1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:05,440 There are two views of the Israeli Military -- what you hear in most of the media, 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:09,240 and the truth. I’m going to tell you the truth. 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:15,420 I was the Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan. I have fought in combat zones around the world 4 00:00:15,429 --> 00:00:20,540 including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq. 5 00:00:20,540 --> 00:00:25,200 I was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. 6 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:32,220 Based on my experience and on my observations: the Israel Defense Force, the IDF, does more 7 00:00:32,220 --> 00:00:39,740 to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. 8 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:41,520 Why is this so? 9 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:48,380 Firstly, Israel is a decent country with Western values, run on democratic principles. 10 00:00:48,380 --> 00:00:55,620 Israel has no more interest in war than Belgium does. In fact, Israel has never started a war. 11 00:00:55,630 --> 00:01:02,480 The only reason it ever goes to war is to defend itself. And it has to defend itself because, 12 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:09,220 unlike Belgium, it is surrounded by countries and armed groups that want to destroy it. 13 00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:17,439 Secondly, Judaism, with its unsurpassed moral standards, remains a major influence on the 14 00:01:17,439 --> 00:01:21,539 citizens of Israel. I say this as a non-Jew. 15 00:01:21,540 --> 00:01:27,680 Thirdly, the army is composed overwhelmingly of citizen soldiers. 16 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:34,780 Israel is a small country with a small professional army. To fight a war it depends on its conscripts 17 00:01:34,789 --> 00:01:42,039 and its reservists. These are ordinary citizens, from professors to plumbers, called upon to 18 00:01:42,039 --> 00:01:48,139 defend their homes. They don’t want to be fighting and they don’t want to harm others. 19 00:01:48,140 --> 00:01:56,380 Nowhere was the essential morality and decency of the IDF more evident than in the Gaza War 20 00:01:56,389 --> 00:02:03,269 of 2014. If ever there was a purely defensive war, this was it. 21 00:02:03,269 --> 00:02:11,880 The war was started by Hamas, the terror organization, designated as such by the US State Department, 22 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:19,160 that runs the Gaza strip. In the first six months of 2014, Hamas launched hundreds of 23 00:02:19,170 --> 00:02:22,530 rockets at Israeli civilians. 24 00:02:22,530 --> 00:02:29,810 After repeated warnings from Israel to stop, the Israeli Air Force finally conducted precision 25 00:02:29,810 --> 00:02:37,020 strikes to halt the rocket-fire. And the IDF advanced into Gaza to destroy a network of 26 00:02:37,020 --> 00:02:44,760 terror tunnels that Hamas had constructed to attack Israeli communities near the Gaza border. 27 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:51,960 The IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping 28 00:02:51,970 --> 00:02:59,420 millions of leaflets, broadcasting radio messages, sending texts and making tens of thousands 29 00:02:59,420 --> 00:03:06,940 of phone calls. Let me repeat that. The Israelis called Gazans on their cell phones and told 30 00:03:06,940 --> 00:03:13,240 them to leave their residences and move to safety. Never in the history of warfare 31 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:19,040 has an army phoned its enemy and told them where they are going to drop their bombs. 32 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:25,740 Many IDF missions that could have taken out Hamas military capabilities were aborted to 33 00:03:25,740 --> 00:03:32,440 prevent civilian casualties, increasing the risk to Israeli citizens and soldiers. 34 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:39,700 Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. Every war is chaotic and confusing, 35 00:03:39,700 --> 00:03:46,440 and mistakes are frequent. But mistakes are not war crimes. 36 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:52,260 Hamas, on the other hand, committed war crimes as official government policy. 37 00:03:52,260 --> 00:03:57,600 Hamas deliberately positioned its military assets among the civilian population, hiding 38 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:05,320 weapons in schools and hospitals, and placing rocket launchers alongside apartment buildings, 39 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:13,000 then forced those civilians to stay in areas they knew would be attacked. They also instructed 40 00:04:13,010 --> 00:04:21,320 their people to report the lie that every Gazan killed was a civilian, even if they were actually fighters. 41 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:27,800 And if there were no civilian deaths, Hamas made them up! Numerous Internet sites show 42 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:36,120 Palestinians elaborately staging sniper victims and smashed ambulances, among other phony horrors. 43 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:42,740 It’s so common there’s even a term for it -- Pallywood, as in Palestinian Hollywood. 44 00:04:42,740 --> 00:04:49,920 Ironically, it’s the leaders of Hamas themselves who best understand the extraordinary measures 45 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:56,260 the IDF will take to protect innocent civilians. They take full advantage of Israel’s decency 46 00:04:56,260 --> 00:04:59,700 and adherence to the laws of war. 47 00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:07,380 No army takes such risks in order to protect civilians as the Israeli army does. 48 00:05:07,380 --> 00:05:16,160 I say this as a professional soldier. I say it because it’s true. And people who care about truth 49 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,180 should know it. 50 00:05:18,180 --> 00:05:22,800 I’m Colonel Richard Kemp for Prager University.