There are two views of the Israeli military, what you hear in most of the media and the truth.

I'm going to tell you the truth.

I was the commander of British forces in Afghanistan.

I have fought in combat zones around the world, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq.

I was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014.

Based on my experience and on my observations, the Israel Defence Force, the IDF,

does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

Why is this so?

Firstly, Israel is a decent country with Western values run on democratic principles.

Israel has no more interest in war than Belgium does.

In fact, Israel has never started a war.

The only reason it ever goes to war is to defend itself.

And it has to defend itself because unlike Belgium, it is surrounded by countries and armed groups that want to destroy it.

Secondly, Judaism, with its unsurpassed moral standards, remains a major influence on the citizens of Israel.

I say this as a non-Jew.

Thirdly, the army is composed overwhelmingly of citizens soldiers.

Israel is a small country with a small professional army.

To fight a war, it depends on its conscripts and its reservists.

These are ordinary citizens from professors to plumbers called upon to defend their homes.

They don't want to be fighting and they don't want to harm others.

Nowhere was the essential morality and decency of the IDF more evident than in the Gaza war of 2014.

If ever there was a purely defensive war, this was it.

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