Kemp says Gaza civilian casualties “historically low”
Colonel Richard Kemp is touring Australia at the moment at the invitation of the right leaning Australian Jewish Association.
The former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and head of the international terrorism team at the British Joint Intelligence Committee has praised the performance of the IDF in Gaza.
Colonel Richard Kemp is touring Australia at the moment at the invitation of the right leaning Australian Jewish Association.
He’ll be speaking at several screenings of the documentary “Whose Land”, alongside the producer High Kitson, which examines the various claims to the land of Israel.
Col Kemp says he hopes to combat the disinformation and misinformation about the way Israel is conducting the conflict in Gaza.
“There’s a very prevalent view that Israel is acting unlawfully, committing war crimes, and depriving people of Gaza of humanitarian aid. I’ve been in Israel for the last six months, including on the ground in Gaza and I’d like to explain the reality“ he said.
Kemp said it’s clear the Hamas strategy is deliberately aimed at forcing Israel to kill Gazan civilians, because that then results in international outrage.
“My experience of monitoring the IDF actions, is that Israel is taking absolutely unprecedented and extremely effective measures to minimize civilian deaths. Despite what many people proclaim, who know nothing about it, [is that] Israel has achieved what I estimate to be the lowest proportion of civilian to military casualties in any conflict in modern times” he said.
Kemp estimates the IDF has probably killed around 0.8 civilians for every Hamas kill, while in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ratios were five to one three to one.
“The measures they take have not been seen by any other army anywhere in history” he said.
Kemp’s very public support of Israel in this conflict makes him unusual among senior western military figures, something he ascribes to a combination of ignorance and fear.
“The minute you raise your head above the parapet and speak in favour of Israel … you get your head shot off. There’s a massive counter fire against anything that anyone says that isn’t objective in relation to this and most people don’t want that” he said.
Kemp wants people to stand up and be counter the lies and disinformation about Israel and the Gaza conflict.
“I think it’s very important that people do that not only for Israel … but also because of the intimidation, the bullying, and the threats against Jewish people in Australia” he said.
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