Anzac

Israel at 75 – A Reflection On Sacrifice

Israel at 75 – A Reflection On Sacrifice

Australian visitors returning from Israel often remark on the energy and vibrancy they experienced during their stay. In our conversations, they share a common impression of their Israeli experience with me

read more
Getting Out the Right Message

Getting Out the Right Message

In recent weeks, terrorism has grown exponentially. Since the beginning of the year, close to 20 people have been murdered in attacks in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.

read more
The City of Tiberias

The City of Tiberias

Tiberias is a city in Israel located on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is locally called Lake Kinneret, but we mostly know it as the Sea of Galilee. Our Israeli guide calls Tiberias, Tiberiah, which has a lovely Israeli lilt to it. The city itself was first established about 20BC and was named to honour the Roman Emperor Tiberias and the original city was actually located just a little further along the shores than the current modern city of Tiberias…however when I say the modern city, it’s still ancient. The city has natural hot springs which were known to help cure skin and other ailments and today it’s quite a bustling city, although it’s really very old. What is very characteristic of the buildings in Tiberias is the common use of black basalt stone. Most of the tourist hotels are situated along the shores of Tiberias which is really quite lovely when you wake up each morning to look out your window and see the sun rising over the lake. The history of Tiberias… is crucial in the unfolding of God’s plans for this land. There is quite a large orthodox community in Tiberias, […]

read more
Balfour and Our Horseback Heroes

Balfour and Our Horseback Heroes

It was dawn October 31st, 1917. The Australian Light Horse were ready, behind a ridge 6 kilometres south-east of Beersheba. They started at a trot, rising to a gallop across a gently sloping field. Deep trenches were scattered to catch unsuspecting horse and rider. As I walked the length of that historic arena, my heart filled with admiration and respect for our gallant men. “The horses were shying aside from the shell bursts. A thin haze of smoke and dust began to rise, but the three lines of horses moved steadily forward. The first half-mile was the worst. After that, much of the fire seemed to be going over our heads. As we learned later, the Turks had ranged all their weapons on us but the sight of us Australians coming from an entirely unexpected direction and bearing down on them was demoralizing, and they had forgotten to bring their sights down as we advanced.” — One hundred years ago Australian Light Horseman Jim Henderson made that comment in his diary. Last February Prime Minister Netanyahu met at Admiralty House. When he responded to the warm welcome by the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Netanyahu said; “I’m honoured to be […]

read more
31 October – Destiny’s Date? (Part 2)

31 October – Destiny’s Date? (Part 2)

World War One & the German-Turkish alliance  When War broke out in August 1914 Germany and Ottoman Turkey had already entered into a secret agreement. Britain was now reluctantly forced into conflict against the Turks. The area of greatest strategic and military importance was the Suez Canal. Everything needed to be done to preserve the link to the eastern empire. Indeed already at that stage strategists were looking to the post-War period, and what would be best for Britain and this link. One Jewish parliamentarian, Herbert Samuel proposed in 1914-5 that Britain should take control over ‘Palestine’ and permit the establishment there of a Jewish national entity. From March 1915 a two-fold movement began which climaxed on 31 October 1917. The first was military, and began on the shores of Gallipoli. This campaign ended in failure, and resulted in Turkey planning for the capture of the Suez Canal. Britain’s goal was to protect the Canal, and the most effective method was by creating a buffer zone up to the Sinai-Palestine border. The second movement was political, and resulted from a Russian demand in March 1915 that following victory at Gallipoli and once Constantinople fell, then Russia would gain the region […]

read more
The Charge of Beersheba from a Jewish Viewpoint – book review by Barry Rodgers

The Charge of Beersheba from a Jewish Viewpoint – book review by Barry Rodgers

There have been a large number of books written about Beersheba and the Light Horse in recent years, although mainly from a secular historical perspective. In more recent times Col Stringer enthralled Australian Christians with his graphic account. Kelvin Crombie, in my opinion the foremost historian in Australia on all things Light Horse, has written a number of seminal books such as “ANZACS and Israel, a significant connection.” Here is another book from a Jewish writer and this one has an intriguing title: 1917. Palestine to the land of Israel. “The extraordinary struggles of Christian and Jewish heroes to establish the State of Israel.” This book is of great interest for a number of reasons. Firstly it is not a dramatic account of the ANZACS through the eyes of a proud Aussie. It’s a scholarly well researched account by an Israeli Author and written from a uniquely Jewish perspective—Author Barry Shaw—a long time Israeli resident and academic. Secondly, it is remarkable for the pre-eminence given to Christian Zionists, men like Charles Wesley whose Zionist hymn is written out in full, although I quote only the first verse; “O that the chosen band, Might now their brethren bring, And gathered out […]

