Stan Goodenough

Needed: A Rented Office and an Australian Flag

Jun 20, 2018

Over the last few years, in the lead-up to the Beersheba centenary, I have actively promoted the view that Australia—in timely fashion and emulating its famed Light Horsemen—could once again lead the charge, recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and place its embassy there. In 2016, I sat in the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv and asked then-Ambassador to Israel, David Sharma, why it was that his country would not take the initiative and do the right thing in Israel—as it had with every other one of its embassies and high commissions around the world—by placing its embassy in the designated capital. He replied that it was “not Australian statecraft” to do so. A few months later, I put the question to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott during a ‘chance encounter’ at Jerusalem’s Holocaust Memorial Museum. His response was very different: “If I was prime minister I would do it today.” Later that year, as we approached 100 years marking the Battle of Beersheba and the celebrated legacy of the 800 Light Horsemen, people around Australia responded to this voiced hope: that on this pivotal issue of the embassy move to Jerusalem, their nation might again show the maverick brand of […]

The Beersheba Gateway

Feb 14, 2018

“One hundred years ago brave ANZAC soldiers liberated Beer Sheva for the sons and daughters of Abraham, and opened the gateway for the Jewish people to reenter the stage of history.” – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Beersheba, October 31, 2017 “We are here assembled because we are honouring an extraordinary battle which made history; which fulfilled history.” – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Beersheba, October 31, 2017 In these rousing words on the 100th anniversary of the Charge of the Australian Light Horse, Netanyahu depicted that battle as “the gateway” through which Israel was restored as a nation; it had, Turnbull said, “fulfilled history”. The Israeli had it right; the Australian only partially. Beersheba definitely opened the gate, but as far as liberating the Land of Israel for the Jews’ return, Australia’s part in this history would only be fulfilled at another heroic charge, at Tzemach on September 25, 1918. After Beersheba, and even after General Allenby soon thereafter took Jerusalem, there were many battles to fight before the last Light Horse attack truly routed the Turks from the Holy Land. Many of us began 2017 anticipating big strides to be taken in what, down the decades, has been an enduring […]

Australia Can Still Lead The Way

Jun 26, 2017

(Opinion piece by Stan Goodenough) One hundred years ago men from the Southern Hemisphere fighting under the flag of the British Empire opened the way for the Jews to come home. Today the battle is raging over Jerusalem. Donald Trump’s disinclination to announce his embassy’s move to the Israeli capital has opened the way for other nations to take the lead. In this Centennial year of the Battle of Beersheba, will Australia make the move it knows is right? Last month, in an historic visit, US President Donald Trump flew into, and back out of, the Middle East. Israelis were uplifted by his empathy and love. After eight years of hostility from Washington, effused President Reuven Rivlin, “America is back.” For this observer, America was nearly back. Almost but not quite. My real hope – and it flowed and ebbed through conflicting news reports leading up to the visit – was that Trump would keep his promise to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. He didn’t. Yes he did speak – in his final, keynote speech at the Israel Museum – to the Jews’ “ancient and eternal” ties this land: “They date back thousands of years, including the reign of […]

End Time Revival: Ruth Hearts, Ruth Nations – An Awakening

Mar 10, 2017

Ruth clung to Naomi, saying: “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; where you go, I will go…” (Ruth 1:14-16) “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall cling to the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” – Zechariah 8:23 Swathes of expectant Evangelicals are waiting to see—originating in their nations and sweeping all the way to Jerusalem to herald a coming King— a great End Times revival. But what if the groundwork for that revival is already being laid? What if its first signs have been evident, have been coming sharply into focus, for quite some time? What if these Christians are not looking in the right direction? Unless they are, it could take them completely unawares; even pass them by. Have they considered that this revival may go, not from their nations, but rather—as blessing does—to their nations, out of Israel? Do they at all comprehend that the power source for this last great move of God—into which we need to be plugged if we are to be a part of it—is God’s […]

Australia and Israel: For such a time as this

Jan 14, 2017

The contemptible UNESCO resolutions concerning Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and the burial grounds of Israel’s founding fathers in Hebron have shown again how fierce and unrelenting the effort is to delegitimise Israel by disputing or seeking to sever its ancient roots in—and millennia-long ties to—this land. That such international positions are taken against the Jews’ indigeneity is appalling enough. What defies belief is that Judea-Christian nations (like Australia and Israel and America for example) whose cornerstone is the same Bible that authenticates Israel’s claims to its land, to Jerusalem and to the Temple Mount have not rallied to stand with Israel against this assault on the origin of all Christians and Jews. Can Australia be different? Foreign Minister Julie Bishop describes her nation’s relationship with Israel as warm and close. Aussies hardly need me to note that there is so much more that has gone into this mateship than just diplomacy and co-operation. An enormous amount of Australian blood was shed to help liberate the Jews’ historical homeland in World War I, and to keep the Nazis from reaching this land and killing its Jews in World War II. Ties have continued to deepen between the two countries and, during the tenure […]

Israel needs the ‘spiritual ANZACs’ to also be “earthed”

Jun 7, 2016

Purpose of this article: To communicate to Aussie and Kiwi Christians who wish to stand with God’s purposes for Israel the importance of being ‘spiritual anzacs’—plugged into the battle for the Land – and pointing to the tie-in with the upcoming elections in Australia. The four years encompassing the 100th anniversarof the Great War (2014 to 2018) have seen a marked growth of pride in the legacy of the ANZACs among young and old Australians and New Zealanders alike. Widely held is the perception that these countries were forged into nations in the terrible furnace of World War 1. By many accounts, ANZAC Day has become a more patriotic event than Australia Day and Waitangi Day respectively. Christians have hardly been immune, and a growing number also hold a Biblical perspective on the subject. Quoting Genesis 12:3—the foundational principle pertinent to those who bless the seed of Abraham—they ascribe the prosperity and peace experienced by their nations since the 1920s to the heroic fighting and sacrifices of the men of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps; specifically to the fact that their diggers formed the point of the British Empire spear that liberated Israel’s land from centuries of Islamic […]

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