Former Commander of British troops: “IDF is the world’s most humane army”

EUROPEAN COALITION for ISRAEL – Press Relese

Brussels, January 31st, 2024 – ”

“No army takes more precaution than the Israel Defense forces in order to prevent civil casualties while their enemy, terrorist organization Hamas, does the exact opposite. By maximising the number of deaths among their own civilian population Hamas knows that at the end of the day the international community will scrutinise Israel while giving them (Hamas) a free pass. This way the international community, especially the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, is incentivizing terrorist organizations around the world. Western governments should instead support Israel, their natural ally, in their battle against this EU-listed terrorist organisation.”

These were the words of the former Commander of the British troops in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp as he spoke to Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon. The previous night he had addressed a private dinner for EU diplomats with the same message. “While Israel has reduced the number of Hamas militants by half, the only hope of Hamas for surviving is now to appeal to international media, NGO’s and UN agencies which are hostile to Israel”, he said.

The visit to Brussels came only a few days after the International Court of Justice had cleared Israel from South Africa’s genocide allegations and at the same time as a growing number of western countries have frozen their funding to UNWRA due the active involvement of some of their employees with the Hamas atrocities on October 7.

Commenting on the ICJ court case Colone Kemp pointed out how the reality is the exact opposite. Israel is defending itself against a genocidal terrorist organisation which in its own wordings and concrete action is aiming at the destruction of the Jewish state. As for the defunding of UNWRA, he agreed that the UN agency needs to be completely reformed or replaced with a new organization in order to have a future in Gaza.

The event in the European Parliament was hosted by MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen together with the European Coalition for Israel and the American Jewish Committee. You can watch Colonel Kemp, Danish MEP Anders Vistisen and ECI’s Tomas Sandell discuss the situation in Gaza in the monthly European Report talk show which was recorded in Brussels on Tuesday.

In the talk show, as well as the other two events, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell reminded the audience of the ongoing captivity of the remaining 132 Israeli hostages, among them the one-year-old Kfir Bibas.

“We cannot give ourselves any rest before all the hostages are free and back in safety”, he said. Appealing to the women in the audience, he encouraged them to contact the mother of the current Emir of Qatar, Sheikha Moza, a well-known voice for children’s rights, to use her influence to secure an immediate release of all the remaining hostages.

Addressing the former Foreign Minister of Poland, now a Member of the European Parliament, Ms Anna Fotyga, who attended the briefing, he said, “Please would you appeal to Sheikha Moza, as a woman to woman, mother to mother, to use her voice on behalf of the hostages.”