Israel and the Global War against Terror
4th July 2006
Almost to the day, 12 months ago, Britain suffered its first ever suicide bombing attack. In one day, Britain became a victim in the global jihad. 52 innocent civilians were killed and hundreds wounded. Israel has had to face that same threat every day of the country’s existence, not only by hostile states who aim to ‘wipe Israel off the map’, but by terrorist organisations including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah and Al Qaeda who target innocent Israeli citizens.
So, this debate is not just about Israel’s personal fight against terror; it is about Israel’s role in the global fight against terror.
The face of international terrorism changed on September 11th 2001. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said,
“We have received a wake up call from hell. Now the question is simple: Do we rally to defeat this evil, while there is still time, or do we press a collective snooze button and go back to business as usual?”
The threat posed by global terrorist organisations has not, as many have argued since 9/11, been caused by the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Rather, this international radical Islamist terrorism is rooted in religious fundamentalism, not in national conflicts. Like, the US, Britain, Spain and other Western countries, Israel is a victim of this global jihad.
Some will argue that terrorism against Israel and terrorism against Britain are entirely separate events. I disagree. They are actually closely interlinked. Like Britain, and other Western countries, Israel represents a bastion of Western ideals – of democracy, capitalism and the rule of law.
I agree with our own Prime Minister, when he said in April 2004
“The best long-term security for us is the spread of freedom, democracy and values that all civilised people share.”
It is our responsibility to take every conceivable measure to combat worldwide terrorism and to stand up to those who aim to destroy our values. We must ally ourselves with states, like Israel, who share our ideals of freedom and democracy and have enjoyed success in fighting terrorism.
The terrorists who attack Israel and terrorists who attack Britain have one single aim: to destroy Western values of freedom and democracy and install an extremist form of Islam in the shape of a worldwide caliphate. We saw the oppression inflicted through Sharia law by the Taliban in Afghanistan and now by the fundamentalist regime in Iran.
Anti-Western hostility drives the global terror networks. Fundamentalist Islamists do not hate the West because of Israel, but hate Israel because the State of Israel is a bulwark of democracy, Judeo-Christian ethics of tolerance, Western progress, and freedom in the Middle East.
The purpose of this debate today is to recognise the global nature of terrorism, supported and aided by state sponsors of terrorism, and urge the Government to take all necessary measures against those states who prop up radical Islamist terrorist organisations, and to cooperate with Israel in the face of continued threats to its existence by hostile neighbours – state sponsors of terrorism Iran and Syria, and the terrorist groups they support.
There is no international terrorism without the support of states. International terrorism simply cannot be sustained for long without the regimes that aid and abet it.
Terrorists cannot operate in a vacuum. They train, arm and indoctrinate their killers from within safe havens on territory provided by radical states. Often these regimes provide the terrorists with intelligence, money and operational assistance, dispatching them to serve as deadly proxies to wage a hidden war against more powerful enemies.
The Iranian regime is a principal player in supporting global terrorism as our own forces in Basra have found to their cost. Since 1979, when the Islamic Republic was established, the Iranian regime has viewed terrorism as a legitimate means to further its ideological and strategic aims - exporting the revolution, assisting worldwide Islamist groups, and attacking Israel.
Hizbullah, Iran’s Shiite revolutionary proxy in Southern Lebanon, is the spearhead for Iran’s export of terrorism aimed globally and particularly at Israel. Iran also supports Palestinian terrorist groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Britain and Israel share a common interest and threat by Hizbullah. Not only does Hizbullah target Israelis and Jews across the world, from Argentina to North Africa, but provide weaponry and training in terrorist tactics to Shia militias in Iraq to kill British soldiers. With representation in 40 countries, Hizbullah has the capability to prepare attacks against Western interests.
Moreover, there is evidence Hizbullah is facilitating Al Qaeda’s plans to attack Israel. On the 27th of December 2005, Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for firing Katyusha rockets into northern Israel from southern Lebanon, a feat impossible without the knowledge and permission of Hizbullah.
We in Britain must not stand idly by whilst Iran arms and finances some of the most dangerous international terrorist organisations.
And yet, Hizbullah in its entirety does not feature on the British or EU proscribed list of terrorist organisations. The European Union is lagging behind the UN Security Council who, in June 2005, condemned Hizbullah’s attacks against Israel and reiterated demands that the organisation be disarmed, under UN Security Council Resolution 1559, and that Lebanon exercise sovereignty over its border with Israel. If the Government is taking the fight against terrorism seriously, why is it not doing more to force Hizbullah onto the EU list of terror organisations to prevent the raising of funds to perpetrate acts of terrorism against British and Israeli targets?
The Iranian regime is a major threat to international peace and security. A fundamentalist regime hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons is a threat to the West because it would grant the terror network, including Al Qaeda, a nuclear umbrella and allow Iran to increase its support for global terrorism. Whilst the UN Security Council grapples with the Iranian nuclear issue, Iran threatens Britain, the United States and Israel. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened Israel with ‘annihilation’, denied the existence of the Holocaust, and continues to incite anti-Semitism worldwide.
In April, it emerged that Iran has some 40,000 suicide bombers poised to strike at Britain and elsewhere. Dr Hassan Abbasi, the head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards warned the would-be martyrs to
“Pay close attention to wily England” and vowed that “Britain’s demise is on our agenda.”
We in Britain must recognise, the threats issued by Iran are not empty, nor are they directed only against Israel, but directly against us in the West as well. Innocent British lives are at risk if we fail to combat this brand of international terrorism.
