UK
Ben Wallace ‘fooled by Hamas’, say military chiefs
Senior army and navy figures line up to attack article by ex-Defence Secretary that accused Israel of ‘killing rage’
December 21, 2023 11:54
Senior army and navy figures line up to attack article by ex-Defence Secretary that accused Israel of ‘killing rage’
December 21, 2023 11:54Leading military figures have lined up to accuse former defence secretary Ben Wallace of being “fooled by Hamas” after he claimed that Israel was being driven by an indiscriminate “killing rage” in its war in Gaza.
Writing in The Telegraph, the Conservative backbencher said: “We are entering a dangerous period now where Israel’s original legal authority of self-defence is being undermined by its own actions.”
He said that if Netanyahu “thinks a killing rage will rectify matters, then he is very wrong”, adding that Israel needed to “stop this crude and indiscriminate method of attack.” The lesson of Northern Ireland, he wrote, was that a “disproportionate response” can strengthen the enemy.
Senior commanders with decades of combat experience between them attacked what they described as a “careless” and “sensational” article.
Brigadier Ian Liles, who served in operations for 13 tours of Northern Ireland as well as in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, said: “Mr Wallace has shown a distinct lack of knowledge and judgement in equating Gaza to Northern Ireland. Hamas needs no encouragement from ex-government ministers.”
In 2015, Wallace admitted that he was “often accused by some of being too pro-Iran” after a visit to Tehran with Jeremy Corbyn, during which he met Hassan Rouhani, then-president of the country. After the trip he praised the future Labour leader, calling him “an honest left winger who genuinely likes people.”
Rear Admiral Chris Parry, the former Director of Operational Capability at the Ministry of Defence and the former commander of the UK’s Amphibious Task Group, said that Wallace had fallen for Hamas propaganda.
Writing for the JC, Parry said the former defence secretary’s view of the conflict “is not supported or reflected by those who know about the demands of urban warfare against heavily armed and securely established terrorists hiding among a civilian population”. Wallace had “damaged his reputation for statesmanship” with his “cheap shot at Israel,” he added.
Major General Julian Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands War, shared this view. “I totally disagree with Ben Wallace’s line. By equating the situation in Gaza with Northern Ireland Wallace is being naive and has been fooled by Hamas.”
In a column for the JC, Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, wrote that Wallace was risking “stoking antisemitic hate” in a piece that got “much wrong about the Gaza conflict”.
“I know Wallace does not intend to do either, but his words play right into Hamas’s hands and risk fuelling the sort of antisemitic hatred that we have already seen too much of on the streets of Britain,” he wrote.
Colonel Philip Ingram, former commander of 1 Military Intelligence Battalion, agreed. Wallace’s article, he said, had featured “sensational language and a lack of context,” pointing out that Hamas “wants civilian casualties, the destruction of Israel and murder of all Jews”. He added: “It is irrelevant to compare proportionality in Northern Ireland to that in Gaza. They are completely different enemies.
“The IRA, whilst indiscriminate, didn’t go on a mad murder, rape and mutilation rampage. Tactics aside, it had a clear political goal, a declared end state. The UK defeated them militarily through covert techniques primarily, hidden behind an umbrella of military support to the civil powers. There are no civil powers in Gaza. They are all Hamas.”
Writing about the Troubles in his Telegraph column, Wallace had said: “Radicalisation follows oppression. Northern Ireland internment taught us that a disproportionate response by the state can serve as a terrorist organisation’s best recruiting sergeant.”
But he did condemn Hamas. “It is interested in a religious war with Jews, using Palestinians as cannon fodder,” he wrote. “I absolutely defend Israel’s right to defend itself…“Going after Hamas is legitimate; obliterating vast swathes of Gaza is not.”
Rear Admiral Chris Parry said: “Those of us at senior level who have commanded significant combat forces understand all too clearly that Israel is facing an unprecedented battlefield challenge… Any commander worth his salt knows that the Jewish state faces a complex and highly challenging operational context.”
Lord Richard Dannatt, former head of the army, said that while Wallace used “emotive language”, he raised legitimate points. He said: “Is the military force being employed proportional to the wrong to be righted? Is the use of high explosive bombs and missiles from the air sufficiently well targeted and precise? Is everything being done to minimise civilian casualties amongst the population of Gaza? Are raids and attacks by IDF ground troops sufficiently based on intelligence?
“A general ceasefire is not the answer but Israel must be prepared to fight a longer and slower war with military activity better targeted, based on good intelligence and reconnaissance. This is far from easy but continuing in the present way will only pile international pressure on Israel to stop the war. Getting this right is in the hands of Israel’s government and the IDF.”
Wallace wrote in his Telegraph piece: “I am unequivocal in my condemnation of Hamas, not only for what it did on October 7, but also for what came before. Its charter reads like the constitution of a jihadist Salafi organisation. It is anti-Semitic and anti-democratic. It isn’t interested in peaceful co-existence with Israel, or Egypt, for that matter.
“Hamas is not interested in a two-state solution either. No – it is interested in a religious war with Jews, using Palestinians as cannon fodder. So, I absolutely defend Israel’s right to defend itself.”
When offered a right of reply, Wallace declined to comment.