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Hello and welcome to Wimber Bowles, where I, Katie, Balls, speak today's trailblazers.

My guest today is one of the most high-profile spokespeople for the Jewish community in Britain,

which she has studied the Middle East and worked at various think tanks with a focus on this area,

particularly on Iran and the transitioning Arab states. She now serves as CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council,

where she's been for 13 years in a number of roles,

a period which has seen the Labour anti-Semitism route

and more recently the escalation of the conflict in Gaza.

My guest today is Cordia Mendoza.

Claudia, thank you very much for coming on the podcast today.

We begin by always asking the same question, which is, was your childhood a happy one?

Yeah, well, thanks for having me. I'm really excited about this podcast. Yes, I had a very

happy childhood. I'm one of five and my mum is one of eight. So loads of

aunts and uncles and cousins and obviously quite a few siblings. I also have, I guess,

what you could describe as a pretty traditional upbringing. I just remember both my parents always being

around. So even though

my dad ran his own business, he was there every night, every weekend. And yeah, it was a happy

fulfilling childhood with lots of family occasions. And was religion a part of your childhood

growing up? Yeah, definitely. So I'm from the Orthodox Jewish community

...