Anzac Series Collaboration
We are four weeks out from ANZAC Day. Our Australian colleagues, Minority Impact, are releasing a short video series on chapters of ANZAC history that are actively being distorted.
Part One is out now. Debunking the lie that Israel desecrated ANZAC war graves in Gaza. That is not what happened.
The IDF constructed a defensive earth barrier (a berm) after identifying Hamas terror tunnel infrastructure and rocket positions in and around the Gaza War cemetery. Palestinian terrorists had used the site to launch attacks on Israeli soldiers from its vicinity.
This series is produced in collaboration with the Indigenous Embassy of Jerusalem and the Israel Institute of New Zealand. We will cover Jewish war veterans, the Māori and Pasifika soldiers who fought in the Middle East during WWI, and other overlooked chapters of this history.
ANZAC Day reminds us of what Australia and New Zealand stands for and what it fought against.
Australians and New Zealanders fought tyranny alongside our allies. They fought for the values of the free world. We are fighting for those same values today.
The war against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terror proxies, the fight against Palestinian terrorism in Gaza and the West Bank — this is the same terrorism being fought in Australia. But the fight is not just a physical one. It is a cultural one.
There are politicians, journalists, and influencers adopting an "Australia or New Zealand first" stance that misses the point entirely. They imagine Australia and New Zealand as separate from the rest of the free world. Separate from our allies. But Australia and New Zealand are not separate. Australia and New Zealand have fought alongside its allies — including in the Middle East during the First World War, in the same region we are talking about today.
ANZAC soldiers helped to defeat the Ottoman Empire — a tyrannical power that committed genocide against the Armenian people, brutally oppressed the populations under its rule, and was notorious for its harsh treatment of prisoners of war, including Australian and New Zealand soldiers who suffered under Ottoman captivity. Those soldiers understood exactly what Australia and New Zealand stood for. They understood that defending it meant fighting beyond our own borders.
Australia and New Zealands' connection to the Middle East and to the broader fight for the free world, is not new. It is woven into our history. And today, the enemies of the free world are again testing whether Australia, New Zealand and its allies still have the will to fight for what it stands for.
Watch, like and share Part One of our series Watch the full reel here.
The Minority Impact Team
hq@minorityimpact.com.au
"We advocate for each other, not just for ourselves."
Minority Impact Ltd is a minority and refugee-led grassroots advocacy organisation building understanding across communities for a more resilient democratic future.