Israel Accused Of ‘Green Colonialism’ For Planting Over 250,000,000 Trees Since 1948
April 3, 2025
By Dean Dwyer
Reprinted from Harbinger’s Daily
(Queensland, Australia) — In Australia, there is a much loved and well-known song performed by country music artist John Williamson which is entitled “Home Among the Gumtrees”. The songwriter talks about the fact that even though he has seen amazing sights on foreign shores, he feels most at home in Australia among the gum trees. The gum tree, often known in horticulture as a eucalyptus tree, is native to Australia. In fact, eucalyptus leaves are the preferred diet for the universally known koala, with each koala consuming up to a kilogram of its leaves each day. So, as you can see, the eucalyptus tree invokes pleasant thoughts and enduring memories for many Australians. However, to antisemites, the eucalyptus tree stands as a towering symbol of supposed Israeli colonialism and the displacement of Palestinian people.
At this point, it is important to point out that the eucalyptus tree is not native to Israel. The first eucalyptus seeds were introduced to the land in the late 1800s, with the express purpose of growing trees to dry out the swamps. The trees were seen as a “biological pump” that would effectively draw water from the soil and evaporate it through their leaves, stems, and flowers, thus drying out the wetlands and allowing farmers to cultivate the land. The Jewish National Fund confirmed this historic use of Australia’s beloved eucalyptus tree by stating on their website: “Eucalyptus trees are one of the most familiar sights on the Israeli landscape. This tree was originally brought to Israel from Australia to help dry out swamps, which were breeding grounds for malaria-spreading mosquitoes.”
Although this highly beneficial use of the eucalyptus tree is well documented, that hasn’t stopped antisemites from claiming that the planting of the trees is equal to a form of “green colonialism”. According to one scholar: “Planting trees is arguably the most insidious form of Palestinian erasure, and a lot of times it appears as protected parks, forests or natural reserves. Some call this an attempt to greenwash their theft.” Do you understand what this person is arguing? Even when Israelis tried to do the right thing by the local population in draining the swamps, mitigating the spread of malaria and making land fertile and productive, they are still accused of being in the wrong! In fact, after battling to contain fires which were started by Hezbollah rockets in the north, it was apparently all Israel’s fault because “Zionists have converted Palestine into a tinderbox by planting over 250 million trees since 1948”.
Although it is difficult to understand how people may reach the conclusion that Israel has engaged in “green colonialism”, the same scholar goes on to state: “Under the guise of environmental conservation and ‘turning the desert green’, this type of colonialism is a way Israel appropriates environmentalism in order to displace Palestinians, destroy the remains of their lands, and make it impossible for Palestinians to return to the villages of their grandparents and ancestors.” This same scholar went on to claim that Israel would continue their policy of “green colonialism” and dislodge the Palestinian people as they “plant their way into settling Gaza”. Another person echoed this sentiment by sensationally claiming: “Nowadays, ecologists around the world have come to loathe the Australian tree that had immigrated so enthusiastically, replacing the Palestinian Bedouins and their livelihoods. It has become scientifically recognized that eucalyptus trees affect adversely the soil, water cycle, wildlife, biodiversity, fire cycle, and local vegetation. The eucalyptus tree was used as a biological deterrent to indigenous Palestinians who lived in symbiosis with their geography and now cannot do so any more. ”
Journalist (and self-confessed radical) Ben Lorber also claims: “Since the idea of Zionism first gripped the minds of a few intellectuals and the limbs of many agrarian pioneers in the early 20th century, the state of Israel has presented its settlement of the land of Palestine, and its uprooting of the Palestinian people, as a rejuvenation of the earth. By ‘greenwashing’ the occupation, Israel hides its apartheid behind an environmentalist mirage, and distracts public attention not only from its brutal oppression of the Palestinian people, but from its large-scale degradation of the earth upon which these tragedies unfold.” I would not be exaggerating to state that mass planting of trees in any other place in the world would be celebrated. Yet, when Jews do it, they are accused of being an eco-apartheid State!
Although antisemites seem to be overreacting to a simple tree, perhaps a story from 1967 will highlight why they are angered when they see a eucalyptus tree. The story revolves around Eli Cohen, one of Israel’s most acclaimed spies. Cohen infiltrated Syria’s political, military, and social scenes in the 1960s, acquiring unprecedented information that afforded Israel vital advantages against their Syrian adversary. Although Cohen was hanged in Damascus in 1965, a decision he made prior to his execution allowed Israel to capture the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. As the story goes, Cohen convinced commanders within the Syrian military to plant trees to provide shade for the Syrian soldiers who were manning well-fortified outposts. The tree he suggested was the eucalyptus tree. Unbeknownst to the Syrians, Cohen wasn’t concerned about providing shade at all. The eucalyptus trees were simply a very large marker which informed the Israeli military that there was a Syrian outpost at the base of the tree, allowing them to accurately target the enemy. Ingenious!
The humble eucalyptus tree, looked upon with fondness by many Australians is now a symbol of disdain for antisemites who falsely accuse Israel of engaging in “green colonialism”. This demonstrates how irrational antisemites are!
Dean Dwyer has served for over 20 years as Pastor and President of Eiser Street Baptist Church in Queensland, Australia.
Editor’s Note: The ‘Re-Blooming’ Of The Land’
Just like the re-establishment of the State of Israel on May 14th, 1948, the “re-blooming” of the land is also a precise fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Ezekiel 36 details the desolation and waste cities that would encapsulate the land prior to God’s regathering of the Jewish people back to their homeland. In the time leading up to this regathering, the Lord carried out an awe-inspiring miracle. Just as God had the power to decimate this land, He also had the power to speak it back into a lush nation flowing with milk and honey.
Ezekiel 36:7-11 reads, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”
The chapter further details in verses 34-35, “The desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden…”
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