Rundle: old lies given new meaning in fraudulent Beersheba commemoration
The best thing you can say about Beersheba, a cavalry charge on a Turkish-held Arab town in Palestine, whose inhabitants had love for neither side in the conflict, is that at least it wasn’t, like Gallipoli, an invasion of a sovereign people in their homeland.
I hadn’t heard of ‘Keeping Australia Safe’, there’s plenty of that on commercial TV already and I switch channel immediately when cop reality TV comes on. Gross, ABC. Have some damn dignity.
Like 90% of WW1 Beersheba was a dreadful waste of lives.
If GR is referring to the Surafend affair in this “Australian troops appear to have conducted with a brutality towards civilians”, then it should be noted that the massacre was conducted by NZ soldiers. There may have been one or two Aussies involved, but that has never been confirmed – just assumed.
Thank the gods for Rundle, a lone voice decrying this latest nationalistic floorshow. I’ve been mystified by the commemoration with Israel/Netanyahu not to mention the interminable direct telecast on ABC24 & media attention.
No doubt if Billy Hughes had his way with conscription there would be more Oz horsemen’s deaths to laud. We are hellbent on learning nothing from history so why keep reviving these grim chapters?
Reckon you should read the latest Wartime from the AWM to see where Beersheba fits in this. Yes crimes were committed by our soldiers, but there is little evidence they were special in this regard. There would have been more justice if they had left i to the Turks, then Israel would not have been able to steal the Palestinians land. Beersheba was a moderate event in a lesser theatre, especially compared to the contemporary slaughter at Ypres. The Palestine campaign also represented the absolute betrayal of the Arab allies who T E Lawrence organised. An issue he felt deeply till the end of his life. Not the last time the West betrayed Iraq. I reckon if the Aussies had thought they were fighting for the likes of Netanyahu they would have gone home. They would have found Johnny Turk far more honourable, though the Attaturk version, certainly not Erdogan.