Decorated British General Sent Home From Afghanistan After "Smear Campaign" For Criticising Israel's "Impunity" in Gaza

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Decorated British General Sent Home From Afghanistan After "Smear Campaign" For Criticising Israel's "Impunity" in Gaza

- A Radical Dispatch

1) British army general decries Israel’s lack of counter-insurgency strategy in Gaza

British army general (retd.) Charlie Herbert has been sent home from his role assisting the transition to Taliban rule in Afghanistan, ostensibly - and somewhat absurdly - for ‘sharing a bottle of champagne.’

In an alarming public intervention since, major-general Herbert has ridiculed the cited reason of ‘sharing champagne’ as being legitimate and instead said that he was dismissed from his political post due to “smears” concerning his vocal criticism of Israel’s “genocidal acts” in Gaza.

The Times reports 18th March 2024:

“Charlie Herbert, who had commanded British forces in the country, was assigned a post with the government in Kabul in June 2017. His role included training and mentoring senior Afghan officials and meetings with government figures.

…On Monday Herbert suggested he was the victim of a smear campaign because of his outspoken views on the war in Gaza.

Herbert has been vocal in his criticism of Israel. He has said that military force will not resolve the conflict and stressed the need for a political solution. He has also accused the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) of a “culture of impunity”.

Herbert shared an article about his conduct on Twitter/X with the caption: ‘#Gazawashing Definition: The systematic attempt to smear those who speak out against the IDF’s conduct in Gaza or who question Israel’s military strategy, in order to silence them. Is this really what we want from mainstream media?’..

Herbert frequently posts online and appears in the media criticising Israel for its approach to the conflict in Gaza.

In a recent post on Twitter/X, he said: ‘Hamas won’t be defeated by military means. They’ll be degraded, yes, but elimination is a political act, not a military one. The IDF can’t kill its way to victory in this regard.

‘The absence of any Israeli commitment to solving the root cause of this conflict — occupation and the need for a two-state solution — ultimately ensures that this particular conflict won’t solve anything. It’s just part of the cycle of violence of the past century.’

In an interview with Novara Media this month he said: ‘When you celebrate and film the deliberate destruction of mosques and hospitals and universities and houses you have kind of crossed a line and to me that’s — I don’t believe those are individual acts’.

‘What we have seen suggests a culture of impunity within the IDF. They feel they can do this and post it on social media with no action being taken. One senses they are almost encouraged to do this’.”

For a British general serving in a political post abroad to be this vocal in his criticism of Netanyahu’s war policy is significant.

It comes soon after veteran left-wing politician George Galloway swept to victory in England’s Rochdale by-election - beating the four other notable parties vote tally combined - by campaigning on the single issue of Gaza.

Radical Media reports 6th March 2024:

It also comes after Jewish director Jonathan Glazer used his Oscar win speech for Zone of Interest to condemn Israel’s war crimes.

Jonathan Glazer: “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say, look what they did then, rather look what we do now. Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present. Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”

Leading to a huge and predictable backlash.

Variety magazine reports 18th March 2024:

“More than 1,000 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” Oscar speech.”

Major-general Herbert has elaborated on his own verified social media that he believes that those who challenge the official narrative of our country’s support for Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza will be subjected to “smear..in order to silence them.”

Herbert has raised the accusation that Israel is engaged in “genocidal acts” while ridiculing Israel’s lack of media transparency around its behaviour.

Most social media users will by now have noticed a discernible decline in engagement on their accounts if they start to criticise Israel. To this we have become accustomed, even on Saviour-of-the-Universe Elon Musk’s platform formerly known as Twitter.

For which the explanation by now is obvious.

Radical Media reports November 2023:

Despite this, major-general (retd.) Herbert has continued to openly decry Netanyahu’s apparent lack of any counter-insurgency strategy.

The most hard-hitting part of which is his Herbert’s conclusion that Netanyahu is making the same mistakes as those made in Afghanistan, which ended in a total and humiliating retreat for coalition forces.

And major-general Charlie Herbert should know, he commanded British armed forces there.

Major-general Herbert has also condemned Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) committing war crimes with seeming “impunity”, while implying that the Israeli Defence Forces are encouraging soldiers to brazenly display their disregard for Palestinian dignity and lives.

Click to play clip:

2) British civil service in revolt over Gaza

The revolt over our government’s support for Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza has moved from the political in Rochdale, and the military in Herbert’s case, to the bureaucracy where British civil servants are causing alarm in Downing Street by openly dissenting from their government’s complicity.

The Times reports 15th March 2024:

“A series of meetings has been held by hundreds of civil servants discussing how to force the government to change its policy on the Israel-Gaza war and has featured numerous antisemitic tropes, The Times can disclose.

One official involved in the webinars allegedly told staff that the ‘Israel lobby’ had an ‘insidious influence’ on British politics, widely regarded as a common antisemitic trope...

