Peter MacDonald
This is not about defending Prime Minister Luxon’s remarks on Gaza, nor is it about defending Israel or condemning Palestine. I remain impartial on the current Gaza conflict because I do not believe mainstream media provides a sufficiently complete or trustworthy picture for anyone to make a confident judgment without seeing the reality on the ground for themselves.
It is also not about defending Luxon personally. In my view, such controversial statements from a sitting prime minister are rarely off the cuff: they are part of a deliberate geopolitical strategy; shaped and cleared by New Zealand’s bureaucratic machinery and very likely aligned with US State Department positions. That is how statecraft works.
What I am addressing is the recent mockery by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, who quipped that New Zealand “doesn’t need an army” because our only enemies are “possums and cats”.
This history is personal to me: my late grandfather, Alexander MacDonald, a displaced Highlander, served at Gallipoli from day one until the evacuation, witnessing firsthand the courage and resilience that defined New Zealand soldiers of that era.
Haskel should know better. She lived in Australia for six years, worked in a veterinary clinic and understands the Antipodean environmental psyche. She knows possums and feral cats are a national pest in New Zealand. But she also should know that our army is not defined by pest control and that New Zealand soldiers once fought in some of the harshest deserts on Earth in battles that directly shaped the Middle East and laid the groundwork for the creation of the very state she now serves.
1917, No Plan B for Britain
In 1917, with the Ottoman Empire still controlling Palestine and the British war effort under strain, London entrusted the decisive blows to the ANZAC Mounted Division, particularly the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the Australian Light Horse. These men, hardened by frontier life, were chosen for their toughness, adaptability and fighting spirit. Commanders knew that soldiers from the frontiers of New Zealand and Australia would not back down and would relish the fight against the Ottomans, whose tactics were still shaped by centuries-old traditions, much as when they had once defeated the Saracens.
On 31 October 1917, at Beersheba, the Australians charged through Ottoman lines while the New Zealanders secured the critical left flank. Without this flank attack, the Australians would have been cut down by enfilading fire and the operation might have failed. This victory opened the road into Palestine.
Chaytor’s Force and the Road to Jerusalem
Motueka-born Brigadier General Edward Chaytor commanded a composite force of New Zealand, British and Indian troops. His men captured key positions in the Jordan Valley, Es Salt and Amman, forcing Ottoman withdrawal. Under his oversight also served the Jewish Legion battalions of the Royal Fusiliers that included future Israeli leaders like David Ben-Gurion and Ze'ev Jabotinsky.
By December 1917, New Zealand troops were among those securing the approaches to Jerusalem, enabling General Edmund Allenby’s symbolic entry on foot. Allenby called it “the end of the Crusades” won, ironically, by soldiers from the far side of the world.
From Desert Battles to the State of Israel
These victories allowed Britain to implement the Balfour Declaration, laying the groundwork for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Without the ANZAC breakthroughs, there was no Plan B. The military success of these ‘farm boys’ from New Zealand and Australia was a key step toward the founding of Israel in 1948.
A Legacy Worth Remembering.
The possums and cats quip may have been meant in jest, but history is no joke. When Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister dismisses New Zealand’s military as if it has never faced a real enemy, she overlooks the fact that her nation’s very existence is partly built on their legacy.
Some debts run deeper than politics. And they deserve to be remembered even 108 years later.
