PRIME Minister Tony Abbott is being urged to hold the line in his support of Israel by a veteran journalist who says the ANZACs shed blood to pave the way for Jewish people’s freedom.

South African journalist Stan Goodenough, who has covered the Middle East peace process for 25 years, said Christians should be writing to Mr Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to applaud their pro-Israeli stance.

Speaking at a Sunshine Coast church on Sunday, Mr Goodenough said just six weeks ago he was at Beersheba, in the Negev desert, where the sacrifice of ANZACs in 1917 was being applauded as pivotal in paving the formation of the Israeli state in 1948.

Some 800 light horsemen captured Beersheba from the Turks, opening the way for the liberation of Jerusalem, taking it out from Islamic control, and freeing it up so the Jews could become nationalized and have their own home, he said.