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Israel's Tactics Are the Only Way to Crush Hamas
(Telegraph-UK) Col. Richard Kemp - Former UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, writing in the Telegraph on Dec. 17, repeatedly misunderstands the situation in Gaza. To accuse Israel of "a killing rage" and "indiscriminate" assaults is untrue and unfair to an army that surpasses all others in its ability to attack an enemy while doing everything possible to minimize civilian casualties. Yes, many innocent civilians have been tragically killed. But Hamas plans all of its operations with one overriding aim: to force Israel to kill civilians in Gaza. That is an even higher priority for them than actually killing IDF soldiers and civilians. In the civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio, Israel has a better track record than most other armies in the world. If military operations that bring death, suffering and destruction on civilians is collective punishment, then that applies to virtually every war that has ever been fought. Israel must be allowed to defend itself with whatever military force is necessary. It simply has no other choice. The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA.