Category Archives: Articles

Articles

Ukraine is losing, but the UK must stand by it

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 28 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

As we look back at 2023, despite all of the problems we have faced, such as economic trauma and a spiralling immigration crisis, Britain can take at least some satisfaction in our role in the two most significant conflicts this decade and perhaps of this century so far: Ukraine and Gaza. But much greater challenges lie ahead.

In Ukraine, Putin’s leading propagandist just gave a back-handed compliment to the UK, blaming us for the latest blow to Russia’s Black Sea fleet with the claim that it was a British-supplied Storm Shadow missile that struck the Novocherkassk landing ship in the Crimean port of Feodosia on Boxing Day. Devastating though that attack was, however, the prospects for Ukraine in this war remain bleak.

Kyiv’s long-fought counteroffensive has failed. At tremendous cost and despite heroic fighting, it has taken little ground and there is no immediate prospect of further advances. The opposite, in fact. While defending against Ukrainian efforts to break through their lines, Moscow has also been on the offensive and on Christmas Day its forces appear to have captured the town of Marinka in eastern Donbas. This would be the greatest battlefield success on either side since Russia captured Bakhmut in May. It provides a pivot point to allow Moscow’s forces to attack Ukrainian defences further south.

But it has even greater strategic significance; it is yet another body blow to Ukraine’s international support, which has been flagging for months, with worse to come. The US has hit a political wall, with the delicate bipartisan support breaking down. It will be difficult for presidential candidates, in an election year, to justify spending more billions on Ukraine while Americans suffer from the legacy of a year of high inflation.

The EU has also hit a wall. Yes, it can work around Hungary’s Viktor Orban by funding trusts with all member states bar one. But across Europe, nationalist parties that need to gain electoral traction by focusing on their own people are now on the rise as the liberal international order is increasingly brought into question. As with the Continue reading →

Articles

Hamas’s antisemitic influence is even bigger than the Nazis’

Article published in The Jerusalem Post, 22 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

Hamas is by far the most successful antisemitic entity in the world today.

Beyond all competition, it has mobilized Jew-hatred around the world, using the State of Israel both as its target and its primary weapon. By waging war against Israel over many years, Hamas has inspired and energized international organizations such as the UN and the EU; governments and parliaments; the Western media; university authorities, professors, and students; human rights groups; businesses; and large sectors of the general population.

All dance to its pernicious tune: some out of malevolence, some out of ignorance, and others blindly jumping on the virtue-signaling woke bandwagon.

Consequently, the global scope and scale of Hamas’s antisemitic influence dramatically exceeds even the Nazis from whom it takes much of its own inspiration.

The foundations of Hamas’s success lie in the Soviet Union. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, when Israel aligned with the West rather than the USSR, the Soviet leadership decided to undermine American and British influence in the Middle East by fomenting a war of national liberation against Israel. Moscow invented a Palestinian national identity in order to turn religious malice against the Jews of Israel into a struggle over land, a cause it correctly understood would gain much greater traction and support in the West than a religious war.

That developed into the most successful slur campaign in history, giving rise to accusations of land theft, unlawful occupation, illegal settlement, apartheid, and all the other lies and distortions that are now accepted as undisputed facts by so many around the world. Decades of this anti-Israel propaganda have taken us to the dangerous position we are in today.

That means that whatever is done to Israel and its Jews is justified as legitimate resistance. I’ve even heard some saying that the people of Continue reading →

Articles

Time to attack Houthi assets in Yemen

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

The way to respond to a terrorist group that is menacing shipping in one of the world’s most important sea routes is not to just keep shooting down cheap drones with ultra-expensive naval missiles.

The purpose of the just-announced US led coalition in the Red Sea is to protect shipping and provide reassurance to ship owners and insurers. But however many naval assets are deployed, the Houthis seem likely to keep attacking as long as they have missiles and the shipping companies are likely to keep re-routing their vessels round Africa, adding weeks to their journey and pushing up prices of oil, gas and other commodities.

