An Australian Defense Force hero has hit back at a group of teachers who want to “dismantle the Anzac legacy”.
Pippa Tandy, spokesperson for Victorian group Teachers 4 Palestine, said she wants to change the way Australian history is taught in schools because she is “tired of having to do ideological work for arms companies and the government”.
But veteran Michael von Berg MC OAM told WhatsNew2Day Australia it was a “slap in the face” to those who had defended the nation and that “if the Education Minister had the guts he would accept this”.
Tandy said in an interview with Tom Elliott on 3AW this week that she was “concerned about the whole Anzac Day story”.
“If you look at history, Anzac troops in the Middle East and in the Ottoman Empire during World War I participated in the division of Arab territories to divide them between European states, [and] “Part of that involved expelling the Palestinians,” he said.
War hero Michael von Berg lashed out at Teachers 4 Palestine Victoria, who he said wanted to “dismantle the legacy of the Anzacs”.
Teachers4Palestine linked Anzac Day to the conflict in Gaza saying it is “all part of the same imperial impulse”
Palestine Victoria teachers and school staff said this week they will not “glorify Australia’s military history this Anzac Day”.
Von Berg said the day is to commemorate the tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers who were lost, injured or gave their lives on the battlefield to protect the nation and those who returned mentally scarred.
‘It is a sacrosanct day in the Australian calendar.
‘The ignorant and apathetic position taken by Teachers4Palestine in boycotting Anzac Day is a slap in the face to all who have served and a total lack of respect for those who have shed blood.’
Von Berg was a platoon commander in Vietnam who received a Military Cross for his actions in 1966.
His quote states that he “showed complete disregard for his own safety” by leading his troops to successfully repel an enemy attack after they were ambushed in a ravine, saving their lives.
The group Teachers for Palestine Victoria, which has connections to hundreds of schools across Australia, has linked Anzac Day to the plight of Palestinians, including Israel’s violent retaliation for the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October.
He has published a teaching booklet focusing on “the border wars, the mistreatment of returning soldiers, Australian war crimes in Afghanistan and the perspectives of Palestinian academics and advocates”.
In particular, the group said it would bring to the fore the Sarafand Al-amar massacre in which, according to some sources, between 40 and 137 Palestinians were killed by the Anzacs in 1918.
Troops stationed near the village had become frustrated by petty thefts and occasional murders of their men by locals and, after a New Zealand soldier was killed in a robbery, they attacked the village killing inhabitants and burning buildings.
Teachers 4 Palestine Victoria has said she wants to change the way Anzac history is taught
The group said Australians’ military service should not be “glorified” in a post showing former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. von Berg said he was surprised that it was taught to children.
“I’ve talked to schoolchildren and I talk to them about camaraderie, sense of purpose and leadership, not blood and guts.”
‘It seems extraordinary to me.
‘The Department of Education and the Minister of Education should take action on the matter.
“These woke teachers want to redesign a curriculum to suit their own biases.”
In a fiery confrontation with Tom Elliott, Ms Tandy said many teachers “are increasingly concerned about how they present the material they give us”.
‘The situation in the Middle East is the result of the division of territories by empires. Just like the fight for Africa was,” he told the 3AW presenter.
“Anzac Day is used for ideological purposes, not simply to remember sacrifices.”
Elliott responded by asking Tandy if, in his opinion, countries drawn into those wars had a choice.
“Are you saying that in World War II we shouldn’t have opposed imperialist Japan or Nazi Germany?” she asked.
‘If you study Anzac Day, it’s against war, it doesn’t say war is wonderful, it says it’s terrible but sometimes it’s necessary.
“Anzac Day began as a way to commemorate the sacrifice of Australian soldiers at Gallipoli and has evolved into a broader commemoration of the sacrifice of generations of young Australian men and women for the common good.”
Tom Elliott asked Ms Tandy whether countries like Australia had the option to get involved in some wars and whether the actions of some should discount the sacrifices made by many.
“I’m not saying all Anzacs are heroes, but many were,” Elliot said.
‘The vast majority of Australians believe Anzac Day is worth commemorating. You are a minority here.
Tandy said she knew hundreds of teachers who held the same views as her.
“We are tired of having to do this ideological work for the arms companies and the government.”
Teachers and school staff for Palestine Victoria has claimed that “schools are deliberate targets of government-funded mystification about Australia’s role in the wars”.
The “arms companies” claim is a reference to some of the teaching material on Australian military history that the Australian War Memorial provides to schools.
Arms and defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Thales and Boeing have provided funding to the Australian War Memorial (AWM); Senate figures show around $803,000 was donated between 2021 and 2023.
AWM board chair, former Prime Minister Kim Beazley, has said such sponsorship was “important for presentations and events of a special nature outside the normal operating budget”.
“Our partnership policy does not provide for any direction of content by donors,” he said.
RSL Australia said the matter would fall under education departments and that its own role was to “honour the service of Australians”.
Elliott told Tandy she sounded like a “conspiracy theorist” by saying gun companies are pushing Anzac Day.
She responded by asking if “the genocide in Palestine was a conspiracy theory.”
Elliott said that had nothing to do with the Anzacs.
“Yes, that’s right, it’s all part of the same imperial impulse,” said Mrs. Tandy.
Teachers for Palestine Victoria said it was “important for students to know that the Anzacs left a long and violent historical mark on Palestine”.
“We have made some suggestions (to the teaching programme) that point to the real history of the Anzacs and American and European domination in the Middle East,” Ms Tandy said.
“This way we can teach kids what really happened in an age-appropriate way.”
An RSL Australia spokesperson told WhatsNew2Day Australia: ‘This appears to be more a matter for education authorities, not RSL to comment on.
‘Whatever political, constitutional and international treaty obligations prevailing at the time (World War I), the role of the RSL is to represent our veterans and remember and honor their service, commitment and bravery, and encourage all Australians to do the same.
“We do this continually, but particularly on Anzac Day, Remembrance Day and other key commemorative dates.”