16 March 2026 – A surprising country files a lawsuit against South Africa at the International Court of Justice, and your updates on Operations “Lion’s Roar” and “Epic Fury” are under fire and more in the Israel Brief.
17 March 2026 – Larijani was ousted! This, along with the “Lion’s Roar” updates and your epic rage in The Israel Brief.
18 March 2026 – Hot Israeli Summary – with updates on Operations Lion’s Roar and Operation “Epic Fury”.
19 March 2026 – What made Roro, who was being investigated for leaking information, get excited, and your “lion roar” and epic rage in The Israel Brief?
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Lebanon’s coastal gem functions simultaneously as a vibrant cultural and nightlife ‘Hot Spot’ as well as a high-risk area due to intense geopolitical tensions.
By Motti Verses
For about $100 a night including breakfast, you can become a guest at the Ramada Plaza, a relatively modern hotel with about 144 rooms and suites in an approximately 18-story building overlooking the promenade and the Mediterranean Sea. Yet it is doubtful that the attractive price alone would tempt many travelers to stay there nowdays, as the hotel stands in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, facing the Pigeon Rocks, one of the city’s most famous landmarks – two massive rock formations rising from the sea opposite the Corniche promenade.
Ramada Plaza Beirut Raouche (Credit: Ramada Plaza Beirut website).
A few days ago, in particular it would not have been advisable to be among the hotel’s guests. An Israeli strike hit a suite on the top floor of the building. Members of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were reportedly staying there. At least five people were killed and about ten others injured:
Majid Hosseini, Financial officer of the Quds Force Lebanon Corps, responsible for transferring Iranian funds to Hezbollah and allied groups.
Ali Biazaar, Intelligence representative of the IRGC in Lebanon, reportedly involved in intelligence coordination with Hezbollah.
Hossein Ahmadlou, Head of what Israeli sources call the “Zionist file” within the Quds Force unit operating in Lebanon.
Ahmad Rasouli, Intelligence officer connected to the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, allegedly involved in coordinating activity with Palestinian militant groups.
According to Israeli military statements, the men were meeting in the hotel suite in central Beirut while coordinating militant activity and attacks against Israel through the Quds Force–Hezbollah network.
The strike was highly targeted: windows shattered and part of the façade was damaged, but the structure itself did not collapse and the damage was limited to a precise, surgical hit on a single room.
The hotel, owned by a Lebanese group, operates under the Ramada brand of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, which operates more than 9,000 hotels in around 95 countries under roughly 25 brands. Ramada, one of the oldest hotel brands in the world, was founded in the United States in 1954 and today, hundreds of hotels operate under the name worldwide. In Israel, Ramada hotels operate in Jerusalem and Netanya.
A bird flies next to the damaged Ramada Plaza hotel building in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on key commanders of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, in central Beirut, Lebanon, March 8, 2026. (Photo: Reuters)
Under normal circumstances, the Beirut property functions primarily as a business and leisure hotel, hosting international delegations, journalists and business travelers. It stands in the heart of one of the city’s main tourism districts. The Raouché hotel strip, home to a long row of mostly upscale international hotels.
The strike was particularly unusual geographically as well. The Raouché district, where the Ramada stands, lies several kilometers away from Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburb considered the main stronghold of Hezbollah, where Israeli strikes are usually concentrated. A strike on a hotel in the center of the city’s seaside tourism district, far from Dahieh, is considered an exceptional event in Beirut’s security landscape.
Yet for the city’s residents, a hotel suddenly turning into a security headline is not entirely new.
Two decades earlier, an even more dramatic event occurred nearby. On February 14, 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive explosion along Beirut’s waterfront. His convoy was attacked near the historic St. George Hotel, long regarded as one of the city’s iconic hotels. The explosion devastated parts of the building and turned it into a symbol of the event that reshaped Lebanese politics.
On 14 February 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in an explosion as his motorcade drove near the historic and iconic St. George Hotel. (Photo: Getty images)
“WAR OF THE HOTELS”
The connection between hotels and Beirut’s turbulent history runs even deeper. At the beginning of the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s, many of the city’s luxury hotels became battle positions in what became known as the “War of the Hotels”. High-rise buildings of that era, such as the Holiday Inn and the InterContinental, were used as sniper positions and improvised fortresses. The Holiday Inn building still stands today as an abandoned concrete shell in the center of the city. One of the most powerful symbols of that traumatic civil war.
Forbidden to the public, Beirut’s Holiday Inn building still stands today as an abandoned concrete shell in the center of the city – one of the most powerful symbols of the traumatic civil war. (Photo: Alamy)
The recent strike is not comparable to those battles in scale. It struck only a single room. Yet the very fact that a hotel in the heart of Beirut’s tourism district once again makes security headlines is a reminder of how fragile reality in this city can be.
Abandoned a year after the opening, this photograph as seen through a ‘window’ of the forsakened Holiday Inn, encapsulates a city a half century later still at war with itself. (Photo: AFP)
Despite its turbulent history and the unpleasant events that have taken place in some of its hotels, Beirut continues during periods of calm to draw travelers to its shores. But for visitors to the city, history offers a quiet warning: even in a hotel with a perfect sea view, one may suddenly find oneself at the center of a chaotic drama.
About the writer:
The author is a seasoned hotel expert, traveler, writer, and videographer, and formerly served as Head of Public Relations for Hilton Hotels & Resorts in Israel. Today, as a travel writer and hospitality trends analyst, his insights and experiences are regularly featured in leading Israeli media outlets.