Since the current upsurge of aggression began, the Houthis have fired over 100 drones and missiles, targeting 10 commercial vessels, according to the Pentagon. They are still holding the cargo vessel Galaxy Leader seized on 19 November, with 25 crew members unjustly detained. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin describes this assault on international shipping and global commerce as ‘unprecedented’.

That simply cannot go on and the way to put a stop to it is by directly attacking the Houthis in Yemen. Their leadership can be targeted and military infrastructure such as missile systems, drone storage sites, radars and coastal guns hit by missile and air strikes. Aside from other ships in the naval coalition, the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group is now positioned off the coast of Yemen and should have an arsenal ready for such action.

The need to take on the Houthis goes beyond their recent targeting of shipping in the Red Sea. They are an ongoing regional threat, having attacked Saudi Arabia as well as Israel. An intensive assault against them would not only degrade their offensive capabilities and perhaps deter further aggression outside Yemen’s borders, it would also give Tehran a bloody nose. The Houthis are effectively Iranian proxies, with their drones and ballistic and cruise missiles believed to be supplied by Iran. Continue reading →

Articles

UK’s former defence secretary has played right into Hamas’s hands

Article published in The Jewish Chronicle, 19 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

Well intentioned though he may be, former defence secretary Ben Wallace, in an article in the Telegraph, gets much wrong about the Gaza conflict and risks stoking antisemitic hate. He supports the eradication of Hamas but says Israel is doing it all wrong. He doesn’t explain in any detail how they should do it differently. What he does offer are lessons from Northern Ireland. But Wallace doesn’t seem to recognise that Gaza is nothing like Northern Ireland. Not only that, he draws the wrong conclusions about how the IRA terrorist campaign ended. He seems to think it was because the Nationalist population ‘recognised that the IRA didn’t have its wellbeing and economic interests at heart’, which it was not. He seems to imply from this misunderstanding that Israel should be prioritising winning the hearts and minds of the civilian population over destroying Hamas.

The reality is that the vast majority of the Nationalist community never supported IRA violence but were largely powerless to do anything about it. On the other hand the people of Gaza, as well as the people of Judea and Samaria — the West Bank — are overwhelmingly behind Hamas’s violence. Nothing like the level of visceral hatred for Israel and the Jews that exists in these territories was ever present against the British in Northern Ireland. It is virtually bred into Palestinians almost from birth. Despite what Wallace suggests, nothing can change that, at least for generations.

The IRA was in fact beaten by British military and police action and almost total intelligence penetration of their terrorist networks, not by some kind of popular uprising against them. Likewise, Hamas can only be defeated by overwhelming force. It was never necessary to use the same level of violence against the IRA as it is against Hamas, because their very nature, and the environments of the two conflicts, were utterly different. Northern Ireland, where I did seven operational tours of duty, was and remains a part of the UK, with a constant level of policing and security. Gaza on the other hand is effectively a separate country, and has been totally controlled in all aspects by Hamas.

Hamas fights among civilians and designs its tactics to ensure Israel kills as many civilians as possible. The IDF on the other hand have become world leaders at attacking an enemy while minimising the extent of civilian casualties. I was in Israel a few years back with a delegation of about 15 former generals from democracies around the world. Every one of them said their own armies would not be able to achieve Israel’s standards of avoiding unnecessary civilian deaths.

Wallace does not appear to accept this, writing that Israel is carrying out indiscriminate attacks. That is the opposite of reality. According to a former US State Department official and Marine Corps fighter pilot, Israel is using a greater percentage of precision aerial weapons in this conflict than any country in the history of urban warfare. Israel only carries out attacks against terrorists and does all it can to warn civilians to leave an area that is going to be targeted. That is their obligation under the laws of war, but inexplicably Wallace suggests this very action breaks those laws by ‘forced movement of civilians’. Hamas of course consistently does the opposite, often forcing civilians to remain in an area they know is about to be attacked.

