Col. Kemp speaks out

Col.Richard Kemp is a one-time commander of the British Forces in Afghanistan, but perhaps better known for his testimony before the United Nations in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, ending with the statement that"based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: during operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zones than any other army in the history of warfare".
Last night (12th October 2010) I was privileged to hear a presentation from this distinguished soldier. He revealed one or two facts of which I was not previously aware. Having been seconded to the Cabinet Office, Kemp was faced with developing strategies to counter a previously unknown terrorist tactic - the suicide bomber. When he called Mossad for help, they immediately sent over an agent to advise him, on the basis of which meeting he devised what is now the working strategy of UK's Joint Intelligence Committee. After the July 7, 2005 London bombings, the only two agencies to offer immediate assistance were the CIA and Mossad. (Note: This seeming close co-operation between the Intelligence Agencies of Israel and the UK lends credence to the otherwise implausible Daily Mail story that Britain was in fact informed by Mossad of the Dubai assassination of January 2010 and the use of fake British passports, in advance of the operation; Kemp was not asked about this.)
When asked why Israel was so often singled out for unjust condemnation, he said that anti-Semitism and fear of Islamism were probably two factors. This may seem to some as being what Basil Fawlty would call the "bleeding obvious", but I am not so sure. Although the EU's "working definition of anti-Semitism" conflates some anti-Israelism with anti-Semitism, I prefer the view of, I believe, the late US Ambassador to the United Nations Arthur J. Goldberg, who thought of anti-Semitism as a virus which continually adapted; originally being religious (Early Christianity), then racial (Nazi period) and more recently Nationalistic (anti-Israel). In this current phase there would be no contradiction, for example, in the seemingly relentless hostility of the UK to the State of Israel, and the more-or-less avoidance of anti-Semitism in British public life.

Listening to Col. Kemp speak, one has renewed faith in the inherent humanity of the Englishman, and a deeper understanding of the phrase "an officer and a gentleman".