Lt. Col. Richard Kemp Rises to Occasion Again Defending Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

                                    Lt. Col Richard Kemp b: April 14, 1959

Here's a man who stands on his ground in defending Israel twice now that I know of.  which seems to be an unfathomable effort for most people world-wide today.  He came to be the best of the UK's strident advocates of the IDF today.  

I wrote about him extensively  in 2021 about how he stood up against the UN's Goldstone Report of April 2009.  I remember first being impressed that he knew so well the lengths the IDF went to in following every code of an ethical war-be as it is;  a war.  He was a soldier, better than that, a Lt. Col in another country, Britain's army.  

He is keen to point out that the IDF is “very similar to us”, not surprising because of its early history and what it learned from the soldiers of the British mandate. But he adds that its hallmark is “an independence of thought and refusal to be contained by tradition and history”, frequently a characteristic of the British army, too.

Primarily, Kemp suggests, the ability to “think creatively” is a trademark of the IDF.                                                  

                                Lt. Col. Richard Kemp in 2003 at 44

Let's backtrack just a bit. Richard Kemp, a British Army veteran, served in active duty from 1977 to 2006, during which time he held the position of an infantry battalion commanding officer. His tenure included leading Operation Fingal in Afghanistan from July 2003 to November 2003.

And that's where Kemp comes in. In front of the UN Commission on Human Rights he said: "I have first-hand knowledge of what Hamas and the IDF have done and I gave evidence to the Commission of Inquiry. I told them from my professional experience the reality on the border, and they did not listen to one word that I said. This report is a tissue of lies, abuse, prejudice and distortion and is not worth the paper it is printed on."

"I told the UNHRC that Hamas’ objective is to slaughter and kidnap Israeli civilians on the border. Hamas is the only army in history deliberately inciting its enemy to kill its own people. The United Nations has played straight into the hands of Hamas," Kemp also said.

"The UNHRC has failed to condemn the oppressor of the Palestinian people – Hamas. Those are the people getting the pass by the UNHRC. The UN has played directly into the hands of Hamas and the UNHRC has become an instrument of Hamas terrorism."

Children of Palestinian population already wearing Hamas headbands

In the mid-1990s, Kemp visited Israel for the first time, making two holiday visits to the country. But it was not until 2002, when he was working on secondment to the Cabinet Office, that he had his first professional encounters with Israel — and that was in the delicate field of counter-terrorism.

Kemp provided intelligence assessments on international terrorism to the prime minister in the immediate aftermath of 9/11; and because he was aware of Israel dealing with Hizbollah, Hamas, and al-Qaeda, he sought to incorporate its experience into British responses.

It was not all plain sailing, he says. “There was an institutional opposition to Israel within the Foreign Office. That remains today, and they have failed to keep up with events, and recognise that the Arab world is changing, too. Israel is no longer the primary enemy in the region — it is Iran.”

Kemp was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Military Division, on 25 April 1994 in recognition of his intelligence work in Northern Ireland in 1993, and was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery for service as a commander in the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. He was promoted Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Military Division, in the New Year Honours 2006. He received an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University in 2015.             

    Hamas terrorists hiding behind black masks 

In July 2017 he received criticism for his usage of the term "taig", a racial slur for Catholics of Irish descent, during an exchange on Twitter, including from former Labour MP and British Army officer Eric Joyce who questioned if he knew it was a "racist term of abuse". In his defence, Kemp mentioned that he is a practising Catholic and, having often been subject to the term as a result, he did not consider it a term of abuse.

Kemp was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1997 and commanded the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment in Oakington and Derry from 1998 to 2000. After this command, he was appointed commander of the Operational Training and Advisory Group and then spent six months as Counter Terrorism and Security Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

     Hamas terrorists showing their colors

Over the course of several decades, the Israel Defense Forces, the military branch of the state of Israel, has been accused of committing war crimes. Israel ratified the Geneva Conventions on July 6, 1951, and on January 2, 2015, the State of Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute, granting the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over war crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Human rights experts argue that actions taken by the IDF during armed conflicts in the OPT fall under the rubric of war crimes. Special rapporteurs from the United Nations, organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and human rights experts have accused Israel of war crimes.  Kemp is the IDF's defender, a British soldier who knows the 

truth.  

Col. Kemp noted that "the health ministry is controlled by Hamas and obey their every command. Their lies have been exposed in past wars. For example, during this conflict, hundreds of Hamas rockets have fallen short and landed inside Palestinian territory. Some of these have caused deaths among Palestinian civilians and all are reported as deaths caused by Israel by the ministry of health. Hamas demands that, because their entire strategy is built around the deaths of their own civilians. That is why they start these fights, not to defeat Israel which they cannot, but to persuade the world that Israel is responding disproportionately and committing war crimes. This is so that Israel becomes vilified and isolated in the world, including by the UN and EU. Hamas is the first “army” in history to use their own civilian population as a primary weapon of war."

To sum it up, Kemp has defended the IDF to the UN in 2009 and again now  to the UNHRC (The United Nations Human Rights Council) 

Resource:

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/03/braving-anti-israel-tide-colonel.html

https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/hamas-terror-chief-openly-supports-civilian-deaths-in-gaza-6tT8D7x7VDUyvWBDEvVuT2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Council#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20Human%20Rights,on%20a%20regional%20group%20basis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kemp