Page 50 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2018

DEFENCE BUSINESS
VIEW FROM CANBERRA
The reenactment of the Light Horse charge in Israel was a huge event for both nations.
THAT was achieved with plenty of dash and daring, though the Australian force was part of a much larger force.
Australian troops returned again for the next war, participating in campaign in Syria and Lebanon. That time around the enemy was the pro-German Vichy French.
Assigned to an Australian-led recon- naissance force was a young member of the Jewish underground military. Surveying French positions, his binoculars were struck by a bullet and he lost his left eye, wearing a trademark eye path ever after. He was of course Moshe Dayan.
From the hour of birth, Israel and Aus- tralia have been firm friends. Yet for all the history, the military relationship just hasn’t been that strong and only now is that changing.
In Israel for the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Light Horse charge at Beersheba, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turn- bull and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu signed an MoU establishing annual de- fence talks and expanding defence indus- try cooperation. Cyber security, an area where Israel excels, was a key focus.
There appear to be a number of reasons why the Australia-Israel defence relation- ship has failed to really take off.
A 2016 study by the Australian Stra- tegic Policy Institute (ASPI) said the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has had minimal knowledge of or interest in other states’ armed forces, with the US the sole exception.
Increasing ties
ASPI said that was largely because of Israel’s very limited experience of fight- ing abroad in coalitions. In all its wars, Israel has had no choice but to fight on its own. That’s never been the case for Aus- tralia – every fight has been in conjunc- tion with allies.
Canberra had been reluctant to take the defence relationship forward because of fear it would harm relations with Arab nations, though there’s scant evidence of that.
ASPI said the ADF and IDF would ben- efit from enhanced cooperation. Both are relatively small high tech forces which oper- ate plenty of US military kit.
From the ADF side, Israeli technology is especially alluring and some is already in the ADF inventory, though not always im- mediately identifiable as Israeli.
The Australian Army’s battle manage- ment system (BMS) is Israeli tech, devel- oped by Elbit. Electronic support mea- sures (ESM) on RAAF AP-3C Orion and E-7A Wedgetail aircraft were produced by
between Israel and Australia
A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT | CANBERRA
Just over a century ago, Australian light horsemen played their part in expelling the remnants of the Turkish Ottoman Empire from what is now the state of Israel, the beginning of a longstanding relationship between the two nations.
50 | November 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au
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