L’Chaim to Life: Alexander Downer

Maurice Klein speaks with Alexander Downer, an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2018.

Alexander tells us that Hamas, the Palestinian government of Gaza, are not people campaigning for a two-state solution; they want to kill the Jewish people, eliminate the State of Israel and deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination. He does not see the situation that Israel is addressing as just the brutal cruelty of October 7, he sees it as a challenge to our whole civilization, and therefore, the military capabilities of Hamas must be completely destroyed.

We hear that Alexander has been shocked by the degree of antisemitism in Australia, with the left leading the march and describing the Australian Greens as an antisemitic cult and should be called out for their antisemitism. According to him, the left sees everything in the world about power relationships, the oppressed and the oppressor, once the Jews were the oppressed and now they are the oppressors; all Palestinians are oppressed and all Jews are the oppressors. He goes on to say that the UN’s special rapporteur Francesca Albanese doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously; she is just a warrior for Hamas, and her visit to Australia did the UN brand a great deal of damage with the UN completely playing themselves out of the game. Also the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – UNRWA, are real Israel haters.