Leaders demonstrate cowardice in the face of surging anti-Semitism

Mark Le Grand (“Albanese is failing our Jewish community”, 19/6) sets out, with forensic clarity, the cowardice running ever deeper within us as a blind, indifferent and inhumane eye is turned toward the plight of Jews in our society in the face of vile behaviour.

There is silence from right-thinking people who would normally excoriate the rest of us for every perceived misdemeanour in relation to gender and other sins. All we get is inaction or excuses from those with the power to act.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his party, and those tasked with law enforcement, are clearly not up to the task and seem to be indifferent to it.

What will it take?

One only hopes not a tragedy here. Shameful.

Leni Palk, Unley, SA

I wholeheartedly concur with Mark Le Grand in his excellent article. Unfortunately, his recipe to “avoid a future tragedy” is a lost cause. In two years, we have seen no evidence of Anthony Albanese “acting with commitment, vigour and courage”.

Marilyn Smith, Mosman, NSW

Police need to do something to restore our confidence in their ability to protect and act following the spate of pro-Palestine protesters defacing, damaging and more recently firebombing politicians’ offices (Josh Burns, Anthony Albanese, Bill Shorten and others).

These terrorist acts are an assault on our democratic processes, preventing access to our elected representatives. Will I see affirmative, timely effective policing? I won’t hold my breath.

l was headmaster of Mount Scopus when Josh was my student and, later, prefect. It brought me to tears to see his face when interviewed about the attack on his office.

Warren Fineberg, St Kilda East, Vic

Strange itinerary

You have to wonder about Li Qiang’s itinerary. First he visits a winery in celebration of China lifting its arbitrary wine tariffs. Then it’s off to a lithium mine to celebrate Australia allowing China to retain its part-ownership. Anthony Albanese calls this a stabilised relationship.

As a headline stated, “with friends like these …” (18/6)

Keith Mackay, Campbell ACT

Cost of independence

Hugo Rifkind’s therapeutic spray on Nigel Farage raises the important point of the price of true independence (“Brexit’s a fiasco, so why isn’t Farage held to account”, 20/6).

Rifkind’s statistics suggest that, following Brexit, the UK economy has taken a hit. But what The Times correspondent hasn’t addressed is whether or not most UK citizens are happy with the result. After all, the Brits no longer have to put up with quite insufferable bureaucrats in Brussels dictating all manner of things to those across the Channel. In a similar vein, would most Australians prefer to forego some of the economic benefits associated with our dealings with China in order to retain our true economic independence?

Bob Miller, Leederville, WA