Ted led by Israeli youth
PREMIER Ted Baillieu used the inspiration provided by a group of underprivileged Israeli children to promote the maxim that “anything is possible”.
PREMIER Ted Baillieu used the inspiration provided by a group of underprivileged Israeli children to promote the maxim that “anything is possible”.
Four boys from the Ben Yakir Youth Village – sponsored by United Israel Appeal (UIA) Victoria – travelled to Australia to tell their personal stories and sing uplifting tunes at the UIA community evening on Tuesday.
They were joined on stage by Australian-born IDF officer Captain Benjamin Rutland and community stalwart Erwin Lamm, who was celebrated on his 90th birthday.
Baillieu listened attentively as one of the Israeli boys, Uri Mengista, spoke of his journey from Ethiopia as a three-year-old.
While he travelled safely by plane, his grandparents went by foot – his grandmothers arrived in the Jewish State, but his grandfathers did not make it.
The teenager told of his training at the youth village to be an engineer, his passion for sports, and his prowess in running, which has taken him to the Israeli Championships.
The Premier used the boys’ attitude that “anything is possible” to promote the strength of Victoria, as the “state of aspiration”.
That aspiration comes in part, he said, from the 50,000-strong local Jewish community.
“There is no community that puts in harder for Victoria than the Jewish community,” the former architect said. “From my point of view, it is inspiring.”
The Liberal leader also reminisced about his trip to Israel almost two years ago, speaking with particular emotion about elderly ladies he saw in Jerusalem collecting signatures for a petition to free Gilad Shalit.
Captain Rutland told guests of his time in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit during the Gaza war.
He described a BBC radio interview he conducted from Sderot during the war.
While he was speaking to an estimated audience of four million Britons, an alarm rang out indicating a bomb was 15 seconds away.
He took his chances and rather than fleeing to a shelter, he described live the panic that was going on around him as Israelis fled Hamas’s violence.
“Four million listeners heard that explosion across England,” the Sydney-born, former student leader said. “I hope I influenced and managed to affect the listeners on the other side of the world.”
NAOMI LEVIN
Image: Premier Ted Baillieu last Tuesday evening. Photo: Peter Haskin
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