A couple of days ago, I listened to a podcast by John Anderson. He was a Deputy PM of Australia when Howard was the PM, and I have been a subscriber of his podcasts for a little while. The one heard two days ago was his chat with Julian Leeser, a Jewish MP that is intelligent, articulate, and comes across as a leader I can respect and admire.
That podcast was made available 1 day before the tragedy that unfolded at Bondi Beach on Sunday (14 Dec 2025). As I listened to it, I was reminded of Michael Gawenda’s book on being a Jew. That book was published on 3 October 2023 – 4 days before Hamas perpetuated its evil acts on 7 October 2023 at Gaza. As I read that book, I wondered why the world hated Jews. Why so called leaders – not just political leaders, but also institutional leaders like in universities and multinational corporations and think tanks and the likes – why do these so called elite groups hate the Jews.
The timing of the podcast and book were uncanny. I was fortunate to consume both soon after those tragic days in history.
Ante 