read more
100th Anniversary of the Australian Light Horse – Coming October 2017

100th Anniversary of the Australian Light Horse – Coming October 2017

In 2007 the Australian Light Horse Assn (ALHA) conducted the highly successful and much publicised “In the steps of the Light Horse” re-enactment tour for the 90th anniversary of the charge of Beersheba. This tour brought to public attention the significance of the Middle Eastern Campaign in WW1, an often forgotten campaign that has been overshadowed by Gallipoli and the Western Front. During this tour we visited the old battle scarred railway station at Semakh. In WW1 Semakh was a quaint little fishing village located on the shores of the picturesque Sea of Galilee. Our guide, the well known Australian author and historian, Kelvin Crombie, pointed out the historical significance of the battle that took place here at this vital railway junction on the 25th of September 1918. The following brief account of the vital nature of this battle and its significance in hastening the end of WW1 is outlined by a Kinneret College historian; “In the autumn of 1918 the British forces under General Allenby started their northern offensive against the Turkish forces under Liman Von Sanders. The Semakh station was an important gateway on the way to the whole of the Galilee and the road to Damascus. Australian […]

read more
Israel needs the ‘spiritual ANZACs’ to also be “earthed”

Israel needs the ‘spiritual ANZACs’ to also be “earthed”

Purpose of this article: To communicate to Aussie and Kiwi Christians who wish to stand with God’s purposes for Israel the importance of being ‘spiritual anzacs’—plugged into the battle for the Land – and pointing to the tie-in with the upcoming elections in Australia. The four years encompassing the 100th anniversarof the Great War (2014 to 2018) have seen a marked growth of pride in the legacy of the ANZACs among young and old Australians and New Zealanders alike. Widely held is the perception that these countries were forged into nations in the terrible furnace of World War 1. By many accounts, ANZAC Day has become a more patriotic event than Australia Day and Waitangi Day respectively. Christians have hardly been immune, and a growing number also hold a Biblical perspective on the subject. Quoting Genesis 12:3—the foundational principle pertinent to those who bless the seed of Abraham—they ascribe the prosperity and peace experienced by their nations since the 1920s to the heroic fighting and sacrifices of the men of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps; specifically to the fact that their diggers formed the point of the British Empire spear that liberated Israel’s land from centuries of Islamic […]

read more
Anzacs, Israel & Australia’s destiny – a need for balance

Anzacs, Israel & Australia’s destiny – a need for balance

Photo of Anzacs from AWM: “Australian light horsemen riding waler horses. The soldiers are of the original contingent of the Australian Imperial Force and the photo was taken prior to their departure from Australia in November 1914. The soldier on the right is Trooper William Harry Rankin Woods, 1st Light Horse Regiment, who died of wounds on 15 May 1915, one of the first light horsemen to die during the Battle of Gallipoli.” I recently re-read an article I wrote in 1992 entitled ‘The Anzacs and Israel’ which had been published in several Christian magazines and circulated around Australia and New Zealand. It portrayed a somewhat patriotic ANZAC perspective – which I now realise was not entirely balanced. At that time I was working as a local guide at Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem specialising in British, European and Protestant involvement in the Eastern Mediterranean 1798-1948. This article reflected my attempt to present the significant contribution which ANZAC soldiers had played in helping to lay the foundations for the establishment of Israel – as part of the bigger geo-political picture. This perspective was aided through also conducting In Step with Allenby and the Light Horse tours from Jerusalem, down […]

read more
Salting Australia for 2017

Salting Australia for 2017

Dear Aussie brothers and sisters in Messiah. Prayerful (gentile) New Year’s greetings from a wintery Land of Israel. 2017 will be on us before we know it, with a remarkable confluence of events set for that year that could powerfully impact Australia’s future before God: the 100th anniversary of the Beersheba battle that freed up Israel’s land for Jewish settlement the 50th anniversary—Golden Jubilee—of the Six Day War that restored the heart of that land to Jewish control an International Sovereignty Congress planned in the Hague in support of Israel’s legitimate claim to all this land as the Israeli sovereignty campaign gathers momentum the intensifying UN push to pull off the Two State Solution, which seeks to rob Israel of this very same heartland – the cradle of Jewish nationhood. As strongly as I sensed that Australia’s membership on the UN Security Council in 2014 was significant then in regard to the escalating battle over this land, I sense preparations to mark Beersheba in 2017 are also key. It’s a once in a century opportunity to honour that decisive victory with another. And what real value can there be in celebrating the liberation of the land without using the occasion to […]

read more