Wallace also suggests there is a danger of Israel breaching the Geneva Conventions by disproportionate use of force. Proportionality has a specific meaning in humanitarian law: an attack may only be carried out if the expected harm to civilians is not excessive in relation to the expected military advantage. He cannot possibly know whether or not this is the case and should not make such irresponsible allegations. If he is suggesting that Israel is killing a disproportionate number of civilians compared to combatant casualties, again he cannot know.

The former Defence Secretary appears to accuse Israel of illegal collective punishment of the civilian population. This is not accurate, either. If he’s talking about Israel denying or restricting goods required to alleviate civilian suffering which could fall into the hands of the enemy, that is both necessary and lawful under the Geneva Conventions, provided it is not intended specifically to harm civilians. I know Wallace does not intend to do either, but his words play right into Hamas’s hands and risk fuelling the sort of antisemitic hatred that we have already seen too much of on the streets of Britain.

 

Articles

Ben Wallace is wrong: Israel’s tactics are the only way to crush Hamas

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 18 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

In his Telegraph article today, Ben Wallace repeatedly misunderstands the situation in Gaza. To accuse Israel of ‘a killing rage’ and ‘indiscriminate’ assaults is untrue and unfair to an army that surpasses all others in its ability to attack an enemy while doing everything possible to minimise civilian casualties. As General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a few years ago: ‘Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties. In fact, we sent a team of senior officers to get the lessons from the measures they took to prevent civilian casualties.’

I have been in Israel and in the Gaza Strip since this war began, and I know that the measures Israel took back then are the measures they are taking now; except they have been improved on by further battlefield experience in the intervening years.

Despite that, yes, many innocent civilians have been tragically killed. But Hamas plans all of its operations with one overriding aim: to force Israel to kill civilians in Gaza. That is an even higher priority for them than actually killing IDF soldiers and civilians, because it achieves their objective of delegitimising, vilifying and isolating Israel among the world community.

Wallace accuses the IDF of breaking the Geneva Conventions, using disproportionate force, collective punishment and forced movement of civilians. How can he know whether or not the force Israel uses is disproportionate?

Proportionality has a specific definition in the Geneva Conventions. It means that an attack may only be carried out if the expected harm to civilians is not excessive in relation to the expected military advantage. How is he in a position to judge that? Perhaps he is thinking about the civilian to combatant casualty ratio, in which Israel has a better track record than most other armies in the world – but that statistic is impossible for him to know. Unless of course he is working on Hamas figures, which are likely to be inflated, take no account of the many Palestinian civilian deaths they themselves have inflicted, and make no distinction between civilian and combatant deaths.

Where too is evidence of collective punishment? If military operations that bring death, suffering and destruction on civilians is collective punishment, then that applies to virtually every war that has ever been fought. If he means denying or restricting supply of commodities needed by civilians, but likely to be used by enemy forces, then that is permissible under the laws of war.

The idea that Israel is somehow breaking the Conventions by forced movement of civilians is also incorrect. Under the laws of war combatants on both sides are required, where possible, to warn civilians of an impending attack and take whatever steps they can to move Continue reading →

Articles

Shijaiyah: In one of history’s most treacherous battlefields, friendly fire is almost a given

Article published by Ynetnews.com,  18 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

I can’t envisage a more terrible military tragedy in this situation than the killing of Israeli hostages by IDF soldiers last week in Shijaiyah. It is of course unimaginably heartbreaking for the three men’s families and friends, but also for the soldiers that pulled the trigger. Now all of them will have to live with this nightmare for the rest of their lives.

And, sickeningly, the usual suspects in the media have gleefully rushed to judgment, wheeling out so-called experts to say how this tragedy shows just how trigger-happy, ill-disciplined and gung-ho the IDF is. That’s because they don’t understand the situation in Gaza, have limited understanding of hard fighting on the ground and only too often want the IDF to be the bad guys.

As for myself, I am always surprised that disasters like this don’t happen more often when you think about the confusion, danger, fear, speed and unpredictability of events as well as the sheer number of sometimes uncontrollable moving parts that make up ground combat. Indeed, I was involved in a blue-on-blue some years ago when my troops and I opened fire on some of our own soldiers. As with the hostages in Gaza we had misidentified them as terrorists.

