Rawan Osman is a Syrian-Lebanese activist, writer, and content creator based in Germany. She's a research and diplomacy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, and she describes herself as a recovered antisemite and an Arab Zionist.

On this episode of The One Way Ticket Show, Rawan highlights growing up in Lebanon and how she was taught to hate Israel and Jews, the panic attack she had the first time she met Jewish people (while in her mid '20s), how a shopkeeper's one small act of kindness changed the course of her life, going back to university to study Islam and Judaism, taking a DNA test that revealed her Jewish ancestry, her journey converting to Judaism and planning to make Aliyah, her unfiltered take on October 7th, Hezbollah's collapse, the Abraham Accords, the future of Lebanon and more.

As for Rawan's one way ticket destination of choice? It's to 50 years into the future to see what the world will look like then.

Follow Rawan Osman:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawanosman2024/

X: https://x.com/RawaneOsmane

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/osman.rawan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rawan-osman-8b453745/

Melanie Phillips—renowned British broadcaster, journalist, author of Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege, and one of the most fearless voices defending Israel and Western civilization today—joins Steven Shalowitz on The One Way Ticket Show for a gripping conversation on antisemitism, Jewish identity, and the survival of the West.

In this episode, Melanie starts out by sharing where she would go if given a one-way ticket, no coming back: 12th-century Jerusalem to meet the great poet and philosopher Judah Halevi.

Beyond her fascinating destination, Steven and Melanie dive into a profound and urgent conversation about her latest book, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege. Melanie offers practical, actionable advice on how to push back against antisemitism by opening minds rather than playing defense. They also discuss the historical realities of the Middle East, the troubling rise of anti-Western sentiment, the complexities of separating art from the artist, and her surprising predictions for the future of the British Monarchy.

Whether you are looking for historical clarity, practical advice on navigating Jew-hatred, or simply a captivating conversation about identity and purpose, this episode is not to be missed.

[About Melanie Phillips]

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster and author who has championed traditional values in the culture war for more than three decades.

She writes a weekly column for The Times of London and the Jewish News Syndicate, broadcasts on radio and TV, and gives public presentations across the English-speaking world.

Apart from her latest book, her work The Builder's Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West and Why Only They Can Save It was published in 2025 by Wicked Son.

📚 Pick up Melanie Phillips' latest books from Wicked Son:

• Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege (2026) — A practical guide offering detailed advice on how to cope with and push back against the intense pressures of modern antisemitism.

• The Builder's Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West and Why Only They Can Save It (2025) — An exploration of the foundational values of Western civilization and the current cultural forces threatening them.

[Links & Resources]

Read Melanie's weekly columns and subscribe to her Substack: https://melaniephillips.substack.com

Visit her official website: https://www.melaniephillips.com

Find Melanie on X at @MelanieLatest.

At age 9, Simon Deng was kidnapped from his village in South Sudan, brought to North Sudan and given away as a gift. He was held as a slave for the next three and a half years. His journey including how he obtained freedom is remarkable.

In this unforgettable episode of The One Way Ticket Show Simon shares the story of how he survived, how he found freedom, and why he now uses his voice to fight modern slavery, defend religious liberties, and confront global hypocrisy.

Simon discusses Iran's role in Sudan, arguing that Iranian-backed weapons and influence helped fuel mass violence in Sudan -- and warning that Iran's reach is often underestimated.

The conversation also explores Simon's advocacy, his critique of international institutions, and why he stands with Israel -- drawing parallels between the October 7th massacre and what he witnessed in Sudan. Among his many roles, he's a co-founder and board member of the African Jewish Alliance.

As for Simon's one way ticket destination of choice, it isn't a place, but a mission — to search for freedom, speak for victims, and tell anyone trapped in suffering "you are not alone".

LINKS:

Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o127iYosbU

Simon Deng on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simon.deng.3990

Simon Deng on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simon.deng.3990/?hl=en

African Jewish Alliance: https://africanjewishalliance.org/

On August 24, 1929, 3000 Muslim men armed with swords, axes and daggers, marched through the ancient Jewish quarter of Hebron (the second holiest city in Judaism), and massacred every Jew they could find. In just a few hours, 67 unarmed Jewish men, women and children were dead. Families were burnt alive. Infants were slaughtered in their mother's arms. Children watched as their parents were butchered by their neighbors. Women and teenage girls were raped. Men were castrated.

This horrific pogrom was incited by a disinformation campaign spearheaded by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini. Years later, he fled Palestine as a wanted man by the British and moved to Berlin where he lived from 1941 – 1945, met with Hitler and other SS officials, and became Head of the Arab Bureau of the Nazi's Ministry of Propaganda. For that, and his other activities, after the war, he was placed on the UN's List of Nazi War Criminals. He fled to Cairo then Beirut where he lived an open life. Haj Amin al-Husseini was never brought to trial. His cousin was Yasser Arafat whom he took on as his protégé.

