups.

I was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen in 1994 for counter terrorist intelligence services and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006 also for counter terrorist intelligence services.

I was in Israel for much of the summer 2014 Gaza conflict, specifically from 14 July – 8 August and from 27 August – 5 September. During these periods I met, was briefed by and questioned Israeli political leaders, senior officials and Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldiers from general officer down to private soldier. I spent a considerable amount of this time close to the Gaza border where I also met, was briefed by, questioned and observed many IDF officers and soldiers immediately before and after they had been in combat.

I was in Israel also for much of the Gaza conflict in 2012. I visited IDF units and held meetings with many IDF officers, government officials and political leaders before and since then. I have been acquainted with the IDF and the Israeli intelligence services for many years, both Continue reading →

Article published in The Mirror, 16 February 2015. © Richard Kemp

The kind of attacks that we saw in Copenhagen and in Paris could easily happen here in the UK and probably will.

Many British youths have been radicalised in their mosques, at university, by the Internet or in prison.

A worrying number have already been drawn to travel to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and in Syria.

Some will return, blooded and experienced in killing, with the intention of attacking what they see as enemies of Islam.

These are the most dangerous. But others may also try and have a go as we have seen in the recent past. Their attacks, though perhaps less proficient, can also be deadly.

The targets will include those who have condemned violent jihadism as well as soldiers, police and Jews.

The police and intelligence and security services are on the alert for these people and have had a huge amount of success over recent years – saving many lives.

But some will get through the net.

It is the responsibility of members of our Islamic community to report those who they suspect of planning an attack.

Some, often courageously, have done so in the past. All who support the rule of law, freedom and democracy, should follow their example.

Without their help we are increasingly vulnerable to disaffected Muslim youths who want to copy the attackers in Denmark and France and lash out at Western society.

I don’t want to spread undue alarm but the reality is that we are in a downward spiral of jihadist violence which is set to continue as people here at home copy what is going on elsewhere in Europe – encouraged by the Islamic State death cult in the Middle East.

The ultimate solution can only be visible defeat of the Islamic State which will discourage their followers.

For now, the government seems to lack the military and diplomatic commitment necessary to bring this about.

Article published in The Mirror, 5 February 2015. © Richard Kemp

The execution of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh is deeply shocking but not surprising says Colonel Richard Kemp

The latest act of barbarity by the Islamic State is deeply shocking but not at all surprising.

Those who thought they might release the Jordanian pilot have not grasped the nature of the Islamic State.

They want to provoke Jordan, as the Hashemite Kingdom and neighbouring Lebanon are next on the target list.

Fortunately Israel, with her powerful defence forces, will step in to defend Jordan against attack.

But Jordan is one of our closest allies and we must also be prepared to come to their aid.

The burning to death of the brave Jordanian pilot, downed in the fight against the Islamic State, will only boost support for them, especially in Europe.

We will see increasing numbers of young Muslims travelling from London, Paris and Berlin to join in the orgy of torture, death and destruction.

Even worse we will see many of them coming home, blooded, battle-hardened and under orders to inflict the kind of violence we have seen recently in Paris, Sydney, Ottawa and on the streets of London when Drummer Lee Rigby was butchered.

Violence and victory are vital to the Islamic State’s strategy of expansion around the globe – not just in the Middle East but in North Africa, in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

The only way to undermine their growing support is to inflict repeated crushing and humiliating defeats on them – and to be seen to do so.

That cannot be done by politicians’ hand-wringing and fine words.

It can only be done by tough military action.

Britain is punching well below her weight in the war against the Islamic State and must send more forces, both in the air and on the ground – now.

To wait until the summer, when the election is over, may seem attractive to vacillating politicians worried about their votes.

But it puts the security of our country, our people and our allies at much greater risk.

Tepid tutting won’t stop the flow of jihadists to Syria, but strong action might

By
RICHARD KEMP AND JOSEPH RASKAS

Article published in The Wall Street Journal, 18 December 2014

For decades, European governments have made multiculturalism an integral part of their social agendas, particularly with respect to immigrant Muslim communities. The core values were supposed to be pluralism and individual freedom, but in practice multiculturalism has only stoked radical Islam’s unyielding nature and enabled it to subvert European society.

Many immigrant Muslim groups have not only been able to segregate themselves from the larger community. They have also made strident demands of national lawmakers and local authorities for, among other things, the right to exercise Shariah law, to impose Islamic educational principles and to prioritize perceived Muslim sensitivities over Europe’s liberal norms.

For many European Islamists, the urge to respond to the call of jihad is strengthened by the governments in Europe that legitimize their grievances. When demonstrators in July chanted “Death to the Jews” while waving the black flag of Islamic State, they gathered freely—not in Syria or Iraq, but in the Hague, where their right to support that genocidal group was protected.

Islamic State has declared, and capably demonstrated, its intentions to achieve genocidal goals. The group espouses an extreme form of Sunni Islam, which it pursues brutally through mass executions, crucifixions and beheadings, and answers to the word of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a zealot so radical that even al Qaeda has denounced him, albeit for its own tactical purpose.

For now, Islamic State’s efforts are focused mainly on Syria and Iraq, where it has conquered large swaths of territory and butchered non-Muslims, Sunni “apostates” and Shiite Muslims. If not confronted, however, it’s only a matter of time before it turns its attention outward. This week’s hostage-taking in Sydney is an early warning of the group’s magnetic effect on violent residents of the West. With more than 15,000 European jihadists now fighting with Islamic State, some of these radical soldiers are bound to return home, bloodied, carrying crucial military experience, and with blueprints and orders for further destruction and conquest.

More than 40 countries have already joined an anti-Islamic State coalition. The U.N. Security Council has adopted a binding resolution compelling states to prevent their nationals from joining jihadists in Iraq and Syria. That’s a start.

Meanwhile, recent reports indicate that hundreds, if not thousands, of European jihadists are becoming disillusioned with Islamic State. According to media reports, Continue reading →