Australian veterans have blasted pro-Palestine protests planned around Melbourne for Anzac Day as “disrespectful”.
Victoria Police says it is aware of at least three planned protests around the city today, including University of Melbourne in Parkville, and has boosted patrols.
A group called Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria, which is organising some of the protests, has called on the community to stop glorifying the actions of the Australian military on the national day of remembrance, which takes place annually on April 25.
“I have no issue with them having peaceful demonstrations, but what comes along with that is the right to respect other people,” RSL Victoria president Dr Robert Webster told the Herald Sun, labelling the protests “disrespectful”.
“They’re choosing to disrespect the veterans of this country who treat today as our national day, that to me is the issue.”
Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia Victoria president Bob Elworthy told the newspaper Anzac Day should be “left alone”.
“They have the right to protest, but I don’t respect them protesting on Anzac Day,” he said.
“Anzac Day is not about glorifying war, we’re paying respect to those who put themselves in harm’s way so that people can protest.”
Victoria Police said in a statement that it “closely monitors protest intelligence in the lead-up to major events and days of significance”.
“We are aware of a number of unrelated rallies and events occurring throughout the CBD across Thursday,” police said.
“We are well-prepared and resourced to respond should any protest activity require our attendance.”
It comes after millions of Australians rose before the sun to pay respects to the servicemen and women who have served the nation.
Dawn Services took place in every state and territory to commence Anzac Day celebrations from just after 4am on Thursday.
A large crowd of Victorians gathered at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
Presenter Justin Smith delivered opening remarks, speaking of senior World War I officer Harold “Pompey” Elliott.
“He could be heard yelling and swearing at a soldier one day and then found sobbing over news of the man’s death the next,” Mr Smith said.
“So he knew about war. But he knew about something else — not just what a war was, but he knew how war should be remembered. And today … years after Pompey Elliot landed into the horror of Gallipoli, we’re here again, waiting for dawn.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan gave a solemn speech to honour all those affected by war and conflict.
“This is why it is right that this year’s commemorations are shining a light on peacekeepers, peacemakers and peace builders,” she said.
“After all, the best way to honour the sacrifices of those who have served our nation in wartime is to make every effort to promote peace.”
On Wednesday, the Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria group was accused of an “insidious” attack on Australia’s national identity.
The group published a 40-page booklet outlining alleged injustices against Palestinians by the Anzac Corps during World War I, which it claimed were often overlooked in historical accounts and seldom taught in schools.
It claimed Anzac soldiers were part of a “European project” aimed at dividing Arab territories among European states.
The group argued that students today should be taught more than what they called “government-funded mystification” about Australia’s involvement in global conflicts.
“Such instances of official remembrance obscure the realities of war, and the consequences of Australia’s role in imperialism and militarisation,” said the booklet titled Teaching for Palestine: Challenging Anzac Day.
“As teachers, we should strive to resist this, and we should introduce our students to the real history of the Anzacs — in Palestine and elsewhere.”
The group repeatedly cited Australia’s involvement in the Sarafand Al-Amar massacre.
On December 10, 1918, poor relations between an Anzac mounted division and Palestinian Arabs exploded when a New Zealand trooper was shot dead after disturbing a thief in his tent.
A group of New Zealanders and Australians burned Sarafand al-Amar, an Arab village in modern-day Israel.
Reports of Palestinian deaths as a result of the massacre vary from 40 men to 140 villagers indiscriminately.
The Anzacs refused to co-operate with a subsequent British investigation. General Edmund Allenby condemned them as “a lot of cowards and murderers”, as per New Zealand government archives.
The British Army rebuilt the village, with contributions from Australia and New Zealand.
In a fiery exchange on 3AW radio on Wednesday, host Tom Elliot clashed with Pippa Tandy, a spokesperson for the protest group and a Victorian secondary school teacher.
Ms Tandy argued Anzac Day neglects the darker aspects of Australia’s involvement in wars, and that the Anzacs were involved in a “colonial war” that caused harm to indigenous populations.
Elliot defended the broader cause for which the Anzacs fought, portraying it as a noble sacrifice for the greater good.
The host accused Ms Tandy of sounding like a “conspiracy theorist” when she asserted “we are sick of having to do this ideological work for arms companies and the government”.
“You sound like a conspiracy theorist … to say the arms companies are pushing Anzac Day is ludicrous,” Elliot interjected.
Ms Tandy said the current conflict in the Middle East was related to “the same imperial push” seen in World War I.
“It’s got nothing to do with the Anzacs,” Elliot hit back.
Ms Tandy said the organisation’s modus operandi offered teachers the chance to teach material “that takes into account the actual history of the Anzacs, the actual history of the European and American domination in the Middle East”.
“Teachers know and their students know what they want to know, and students are desperately hungry for the truth about what’s going on,” she said.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson slammed the teachers group as “insidious”.
“On one hand, this is offensive, ahistorical nonsense … but on the other, it’s a deeply dangerous attempt to dismantle one of the last unifying symbols of nationhood in Australia, long after people have trashed our flag, trashed our constitution, trashed our anthem, and Australia Day as well,” Mr Paterson told Sky News.
“Anzac Day is one of those things that has almost universal support, almost universal belief in whether you’re on the left of politics or the right, whether you came here recently or a long time ago. Australians rally around this. And I think it’s particularly insidious that even that institution is now under attack, and there are people trying to undermine that.”
Senator Paterson cautioned against criticising Anzac Day because of a select few past events in war, stating that it could stir up deep anti-patriotic sentiment and cause new generations to lose faith in the country.
“No nation can prosper, let alone survive, in a contested geopolitical environment without any belief in itself,” he said.
Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria is associated with hundreds of schools throughout the state.
A NSW branch is currently running a petition calling to end “the silencing of Palestinian human rights in schools”, which has garnered hundreds of signatures from teachers, parents and students across the state.
— with NCA NewsWire