Like Hamas, the terrorists we faced were fighting on their own turf and adept at sophisticated deception to drag us into their killing zones. In Gaza, the hostages were waving a makeshift white flag and calling out in Hebrew. One escaped into a building and then re-emerged before running back. Each of these actions could easily have been read as a dangerous terrorist ploy and presumably were by the soldiers on the ground.

There is every reason for that. Hamas has previously feigned surrender and then tried to kill IDF troops moving to capture them. Continue reading →

Articles

Defenceless Ireland couldn’t stop Father Christmas crossing its airspace even if it wanted to

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 14 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

Speaking in the Dail yesterday, Leo Varadkar confirmed Father Christmas has been given permission to enter Irish air space from December 24 to 25 this year. Perhaps he thinks that will make amends for past misdemeanours, including his admission of pulling Santa’s beard off in a supermarket when he was five.

Although Varadkar thanked the Irish Department of Agriculture and Revenue Commissioners for allowing the necessary exemptions, if we assume the toy-laden sleigh will first touch down in Britain and Northern Ireland before flying on to the Republic, how can this be made to square with the Windsor Framework? In any case, the North Pole is not in the European Union, so the sweetmeats on board will presumably have to be labelled ‘not for EU’. I am sure we will not be witnessing any double standards from the Irish capital.

Even more seriously, I hope Varadkar has been coordinating the arrival of Santa with the RAF. After all, without an air force, Ireland is unable to monitor its own skies, far less police them. Under a once-secret defence pact between our countries that has been in place since the 1950s, the job of defending Ireland falls on the UK. British jets frequently have to get airborne to intercept Russian planes entering Irish airspace. The last thing we need is for the RAF to have to scramble on Christmas Eve to deal with an unidentified flying object over Dublin.

Our aerial assistance comes without any price tag despite Ireland being the second richest country in the EU by GDP per capita. Perhaps as a Christmas goodwill gesture, Varadkar could offer at least some reimbursement for the services of the boys in blue. But maybe that’s expecting too much from such a Scrooge-like figure, who once famously pronounced A Christmas Carol to be his least favourite seasonal movie, saying that Tiny Tim ‘should get a job’.

Articles

Israel is flushing Hamas out of Gaza

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 13 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

I was inside the Gaza Strip yesterday and witnessed two terrorist tunnels being destroyed with explosives by IDF engineers in Shejaiya. In the same area of Gaza City a short time later, the IDF suffered one of its deadliest single skirmishes since the ground offensive began, with nine soldiers of the Golani Brigade killed in a gun and explosives battle with terrorists.

Heavy fighting continues in the north and south of Gaza, both above ground and in Hamas’s extensive tunnel network, which – to give you a sense of scale – is assessed to be even more extensive than the London Underground’s 250 miles. The tunnels bring yet another incredibly formidable dimension to urban combat, which is itself among the most challenging of battle environments, characterised by particularly high casualty rates, especially among attacking forces.

I’ve been into those tunnels: they are heavily fortified, concrete lined and with lighting, electric power and air supply. Over two decades they have been constructed using vast sums of money, including international aid that should have been spent on civilian infrastructure, and costing the lives of many Gazans including dozens of children sent underground to work on them.

The IDF’s inexorable advance through Gaza both above and below ground has seen rocket launches into Israel dramatically reduced as terrorist freedom of action is choked off. That said, when I was in Shejaiya a volley was launched from further south, but it was knocked down by Israel’s Iron Dome before it could leave the sky over Gaza.

The terrorist command structure, too, is beginning to break down as senior leaders are killed, though the head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and his henchmen probably remain underground somewhere in the south, no doubt with an eventual exit planned through tunnels beneath the border with Egypt. An increasing number of terrorists have been surrendering, which is an encouraging sign of plunging morale. Continue reading →

Articles

Hamas is only winning in the minds of idiotic young Westerners

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 11 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

You may not realise it from social media and much mainstream media, but Israel is winning decisively in Gaza, with Hamas consistently outgunned and outfought. The butchers of 7th October are beginning to lay down their weapons and surrender in droves or just run away.

