BICOM

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball and New Zealand Governor-General Patsy Reddy are visiting Israel to mark the centenary of the battle of Beer Sheva where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) defeated the Ottoman army during the First World War campaign for Palestine.

On Monday Turnball and Reddy signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on bilateral security cooperation with Israel. The MOU focuses on cooperation between the countries security industries and includes articles on strengthening inter-governmental ties.

Yesterday they attended a memorial service in Beer Sheva for the fallen soldiers of WWI. The Battle of Beer Sheva is remembered as the last great cavalry charge in military history with 800 Australian Light Horsemen capturing more than 700 Turkish soldiers. Thirty-one Australian soldiers were killed.

At the ceremony Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “we are remembering an act of courage that changed history. The indomitable spirit of the soldiers of New Zealand here and the Australian Light Horse right there changed history. It is something that didn’t take very long, only a few hours, but the pivot, the hinge of fate moved at that point”.

Netanyahu also took the opportunity to give credit to the Jewish spy network NILI, and the contribution of Sara and Aaron Aaronsohn to the war effort, saying that “the British assessment was that because of the contribution of Aaronsohn, tens of thousands of lives were saved. And Sara Aaronson, who took her life under severe torture, rather than spill out these secrets, we remember too”.

Turnball said of the Australian Light Horse that  “like the State of Israel has done ever since, they defied history and with their courage they fulfilled history. Lest we forget”.

As part of the commemoration 100 descendants of the soldiers who fought in the battle staged a re-enactment of the charge.