Let me ask: what is the difference between Iranian extremists promising to send suicide bombers to Britain and Iranian funded Palestinian terrorists blowing up innocent civilians in Tel Aviv?
One of the most striking examples of the links between terrorism in Britain and Israel was back in 2003. Two British born Muslim suicide bombers, Asif Hanif from London and Omar Khan Sharif, from Derby, with direction from Hamas, attacked a popular British bar in Tel Aviv, Mike’s Place, killing 3 Israelis and wounded 60 others.
The media, including the BBC, uses moral equivalence to compare Israeli reactions to terror attacks with the attacks themselves.
But let’s be perfectly clear - there is no moral equivalence between a terrorist who blows up a bus, hotel, market place and ice-cream parlour and a response by a democratic state to find and root out those terrorists.
And I must tell you, I have considerable sympathy with those British troops serving in Northern Ireland during the Troubles who have been vilified for ‘over-reacting’ in the face of terrorist violence. It is only too easy for armchair commentators and politicians to criticise soldiers on the ground.
But make no mistake - the terrorist organisations in the West Bank and Gaza are willing tools of the wider causes of Islamic Jihad. Not only is Hizbullah training and financing Palestinian terrorist organisations such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, but – as confirmed by the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen - there are now terrorist cells in those territories which have been recruited and funded by Al Qaeda networks operating from Israel’s near neighbours: Jordan and Egypt.
Let me say now that I recognise that there has been suffering on both sides of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict and many innocent lives have been lost. The only resolution of this conflict is a two-state solution, a viable Palestinian state, living side by side with a secure state of Israel, reached through negotiation and a complete end to terrorism.
Now, I just want to say something briefly about Israel’s current operation in Gaza.
Every day since the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, and the total withdrawal of settlers and soldiers, there have been rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists into Israeli towns - over 500 to date.
Hamas, Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad and splinter groups of Fatah have all claimed responsibility and pledged further attacks against Israelis in community centres, schools, homes and shops.
Despite Abu Mazen's condemnation - no Palestinian political leaders have taken any steps to curb Qassam rockets or other terrorist attacks including suicide bombings. The Gaza Strip remains a safe haven for terrorist. The Hamas led Palestinian Authority has not only refused to take any action but openly encourages continued acts of terrorism against innocent civilians.
The terrorist attack on June 25th against an IDF position near a Kibbutz, Kerem Shalom, was NOT as media outlets would argue a 'revenge attack' - this is just sloppy journalism - but the culmination of a three month project which involved the excavation of a tunnel originating from a Palestinian apartment block in Gaza. Clearly, the situation could not be allowed to continue. All nations have a duty of care to protect their citizens and since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, 36 Israelis have been killed and 436 others wounded.
Let us be clear. Democratic and free nations need to work together to combat terrorism. Israel cannot be treated differently from the Western alliance because of the protracted conflict with the Palestinians. It is because of the Palestinian conflict and decades at the hands of brutal terrorism that Israel should be accepted as part of the Western alliance’s global war against terrorism.
Israel has played a vital role in the struggle against global jihad. If it weren’t for Israel’s contribution to counter-terrorism and the daily struggle on the frontline of terrorist attacks by global players like Hizbullah and Al Qaeda, the Middle East and rest of the world would be far less stable.
It is testament to Israeli security and intelligence services that Israeli counter terrorism in the Middle East has had much success. To support its war on terrorism, Israel has developed a highly coordinated and efficient intelligence apparatus. In Britain, we must learn from Israeli examples of gathering human intelligence in terrorism through deploying undercover agents in Palestinian controlled areas and recruiting local informants, and the vigilance and awareness of the Israeli public in preventing terrorism. Signals Intelligence is no substitute for Human Intelligence.
And while paying tribute to the work of our own Secret Intelligence Service, the Security Service and GCHQ, I want to put on record here and now our gratitude to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Mossad, the Counter Terrorism Bureau, and the intelligence arms of the Israel Police Service and the Israel Defence Forces.
Whilst we recognise that the time may not be right for Israel to join NATO as a full and equal member, though I personally would welcome it, there are considerable advantages for NATO if it were to upgrade its relations with Israel. Israel meets all NATO criteria: it is a democracy with a free market economy, with logistics and intelligence capabilities that have been vital in the global war on terrorism. Only recently, for example, Israel launched the Eros-B high resolution reconnaissance satellite to monitor Iran’s nuclear sites.
Both human and signals intelligence can reduce the potency of global terrorism. However, it should also be our objective to put an end to state support for terrorism and cut off the financing, arming and training of terrorist cells.
So may I now ask the minister a series of 4 questions of which I have given him prior notice which I hope he will answer in his reply?
- Will the Minister confirm that Britain will take all necessary steps to combat international terrorism and aim to add Hizbullah’s political wing to the EU list of terror organisations? Hizbullah’s political and military wing are one of the same. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah leads both.
- Will the Minister encourage his colleagues to ensure that there is still closer cooperation between our security services and that of the Israeli security services?
- Will the Government give an assurance that Britain will begin co-ordinated and effective steps to force state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran, Syria and the Sudan to stop supporting global terrorist organisations?
- And finally, will the minister assure the House, in the light of Israel’s contribution to the global fight against terrorism, will the United Kingdom guarantee Israel’s security particularly with respect to the threat posed by a nuclear Iran – a nation which exports fundamentalist ideology and terrorism?
For let there be no mistake: The position is clear - Israel’s security is wrapped up with our own. It is in the interest of our nation and the British people that we work with and defend the State of Israel in our Global Fight Against Terror.
