In a viral video addressing the War in Gaza, British commentator Konstantin Kisin asks, “Is Israel doing what we would do?” His answer is: “I don’t even know because I suspect what we would do would be far worse in the same situation.” The claim, in other words, is that if Britain had been subjected to an October 7-style attack, it would have responded even more forcefully than Israel has.
Since Britain has never experienced an attack on the scale of October 7, we cannot know for sure how it would respond. However, the evidence we do have suggests Kisin’s claim is implausible.
Although there is no analogy to October 7 in modern British history, there is an analogy to Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank prior to October 7, namely Britain’s deployment of troops to Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
In both cases, there was a military occupation of territory disputed by two national groups. In both cases, militants who opposed the occupation were embedded among civilians. In both cases, they carried out attacks against soldiers and civilians of the occupying power. And in both cases, the occupying power responded to attacks with lethal force.
The analogy between Israel’s occupation of Palestine and Britain’s deployment of troops in Northern Ireland is not just academic; it is strongly reflected in local culture. Palestinian flags fly from Republican streets, and murals depict IRA and PLO fighters standing side by side. Meanwhile, posters in Loyalist areas describe Ulster and Israel as “brothers in arms”.
Did Britain respond to attacks by the IRA and other Republican groups with the same level of force with which Israel responded to attacks by Hamas, the PLO and other Palestinian groups? No, it responded with far more restraint.
We can start with the number of people killed by each side. During the Troubles, Republican paramilitaries killed 2,058 people. British forces killed 366. And if we include those killed by Loyalist paramilitaries, the number rises to 1,393. Which means that British forces and paramilitaries killed less than one person for every one death on their side.
What about Israel–Palestine? From the start of the First Intifada in 1987 to October 6 2023, Palestinian groups killed about 1,900 Israelis. By contrast, Israeli forces killed about 12,900 Palestinians. Which means that Israelis killed almost 7 Palestinians for every one Israeli death. (In the most recent period, it was closer to 20 Palestinians.)
The disparity between these two ratios arises in large part from the kind of weapons that were used by British and Israeli forces. The British never relied on heavy armour or aerial bombardment in Northern Ireland—despite the IRA deploying weapons like car bombs, mortars and RPGs. The Israelis, on the other hand, used both tanks and military jets on multiple occasions.
In Operation Protective Edge, the IDF dropped 5,830 bombs on the Gaza Strip, and fired 16,507 tank and artillery shells. By the end of the conflict, more than 2,100 Palestinians had been killed, compared to just 73 Israelis.
Israel’s reliance on heavy weapons highlights another respect in which the actions of the two powers differed. While British forces frequently damaged buildings during raids and firefights, they did not inflict widespread destruction on Republican areas. In Operation Protective Edge alone, Israel destroyed or badly damaged over 13,000 homes—leaving more than 100,000 Palestinians homeless.
A final difference worth noting concerns arbitrary arrest and detention. Although both powers interned people without trial, Britain formally ended the practice in 1975, having interned 1,874 Republicans over the period 1971–1975. In Israel, the practice continues to this day. The total number of Palestinians ever held in administrative detention is unknown but likely much higher than 1,874: there were 1,794 detainees in 1989 and 100–1,000 in most subsequent years.
One could also draw an analogy with Britain’s occupation of southern Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. However, this analogy would be looser for several reasons: the territory was not disputed by distinct national groups; British forces did not represent one of the sides in the sectarian conflict; and they operated alongside Iraqi government forces. Although British forces may have used more force in Iraq than they used in Northern Ireland, they did nothing remotely on the scale of Operation Protective Edge.
This article has not taken a position on whether Israel’s actions against Palestinians were more or less morally justified than Britain’s actions against Irish Republicans. Its point is simply that Israel’s actions involved a far greater level of force.
Irish Republicans killed more people during the Troubles than Palestinians killed between 1987 and October 6. They assassinated several members of parliament as well as a member of the Lords. And they probably destroyed more civilian infrastructure than Hamas and the PLO combined: a single IRA bomb detonated in 1996 caused over £1 billion in property damage. Despite all this, British forces killed comparatively few Republicans, never resorted to heavy weapons, did not inflict widespread destruction on Republican areas, and ended internment after five years.
These actions stand in contrast to those of Israeli forces against the Palestinians. Which makes it implausible that Britain would do “far worse” than Israel in the same situation.
Noah Carl is Editor at Aporia Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @NoahCarl90.
