An Australian Defence Force hero has hit back at a group of teachers who want to ‘dismantle the Anzac legacy’.
Pippa Tandy, a spokesperson for Victorian group Teachers 4 Palestine, said she wants to change how Australia’s history is taught in schools because she is ‘sick of having to do ideological work for arms companies and the government’.
But veteran Michael von Berg MC OAM told Daily Mail Australia it was a ‘slap in the face’ to those who had defended the nation and that ‘if the Education Minister had any guts, he would come down on this’.
Ms Tandy said in an interview with Tom Elliott on 3AW this week that she was ‘concerned about the whole story of Anzac Day’.
‘If you look at the history, Anzac troops in the Middle East and in the Ottoman Empire in WWI were involved breaking up Arab territories to divide them among European states, [and] part of that involved clearing out Palestinians,’ she said.
War hero Michael von Berg has hit out at Teachers 4 Palestine Victoria who have said they want 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 push’
Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria said this week it won’t be ‘glorifying Australia’s military history this Anzac Day’.
Mr von Berg said the day is about commemoration of the tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealand troops 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 of all who have served and a total disrespect for those who have spilled blood.’
Mr von Berg was a platoon commander in Vietnam who was awarded a Military Cross for his actions in 1966.
His citation states that he ‘showed a complete disregard for his own safety’ to lead his troops in successfully driving back an enemy attack after they were ambushed in a ravine, saving their lives.
The Teachers for Palestine Victoria group, which has connections with hundreds of schools across Australia, has linked Anzac Day to the plight of Palestinians including Israel’s violent retaliation to terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7.
It has released a teaching booklet focusing on ‘the frontier wars, mistreatment of returned soldiers, Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, and the perspectives of Palestinian academics and advocates’.
In particular the group said it would ‘foreground’ the Sarafand Al-amar massacre in which, according to some sources, between 40 and 137 Palestinians were killed by Anzacs in 1918.
Troops stationed near the village had grown frustrated at petty thefts and occasional murders of their men by locals and, after a New Zealand soldier was killed in a robbery, they set upon the village killing inhabitants and burning buildings.
Teachers 4 Palestine Victoria has said it wants to change the way Anzac history is taught
The group said the military service of Australians should not be ‘glorified’ in a post showing former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu
Mr von Berg said he was shocked that would be taught to children.
‘I’ve spoken to schoolkids and talk about comradeship, sense of purpose and leadership, we don’t about blood and guts.’
‘I find that extraordinary.
‘The Education Department and the Education Minister should come down on this.
‘These woke teachers want to redesign a syllabus to suit their own bias.’
In a fiery clash with Tom Elliott, Ms Tandy said a lot of teachers ‘are increasingly concerned about how they present the material we are given’.
‘The Middle East situation is a result of empires carving up territories. Just as the scramble for Africa was,’ she told the 3AW host.
‘Anzac Day is being used for ideological purposes, it’s not simply remembering sacrifices.’
Mr Elliott fired back, asking Ms Tandy whether, in her view, countries dragged into those wars had a choice.
‘Are you saying in WWII we shouldn’t have opposed imperialist Japan or Nazi Germany?’ he asked.
‘If you study Anzac Day it’s anti-war, it’s not saying war is wonderful, it’s saying it’s terrible but sometimes it’s necessary.
‘Anzac Day started as a way of commemorating the sacrifice of Australian soldiers in Gallipoli and it’s grown into a broader commemoration about the sacrifice of generations of young Australian men and women for the greater good.’
Tom Elliott asked Ms Tandy whether countries like Australia had a choice to get involved in some wars and whether the actions of some should discount the sacrifices many made
‘I’m not saying every Anzac is a hero but many were,’ Mr Elliot said.
‘The vast majority of Australians believe Anzac Day is worth commemorating. You’re in the minority here.’
Ms Tandy said she knew of hundreds of teachers who had the same views as her.
‘We are sick of having to do this ideological work for arms companies and the government.’
Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria has claimed ‘schools are deliberate targets for government funded mystification about Australia’s roles in wars’.
The ‘arms companies’ claim is a reference to some of the teaching material about Australia’s military history being provided to schools by the Australian War Memorial.
Weapons and defence companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Thales and Boeing have provided funding to the Australian War Memorial (AWM) – Senate figures show about $803,000 was donated between 2021 and 2023.
The AWM council chair, former PM Kim Beazley, has said such sponsorship was ‘important for presentations and events of a special character outside the normal operational budget’.
‘Our partnership policy does not provide any direction of content by donors,’ he said.
RSL Australia said the matter would be one for the education departments and its own role was to ‘honour Australians’ service’
Mr Elliott put it to Ms Tandy that she appeared to sound like a ‘conspiracy theorist’ to say arms companies are pushing Anzac Day.
She fired back asking if ‘the genocide in Palestine was a conspiracy theory’.
Mr Elliott said that has nothing to do with the Anzacs.
‘Yes it does, it’s all part of the same Imperial push,’ Ms Tandy claimed.
Teachers for Palestine Victoria said it was ‘important for students to know the Anzacs left a long and violent historical imprint on Palestine’.
‘We have made some suggestions (to the teaching syllabus) that note the actual history of the Anzacs and the American and European domination in the Middle East,’ Ms Tandy said.
‘So we can teach children what actually happened in an age appropriate way.’
An RSL Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘This appears to be more a matter for the education authorities, not for the RSL to comment.
‘Whatever the political, constitutional and international treaty obligations prevailing at the time (WW I), the RSL’s role is to represent our veterans and remember and honour 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 on other key commemoration dates.’
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