In her important book, Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict, award-winning journalist and author, Yardena Schwartz points out that we can't understand the Arab-Israeli conflict today without understanding what happened during that massacre in Hebron, two decades before the establishment of the State of Israel.

Yardena is our latest guest on The One Way Ticket Show where we focus on the book, highlighting a number of inconvenient truths many academics and journalists avoid. Yardena weaves the thread that runs from 1929 through to the present time, including Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. She points out how the West has difficulty understanding how religion in the Middle East continues to fuel violence.

As for Yardena's one way ticket destination of choice? She selected British Mandate Palestine where she would work as a journalist, bringing stories of the region to the world.

This episode fills in many historical gaps and offers insights which may surprise you. I hope you tune in and share. I also hope you add the book to your reading list.

Yardena is an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer who was based in Israel for a decade until 2023. Her reporting from four continents has appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books, The Economist, TIME, National Geographic, and Foreign Policy. Yardena previously worked at NBC News and MSNBC.

Yardena graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2011, received an Emmy nomination for her work at MSNBC in 2013, and the RNA award for excellence in magazine reporting in 2016.

She now lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband and children.

For more on Yardena, visit: https://www.yardenaschwartz.com/

On this episode, we welcome Ory Slonim back to the program.

Ory is one of Israel's most distinguished lawyers. This year, 2026, he's marking 40 years since Israeli President Chaim Herzog tasked him with the role as Consultant to the Minister of Defense for Captives and MIAs -- a position he referred to as "The Knocker on Doors".

Ory's book about his work is title "A Knock at the Door" and is available wherever you like to buy your books.

He was our guest on episode 293 on September 26, 2023 where he shared his one way ticket destination which was: "To a future in a place where all soldiers, POWs & MIAs will be back home and where children in need will be okay".

In this conversation, Ory offers: How he came to be the knocker on the door; how he approached negotiating with terrorists; his role in working with the families of hostages held in Gaza after Hamas' October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel; the role "uncertainty" plays in the lives of those held captive and their loved ones; the important life lesson his grandfather taught him about who wins a match between a prize fighter or a boy with a broken bottle; the significance of giving back, and more.

For Ory's full bio, click here.

Quadruple amputee, Tom Nash, is one of the funniest and most inspirational people we've met. So it was an absolute delight to welcome him as our guest on this episode of The One Way Ticket Show.

In our conversation, Tom shares how he lost all four of his limbs after a devastating brush with a deadly disease over twenty years ago. Coming as close to death as one ever can, he spent over 18 months in hospital, surviving a coma, life support and having to re-learn to walk using prosthetics.

He then had to learn to navigate life with prosthetic hooks for hands.

None of that stopped Tom.

He launched a career as a musical artist, first as a guitarist in a band, later as a nightclub DJ. Tom subsequently went on to enjoy remarkable success in the music industry, starting his own nightclub brand in 2006, curating music as DJ Hookie and producing numerous records.

He has since gone on to become one of the most in-demand DJs in his native Australia, playing sell-out shows across various countries and playing host to some of Australia's biggest music festivals. He is the co-owner of a successful Entertainment company, and a platinum-producing record label. The nightclub brand he started became the longest running weekly club brand in Australia.

Tom is now a Global Keynote Speaker, inspiring audiences with thought-provoking takes on Antifragility — moving beyond resilience — and how embracing challenges can turn adversity into advantage. He has graced the stages of some of the world's largest conferences and festivals including TED and SXSW. Tom's unique talent for captivating people with his personal story, his dark sense of humor and his incredible wit are distilled into grounded philosophies for life from which everyone can draw wisdom. Tom's unapologetic attitude towards dealing with adversity renders him deserving of the platform he so eloquently uses, speaking openly with sincerity and candor to a full gamut of audiences.

Tom's latest book 'Hook, Line & Sinner' was published through Penguin Random House in 2023, and his TEDx talk has amassed over two and a half million views on TED.com.

You can also catch Tom on his fabulous YouTube show, 'Last Meal with Tom Nash'.

Apart from sharing his remarkable journey and offering insight into thriving amidst adversity, Tom shares his one way ticket to the year 3333.

In addition to being a fan of symmetry (which played into the year he selected), Tom would like to venture into the future (with his partner Lauren and his Italian Greyhound), to see how much we would have explored space by then, how we harvest energy, medical advances achieved, to meet the person in 3333 who's at the forefront of technological innovation, and more.

Tom takes us on a wild ride, so fasten your seat belts!

LINKS:

www.tomnash.com

go.ted.com/tomnash

instagram.com/djhookie

x.com/djhookie

https://www.youtube.com/@lastmealtomnash