The former SBS sports reporter Scott McIntyre, who was sacked last after tweeting controversial opinions about the Anzac legacy, has again chosen Anzac Day to tweet about atrocities committed by some Anzac soldiers during WWI and WWII.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
McIntyre found himself at the centre of controversy in 2015 when he referred to the commemoration of Anzac Day as "remembering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these 'brave' Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan".
The tweets prompted then communications minister Malcolm Turnbull to make a late-night phone call to SBS managing director Michael Ebeid on April 25. McIntyre was sacked the next day.
The broadcaster settled his unfair dismissal case in early April for an undisclosed amount. McIntyre acknowledged his tweets last Anzac Day were "contentious" and regretted any attribution of his views to SBS".
Mr Turnbull publicly condemned the comments, calling them "despicable remarks", but McIntyre has refused to apologise for, or delete, the tweets.
Instead, one year later, McIntyre has launched another wave of comments on Anzac Day discourse by posting reminders of the darker chapters of the Anzac legend, including a village massacre, riots and allegations of rape.
"Heroism on command, senseless violence, all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name patriotism," Japan-based McIntyre tweeted at roughly 2pm AEST, one year after his Anzac Day tweets first caused a storm of criticism and sparked debate about free speech.
Heroism on command, senseless violence, all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism. pic.twitter.com/AMdt0lq9gA— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2016
In four tweets McIntyre used his notoriety to mark Anzac Day 2016 with reminders of the Battle of Wazzir, a bloody riot in Cairo 1915 when Australian and New Zealand soldiers torched brothels and destroyed property as supposed revenge for the wave of venereal diseases the soldiers had contracted.
Brave Anzacs rioting, pillaging and murdering in Egypt, 1915. Via war memorial website. pic.twitter.com/N6WQCeSPHh— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2016
"Brave Anzac rioting, pillaging and murdering in Egypt, 1915," McIntyre tweeted with a screenshot from the Australian War Memorial Website describing the episode.
Another tweet referenced an event known as the Surafend Massacre, in which 200 Anzac troops retaliated to the murder of a New Zealand soldier by razing a Bedouin village in Palestine and murdering up to 120 of its inhabitants.
Anzacs murdering, in cold-blood, villagers in Surafend in 1918: the first hand account from trooper Harold O'Brien. pic.twitter.com/FdwUSOOfoz— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2016
He also posted a chapter excerpt to 'Time of Fallen Blossoms, a book written by an Australian interpreter Allan Clifton, which described the alleged gang rape of a Japanese girl.
Australian troops involved in frequent, often pack, rape of Japanese in Kure, 1940s. Via army translator A. Clifton. pic.twitter.com/K7V5dL9kYx— Scott McIntyre (@mcintinhos) April 25, 2016
McIntyre has been contacted for comment.