While still clearing the enemy out of parts of Gaza City, since the ceasefire ended the IDF’s main effort has switched south into Khan Yunis, Gaza’s second largest town and Hamas’s major stronghold. In a stunning operation last week, IDF ground forces rapidly broke through Hamas defences there, encircled the city, drove a wedge between two major fighting formations and are now launching targeted raids into the heart of the terrorist infrastructure.

The tunnels are being cleared out by specially trained soldiers and dogs, along with robots, and destroyed using explosives and imaginative techniques, potentially including sea water and sponge bombs. Meanwhile the air force, as well as directly supporting ground troops with attack drones, helicopters and combat planes, has been striking at Hamas leaders, intelligence operatives and munitions. The last few days have seen some of the heaviest fighting so far.

The consequences have been devastating for the terrorists. Many have been killed, including battalion commanders who cannot be replaced. In my experience even some of the most hardcore jihadists are only too willing to spill the beans after being taken captive and therefore the growing number of prisoners will give up critical intelligence on operational plans and the whereabouts of senior Hamas leaders.

On top of this military ruination there is a growing resentment within Gaza. Ordinary people know their lives have been devastated and loved ones killed and maimed as a result of Hamas’s actions. Sensing the terrorists’ weakening stranglehold, more and more civilians are speaking out against the oppressive regime in a way that has never before been possible, including, it appears, to TV cameras.

All this signals the beginning of the end for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The fight is not yet over but Israel’s objectives are being met with greater speed and effectiveness than many expected. Wisely, the Israelis took little heed of American and British military experts that urged restraint, advising the IDF not to invade with armoured divisions but instead rely on special forces raids as they themselves had done in Iraq and Afghanistan. That didn’t work there and it wouldn’t have worked in Gaza.

Netanyahu was also right about his strategy for preventing a regional war: go strong and Iran’s proxy terrorist groups will waver. Now Hizballah and its masters in Tehran are clearly shaken as they watch their allies in Gaza being eviscerated. Thus Israel has now Continue reading →

Articles

Houthi militia risk dragging America into a new global war

Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 5 December 2023. © Richard Kemp

The West has allowed a new Al Qaida armed with ballistic missiles to form under its very eyes. After their post-9/11 neutralisation in Afghanistan, the greatest fear of the US and its allies was that it would re-emerge under the protection and with the support of another state, possibly acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, a potential alliance between Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein was one of the main drivers of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

That same nightmare scenario now exists with the Houthis. They have seized control over much of Yemen’s state apparatus. They are sponsored by Iran, which funds them and has armed them with ballistic and cruise missiles and attack drones, some with ranges exceeding 2,000 kilometres – the operational distance to Israeli territory – as well as anti-ship missiles, remote controlled maritime attack vessels and sea mines.

Since mid October the Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel in ‘solidarity’ with Iran’s other proxies, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. On the 31st a ballistic missile was intercepted by the IDF’s Arrow air defence system above the Earth’s atmosphere, marking the first ever example of warfare in space. Since the Gaza war began the Houthis have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea, some with apparent Israeli links.

This is by no means the first time the Houthis have attacked international commercial shipping: in 2016, they attempted to strike two US warships in the Red Sea. They’ve also launched multiple drone and missile strikes against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some causing significant destruction.

The most recent Houthi attacks were against the USS Carney and several commercial vessels on Sunday. This was a narrow miss: if the American warship had been hit, the West could have been dragged into further conflict. That of course remains a distinct possibility unless the Houthis can be deterred or de-fanged. And then of course there is the immense damage that these attacks are doing to global trade, with the Red Sea providing a vital maritime transit route connecting the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean.

All of that brings into sharp focus a wider Western strategic naivety in the region. Much of the blame lies at the door of Joe Biden. Soon after he took office, without any apparent thought for the geopolitical implications, he de-listed the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation; largely, it must be assumed, because his nemesis Donald Trump proscribed them in the first place. Continue reading →