Teachers and School Staff for Palestine received media attention around Anzac Day for the material the group placed online about the history of Palestine and nearby, with particular reference to events at Surafend (then Palestine now Israel) in December 1918, when Australian and New Zealand troops killed local people.
This incident was described in the Australian Official History of World War I and has been mentioned many times over the years, for example, by journalist and author Paul Daley, and recently in an ABC podcast. Teachers and School Staff for Palestine have done a useful service collecting lots of contemporary references. It is to be hoped the resources are widely used when Anzac Day comes around, year after year.
No-one who has done basic research on World War I or who has any comprehension of what can happen in wartime – even on ‘our side’ – should be surprised at the evidence in these booklets. Horrified, perhaps, but not surprised.
‘Anzac Day is not just about praising the actions of these men – it’s about understanding them, too’, said Professor Peter Stanley, former President of the Honest History group, and now President of our associated Defending Country group.
‘The Light Horse was used as part of an imperial military force which was fighting a nationalist uprising in Egypt in 1919 – and they had no compunction in acting brutally.
‘We should not be embarrassed about that or try to conceal it or criticise, much less condemn those who seek to remind us that it happened.’
12 May 2025
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