Former British Army officer defends IDF against unfair criticism

Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired senior officer in the British Army, has said that international media were being exploited by "dark forces" who wanted to harm Israel. Kemp, who was a commander in Afghanistan, told a dinner hosted by the Zionist Federation in London that some international criticism of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was motivated by anti-Semitism.

Kemp said the advice he received from the Israeli armed forces on how to tackle Afghan suicide bombers had been invaluable, and had formed the basis of official army guidelines used by soldiers on the ground there. He added that despite similarities between the IDF and UK forces, British soldiers did not have to deal with the same amount of criticism from the international community.

"When we go into battle we do not get the same knee-jerk, almost Pavlovian response from many, many elements of the international media and international groups, humanitarian groups and other international groups such as the United Nations which should know better... of utter automatic condemnation. We don't have to put up with that."