Israel ought to go rogue on Iran, suggested a prominent British military expert on Tuesday, saying that the Jewish state was “an outpost of strength” that should target Iran’s nuclear program.
In an address to the Gatestone Institute on Tuesday, Colonel (ret.) Richard Kemp presented some of the most serious security challenges facing the West, praising Israel as an example of “unique morality” in a difficult geopolitical situation.
Kemp, who retired from the British military in 2006, now serves as a member of the High Level Military Group, a group of international military experts and advisers.
Praising Israel’s resolve and high ethical standards, Kemp lamented what he described as Europe’s “spiral downward to being obliterated.”
Despite much of the bad press Israel has received in the course of combating terrorism, Kemp argued that much of the criticism directed at Israel was the result of simple ignorance.
Kemp illustrated the point with his experiences at a recent Israel Apartheid Week event at New York University.
“I asked the students how many believed it was illegal to kill innocents in times of war. And I was surprised to discover their level of ignorance on that score, because all of them answered in the affirmative. In fact, it is not illegal to kill innocent civilians in times of war.
It may not be nice; it may not be desirable; but it is not illegal.”
“Though killing innocent civilians is obviously something we must avoid doing as much as we possibly can, our enemies hide among the civilian population, and sometimes we must risk the lives of civilians in order to destroy the enemy. Fear of doing this means that we will always lose.”
Kemp was skeptical about the prospects of a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“I don’t believe there can be a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel wants to live in peace, but what the Arabs want is its annihilation.”
Among the top security threats Kemp mentioned was Iran’s nuclear program. Despite last year’s deal to freeze Iran’s nuclear program, Kemp worried over the Islamic regime’s future nuclear capacity, calling upon Israel to “initiate an offensive strike on Iran.”
