Three of a special kind best choices for national honour

I would like to congratulate The Australian on choosing Deborah Conway, Josh Frydenberg and Alex Ryvchin for the shared honour of 2024 Australians of the Year.

They have been tireless and courageous in facing down the Israel/Jew haters in our community.

Not only is Conway a very talented musician, who has excelled in her career over many years, she has also shown strength and courage during a year of turbulence.

She has publicly stood up to the sinister forces of anti-Semitism and efforts by misinformed and disingenuous activists to disrupt her performances, misconstrue her statements and verbally attack her.

She has shown herself to be a true artist, one who is prepared to risk everything to stand up for the truth.

Frydenberg and Ryvchin have been outspoken advocates and been prepared to cop the fallout from standing up for the Jewish community and speaking the truth, amid verbal and physical anti-Semitic attacks.

Their bravery is an inspiration to so many, especially in the local Jewish community, who have endured a shocking rise in anti-Semitism and an ongoing campaign of propaganda against Israel, Zionism and Jews.

The Australian has been one of very few media outlets who have reported honestly and truthfully about the war in the Middle East, and for that I am truly grateful.

Jennifer Symonds, Wollstonecraft, NSW

Congratulations to both The Australian and its clued-up readers on the choice of the three Australians of the Year – Alex Ryvchin, Josh Frydenberg and Deborah Conway.

These three people understand what is at stake if we don’t stand up and denounce this hatred. As a child in the UK I could never understand how the Jew hatred took such a hold in Germany.

I now know the answer – the silent majority. We must all stand up and support our Jewish community now, otherwise who will be next?

Elizabeth Jobson, Tamborine Mountain, Qld

Your newspaper has got it dead right. Again.

In selecting Deborah Conway, Josh Frydenberg and Alex Ryvchin as its Australians of the Year, it has transparently demonstrated, once again, that it upholds the most fundamental of Australian values: those of decency, a fair go and courage in combating the most destructive assaults on those very values.

A magnificent (and only) choice. Bonzer, you beaut, and real, true-blue corkers.

In the face of the most terrifyingly violent attacks, our Jewish communities have, without exception, displayed resilience, monumental forbearance, dignity and their trademark, boundless courage.

The Australian and all those in our Jewish communities are the real Aussies.

I raised our flag to you, and it is flying very powerfully. It, and I, salute you all.

Stephanie Millar, Cremorne, NSW

I hope mine is one of many letters you receive thanking you for your pertinent choice of Australians of the Year.

The silent majority is stirring and finding its voice.

Meredyth Cilento, Willunga, SA

Never did I ever think I would feel isolated, marginalised and fearful as a Jewish Australian, as I have felt over the past 15 months.

Thank you for acknowledging those strong individuals and leaders in the Jewish community and those in the wider community who chose not to be bystanders.

Victoria Nadel, Bondi, NSW

Among the Australians who will be supporting your choice of the Australians of the Year are the many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of our men and women who served in World War II.

My late father volunteered when WWII broke out, served in North Africa and Greece, and finished up spending four years in a German POW camp when his battalion was left behind after acting as a rearguard for the evacuation of Crete.

He never afterwards voiced the slightest regret over his decision to sign up in 1939, because he had come to see Nazism at first hand, so had become fully aware of its horrors and the imperative to confront it.

What he would have thought, had he lived to see mobs taking over those same streets to publicly celebrate the October 7, 2023 atrocity, preach anti-Semitism and try to intimidate Jews, I cannot begin to imagine.

Bill James, Frankston, Vic