..The civil servant told fellow officials: ‘we are in the belly of the beast in that respect.’ The same official claimed the mainstream media was ‘biased’ and ‘full of lies.’

The comments came during meetings of the Civil Service Muslim Network (CSMN), a cross-government umbrella network that represents and supports Muslim civil servants, although those attending do not have to be Muslim.

Several webinars have been organised by the CSMN to discuss the government’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war since the Hamas attacks on October 7 and have taken place during working hours, with some running for more than 90 minutes with up to 595 civil servants in attendance…”

Again, the mere fact that hundreds of civil servants - who are required to remain politically neutral - have so openly challenged their own government’s complicity in allegations of genocide should be considered a significant weather vane.

3) US Senate leader Chuck Schumer distances himself from Netanyahu

Likewise, American politicians such as Senate Majority-Leader Chuck Schumer (D) are beginning to explicitly distance themselves from Netanyahu by stating that he is an obstacle to peace and part of the problem.

Click to play clip:

“The fourth major obstacle to peace is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel.

He has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Minister Smotrich and Ben-Gavir and as a result he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah. At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision making process about the future of Israel.”

This echoes sentiment already expressed by the once-more Republican party candidate for President, Donald Trump.

Click to play clip:

Trump: “It's going to have to do with both sides, but a lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal…As far as settlements, I'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit. We'll work something out, but I would like to see a deal be made. It might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand. That's a possibility. So let's see what we do.”

Netanyahu: “That’s right"

Trump: “It doesn't sound too optimistic, but...”

“I was disappointed in Bibi (Netanyahu) just on a personal basis. I thought he (Abbas) wanted to make a deal more than Netanyahu. And I will be honest, I had a great meeting with him, Abbas, right? I had a great meeting with him and we spent a lot of time together, talked about many things. And it was almost like a father. He was so nice. Couldn’t have been nicer. And after meeting with Bibi (Netanyahu) for 3 minutes, I looked at him and said ‘you don’t want to make a deal do you’ and he said ‘well, uh uh,’ and the fact is I don’t think Bibi (Netanyahu) ever wanted to make a deal.”

The Times of Israel reports 11th December 2021:

4) False-flag terror alert: Netanyahu is desperate

Amidst such a public haemorrhaging in support for Israel, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet has warned Western countries “with the threat of terrorism on its way to the West, it would be best if the international community would assist Israel in its just war, thereby also protecting their countries”.

Many commentators are understandably reporting this as a veiled threat.

Escalation is Netanyahu’s only option. His ruling coalition is held together by support from Zionist far-right settler colonists who believe that only war will bring their promised Messiah. Not appeasing such factions will lead to the downfall of Netanyahu’s government, which leaves him facing jail time after a resumption of legal proceedings against him for corruption. Netanyahu is thus beholden to the fanatics that that keep him in power.

Click through to play:

“A small but dangerous group of extremists who threaten both the peace process and Israel itself.

‘Only chaos can change the situation. The Israeli secular entity has to be destroyed. God can't reveal himself until it's all wiped out. As long as the State of Israel stays as it is, there will be no redemption.’

Ozeri disdained Israeli law and believed that the Arab-Israeli conflict would be resolved only by war. A war triggered by settlers like him. ‘Jews have to live in the Land of Israel. This is a matter of sanctifying God against the destruction of God. We need to go to war because, in fact, what will bring our redemption is not prayer. What will bring redemption is war. But today we're going in exactly the opposite direction. Instead of war, there's peace now. There's an attempt to prevent war at all costs. And if we can force the army to go back to being offensive, an army of revenge, an army which cares about Jews more than anybody else, then we'll be able to bring the final redemption in the only way possible, through war. War now’.

‘Revenge is an important value. The Talmud says that it is one of the greatest things. Revenge is great. Almost every one of the Psalms mentions revenge in one way or another. Usually, people recite Psalms for the sick. In all of the Psalms, there are maybe two verses about the sick. About revenge, there are hundreds of verses. They kill our children, so we'll kill theirs’.

This was the intended target, an Arab girls' school in East Jerusalem. The huge bomb was meant to go off at the entrance at the busiest time of the morning, as the children were arriving at school. This street is usually full of people, a place which is next to a school, between a school and a hospital.

‘Whoever gets hurt, gets hurt’.

‘Just like they did’.

‘As long as they're only thinking it, as long as they're only talking about it, we can live with it. When they try to put it into action, through the murder of the Prime Minister, through the murder of Arabs, through the massacre at the Hebron Mosque, it's the beginning of the end of a nation that can defend itself’.

‘What we should be doing is all written in the Bible. Including the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, we have all kinds of ideas. Expel the Arabs, kick them out.”

As we stated immediately after the October 7th attacks, by exacting a prolonged and maniacal revenge against the population of Gaza Netanyahu has only succeeding in isolating himself and Israel from the rest of the world.

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