Jewish people fought next to us before Israel was re-established

Informal group portrait of Light Horse soldiers. Piicture: Australian War Memorial

As Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus prepares to visit Israel, it’s useful to note the relationship between Israel and Australia has been a longstanding and deep one, dating back to well before the rebirth of the state of Israel. In December 1914, Australian troops training in Egypt encountered the 12,000 Jews expelled by the Ottomans to Alexandria. This included members of my family in the Light Horse. The Diggers were moved by the plight of these people and gave children rides on their horses and provided what comfort they could to them.

When the Diggers landed at Gallipoli they served alongside the Zion Mule Corps made up of volunteers from those same Jewish refugees. These volunteers served with great distinction and bravery.

This led the British government to raise three battalions of Jewish volunteers, the 38th, 39th and 40th Royal Fusiliers. Among them was future Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion and future president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.

The commanding officer the British assigned to the 39th Battalion in 1918 was Jewish Australian Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Margolin DSO, who had been wounded at Gallipoli, then in 1916-17 served in France, where he was again wounded several times.

These battalions served alongside the Australians in the Middle East campaign and were key in securing the Jordan crossings that enabled the rapid Australian advance into Damascus, where they were the first to enter that city.

As the Australian troops advanced north from their great victory at Beersheba in October 1917 they were welcomed with open arms by the Jewish community (the Yishuv) and showered in hospitality. The official history of the Light Horse campaign states the “welcome which they … gave to the Light Horsemen … was demonstrative and sincere. Regardless of the desultory enemy shell fire, they crowded around the Australians, shouting and laughing and crying, hailing them as true deliverers. Nor was the emotion all on their side … English was little spoken in the villages but a common language was scarcely necessary to bring together eager Jews and lonely horsemen, there being at once an association, often marked by affection.”

When the 1st and 2nd Brigades operated around Richon Le Zion and Wady Hanein, “the men always recalled with gratitude those pleasant Jewish settlements with their groves of large golden oranges, their supplies of wine and their warm-hearted people … The worldwide dream of a Jewish nation established once more in Palestine, which had for nearly 2000 years sustained their scattered race, seemed already a reality; and in their joy they showered hospitality upon the staff officers billeted in their houses and upon the troops encamped on the surrounding sand hills.”

The warmth of the experience and interaction “made those days the happiest the light horsemen had known since they landed in Egypt … Many warm friendships were founded, and, as the horsemen marched out for action, the troubled Jews would follow them with their blessings and tears.”

This experience was to be repeated in World War II where tens of thousands of Australians formed a close bond with the Yishuv, including again members of my family in the 7th Division.

As the war diary describes, the division headquarters was established in a monastery at Nazareth, “overlooking the fertile plain shimmering in the blue haze of the summer heat”. The men camped for several pleasant days among orange groves and gum trees. They enjoyed hospitality from surrounding Jewish settlements and “each night the troops were flocking to the communes … until the CO felt that it was just too good … A ballot system was introduced for rotating leave to the kibbutzim, where the Australians feasted on poultry and farm produce, and drank iced milk, the local libation of choice”.

The Jewish way of life made a favourable impression on the men: “their fine physique and comely appearance, their willingness to do their share of manual labour, their charming family life and their softly murmured Shaloms”. “It was a wonderful relationship we had,” one soldier remembered. “We took up a collection and bought a player piano with a silver plaque and gave it to the settlement.”

Volunteers from the Yishuv fought alongside Australian troops, including the legendary Moshe Dayan, who lost his eye while serving with the 7th Division.

Local Jews were among the first to join the newly formed SAS and served with distinction in this unit and the Jewish Brigade that went on to fight in Italy.

The strength of the relationship was built upon through efforts of the Chifley government that saw the partition plan for creating Israel and an Arab state adopted by the UN, voting for Israel’s membership of the UN and immediately diplomatically recognising the new state of Israel. There has also been practical benefit in the intelligence Israel has provided Australia to enable us to defeat terrorist attacks and in the force protection technology that helps keep our troops safe.

This is a relationship underlined by values we have shed blood to defend and advance. We should recognise Israel is engaged in a struggle against the same malign forces and threat we face from Russia, Iran, China and North Korea. Abandoning it at this time would not only be a heinous betrayal in its hour of greatest need but deeply contrary to our national interests.

Mike Kelly is a former Labor minister and army officer and co-convener of Labor Friends of Israel.