Colonel Richard Kemp, who once led British forces in Afghanistan, gave an interview to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News while attending the JNS International Policy Summit at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem.
When asked about the current status of Israel’s campaign against Hamas, Colonel Kemp said, “I think Hamas is now feeling a significant amount of the weight of the IDF on it, and the only reason it’s not feeling even more is because the IDF has to be cautious about the hostages. But at the same time, they’re making mincemeat of Hamas.”
He continued by emphasizing the heavy toll inflicted on Hamas leadership and infrastructure: “Most of Hamas’s most senior leadership has been destroyed, huge numbers of their terrorists have been destroyed, a lot of their equipment, so I think they’re very much on the back foot, and I would hope that Hamas will be completely eliminated as a fighting organization within perhaps a few weeks,” Kemp stated.
Speaking about the path toward what Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has termed a “total victory,” Kemp explained, “Well, a total victory goes even beyond dealing with the terrorists and with their weapons and with their tunnels. Of course, you can do all of that. It takes a lot of time, dealing with 400 miles of tunnels underneath Gaza is a long-term project. But Hamas can be certainly neutralized by sheer military force and then prevented from rising again by a long-term security presence in Gaza, and I think what I would define as total victory in Gaza is retrieving the hostages, all of the hostages. I’m not saying that’s going to be 100% possible, but every effort needs to be made to do that.”
Kemp elaborated on what achieving complete success entails: “Secondly,” he said, “is to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist entity that’s capable of threatening Israel. And thirdly, preventing anything like Hamas rising again in Gaza.”
When questioned about whether Israel should let international condemnation influence its military campaign, Kemp was clear: “Israel doesn’t really have to do anything differently in order to do what the world wants it to do, which is to fight within the laws of war. Israel’s been doing that ever since the beginning and will continue to do so…There’s nothing but lies, distortions, which have been going on not just since the war began, but long before the war began against Israel. And yes, of course, Israel has to try and do what it can, and Israel’s friends have to try and do what they can to counter the lies.”
He added that while criticism cannot be dismissed altogether due to practical reasons, Israel must continue managing its international relations: “And the world can’t be just ignored because Israel depends on the world for numerous things, including, in some cases, weaponry, including particularly from the US and from Germany, from Italy, from the UK to an extent. So Israel has to maintain the relationships, not to mention, of course, Israel’s dependence on international trade. So yes, Israel has to do what it can to try and influence political leaders around the world, and also, of course, has to fight back against the legal warfare that’s taking place with the disgraceful efforts by the International Criminal Court to arrest the Prime Minister and the former Defense Minister, and the even more disgraceful attempts by the International Court of Justice to brand Israel as a genocidal state.”
In a related discussion, Kemp also addressed the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran. “I think it’s a reasonable position for the President of the US to take, to try negotiation first before going into what is going to be a very violent attack, if it happens, on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. So I think it’s reasonable to try that. I don’t think it’s likely to work,” he remarked.
He concluded with a grim assessment of any potential diplomatic resolutions: “And even if you do have some deal with Iran, it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. You know, there is no negotiating with jihadists. So ultimately, I think whatever happens on the diplomatic front, I think there’s going to have to be a military attack against the Iranian nuclear program,” Kemp warned.
{Matzav.com Israel}
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