Operation Gideon’s Chariots aims to deliver the final blow to Hamas and recent strikes have finished off several senior terrorists. Ordinary Gazans are increasingly out on the streets demanding that Hamas end the conflict that has brought such disaster on them. Hamas, perhaps sensing its impending demise, is back at the negotiating table.
At this critical moment, with a masterstroke of ill judgment, Britain, France and Canada reach into murky waters that they do not understand and hold out a hand to pull Hamas back to the surface. Like tight-lipped and disapproving school mistresses, they “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations.”
Their joint statement demanding Israel halt its operations in Gaza is nothing less than a call for Israel to surrender: cease operations, withdraw forces, leave Hamas to rebuild and get ready for another October 7. That is the meaning of their reproachful statement.
They call the IDF’s renewed offensive “disproportionate.” It is nothing of the kind. Israel is fighting a defensive war to protect its population from further attacks. That requires the destruction of Hamas’s military capabilities and the removal of it and its kind from controlling terrain that would again threaten Israel if given half a chance. The Allies in the Second World War used overwhelming force to destroy Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Do Starmer, Macron and Carney believe that was a “disproportionate” way to defend our freedom? Or is it only the Jewish state that can never be allowed to win?
They snidely refer to “the Netanyahu government’s” egregious actions. We see exactly what they are doing here. It has become fashionable among some supporters of Israel to disavow Netanyahu himself in order to burnish their oh-so-virtuous credentials (“while still standing up for Israel”). The kind of language used in this statement is usually reserved for dictatorships, like “the Putin regime." Yet Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of his country and his war policies have the support of the overwhelming majority of Israelis.
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Yes, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada have tacked on the token request that Hamas release the hostages. I have been involved in drafting this sort of statement in the past and it is blatantly obvious that this has been added as an afterthought to show “balance.” A bit like the International Criminal Court issuing a token arrest warrant for a deceased Hamas terrorist alongside their outrageous warrants for Israeli government ministers.
The statement warns that Israel is at risk of breaching International Humanitarian Law by blocking aid from entering Gaza. It does not. The obligation under the 4th Geneva Convention to allow aid to the enemy civilian population is explicitly exempted if there is a risk that the aid will be diverted to enemy fighting forces. It is well known that Hamas has been hijacking aid for its own purposes since the war began. Yet none of these three upstanding countries has seen fit to get behind the new US-Israeli plan to get aid under arrangements designed to prevent its diversion for terrorist purposes.
Of course, no statement by Britain, France or Canada would be complete without the standard litany of delusions about supposedly illegal settlements and a “two-state solution.” Can serious politicians really believe another two-state solution is possible in the aftermath of the horrifically failed two-state solution experiment in Gaza? Certainly, Israeli support for such a thing could only, if ever, follow the total crushing of Hamas with the message that would send to any gangsters contemplating a similar endeavour. But that outcome is exactly what these three countries oppose.
Along similar lines, Starmer, Macron and Carney don’t seem to understand the consequences for their own countries of the survival of Hamas. They each have their ever-growing jihadist problems. Last week alone in Britain, a number of Iranian men were arrested while allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in the UK. An Israeli defeat by Hamas — which is what they are advocating — could only inspire and encourage global jihadists.
Most damning of all, this statement has been welcomed by Hamas itself. Surely even these three amigos can comprehend that that alone means you’re on the wrong side?
But this joint statement is not only ill-judged; it is also extremely dangerous. It strengthens Hamas, it gives them hope at a time when that commodity is ebbing fast. It could lead to them digging in their heels to inflict even greater bloodshed on Israeli soldiers as well as their own people. If these were serious political leaders, they would have confined their threats against an ally at war to the realms of secret diplomacy. But no, they must indulge in public virtue signalling. Appease the Jew hating mobs that paraded the streets of their capitals only last weekend and damn the consequences.
Colonel Richard KempPhoto: courtesyThe statement concludes with the dark threat of recognising a Palestinian state. As Prime Minister Netanyahu pointed out in his response, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.”
If Starmer, Macron and Carney actually wanted to make a real contribution to peace in the region, they would have told Hamas to release the hostages and lay down their arms. That above all is needed to save lives in Gaza and begin the process of rebuilding a decent life for the civilian population. But that would be too much to expect from bewildered leaders who cannot even defend their own borders or protect their own population from ever-increasing threats against them.
Colonel Richard Kemp is a former UK Armed Forces commander.