Feature Picture – Beirut Beauty. An idyllic waterfront that belies the dangers that beset its otherwise calm.(Photo: Lebanon Ministry of Tourism)
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
When humanitarian agencies misuse the word “genocide” to malign Israel, they erode its meaning, cheapen the suffering of genuine victims and erode trust.
By Marika Sboros
Who would ever have imagined the forked tongues with which some of the most recognisable names in global humanitarianism speak about genocide?
There was a time when the word, genocide, travelled slowly across the globe carrying weight and gravitas. It moved truthfully with the solemn pace of courts, bewigged judges, historians and survivors of genuine genocide.
Genocide is weighted with meaning from the ashes of the crematoria of the Holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was meant to be a rare word, precise in depicting the “Crime of Crimes” that forced its invention in the first place.
Genuine Genocide. There is a clear distinction between genocide and war and when aid agencies deliberately blur that distinction, it is not only a misuse but an abuse of the word “genocide” that is “weighted with meaning from the ashes of the crematoria of the Holocaust.”
Today, the word shoots across continents like falling stars on steroids. Its casual misuse by groups carrying the halo of humanitarian speaks volumes about the moral moment of our time.
Leading this linguistic debasement are Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) that started in France, Oxfam GB in the UK and South Africa’s home-grown Gift of the Givers.
All do vital, often heroic work to deliver food, medicine, shelter and logistics where governments fail and disasters fall. All share aggressive political advocacy and gratuitous use of the word, genocide, against Israel and Jews who support it.
In Gaza, these groups have made genocide a linguistic weapon in Israel’s war against Hamas since the terror group’s horrific attack against civilians in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
They do so in a wider, global struggle over law, language and the moral credibility of the global humanitarian mission since that day.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MFS)
MSF’s fall from the grace of medical neutrality has been particularly precipitous.
The group’s humble origins began in 1971 with just 13 idealistic physicians and journalists from the medical journal, Tonus. All declared commitment to témoignage, the French word for “bearing witness” to human rights abuses and atrocities.
Their guide for their early, self-funded interventions was a revolutionary manifesto prioritising victim care over national sovereignty.
From this scrappy foundation evolved the giant global network that MSF is today, and that won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 for its famed impartiality in conflict zones.
Shield of Shame. Morally shielded by its Nobel-winning brand, Doctors without Borders is exposed for shielding terrorists whose intent is to annihilate Israel and all Jews who inhabit it.
MSF claims still to “bear witness”. Critics see significant, potentially terminal degradation in its communications that prioritise highly charged legal and political accusations over objective, humanitarian reporting.
NGO Monitor has come out with a blistering, comprehensive report that charts MSF’s transformation, post October 7, into a global source of disinformation and demonisation targeting Israel. It reveals how the charity joined other influential NGOs in an intensive advocacy campaign framing the Israeli response as “genocide” based on “manipulated and distorted evidence to support a predetermined conclusion”. It shows how MSF effectively erased Hamas’s “weaponisation” of hospitals and clinics and the “exploitation of schools, mosques and other civilian facilities for terror”.
MSF’s refusal in January to comply with Israel’s request to provide staff lists for vetting speaks volumes. The request is not unusual in active conflict zones. By refusing it and shielding potential terrorists from scrutiny, MSF is prioritising the security of compromised members over the universal laws of war and civilians.
It has effectively created convenient vacuums for terrorists involved in rocket production, sniper activity and more to hide behind a medical badge.
In February, MSF suspended all non-critical operations at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest in the region, after admitting to a total breakdown of medical neutrality. Its internal reports confirmed a pattern of “unacceptable acts,” including masked and armed gunmen roaming hospital corridors and intimidating and arbitrarily arresting patients.
Crucially, MSF acknowledged “suspicion of movement of weapons” within the facility. Hamas predictably claimed that the masked gunmen were civilian police.
Machiavellian Medicine. Apart from the weapons discovered by the IDF at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City (above), documents found revealed how Hamas regulated international NGOs, including MédecinsSans Frontières (MSF) with each being assigned a Hamas-approved “guarantor”. MSF’s guarantor was the deputy head of its Gaza leadership. (Photo: IDF)
However, the admission substantiated long-standing intelligence that Hamas was exploiting the hospital as a military headquarter, thereby stripping the medical site of protected status under international law.
A recent article by two medical doctors in the Times of Israel is even more damning. The authors, one a formerMSF Secretary General, give alarming examples of terrorist infiltration within MSF’s Gaza staff and operations.
They highlight instances of multiple MSF-affiliated healthcare workers who were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Evidence includes MSF staff photographed in Hamas uniforms alongside senior terrorist commanders.
The authors refer to the case of Fadi Al-Wadiya, an MSF staffer who was a PIJ rocket manufacturing expert for over 15 years. Al-Wadiya was no exception.
They describe a chilling, “centralised regime” in Gaza in which Hamas regulates NGOs (non-governmental organisations), such as MSF, through designated “guarantors”. These are senior officials who liaise with the terror group’s security services to influence operational decisions.
The authors, say that MSF’s deputy head of Gaza leadership served as a Hamas-approved “guarantor”.
Such advocacy boosts critics who say that MSF has become a partisan actor using its Nobel-winning brand to shield extremist elements in Gaza intent on annihilating Israel and all Jews who inhabit it.
Oxfam GB
In the UK, Oxfam GB provides a different, no less revealing case study as the most “storied institution”.
Founded in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (hence the acronym), its mission was to persuade the British government to allow food relief to starving Greek villagers under Nazi occupation.
More than 80 years later, Oxfam is a global confederation of 21 affiliates, led by Oxfam GB. Just as MSF has done, Oxfam GB has drifted into slightly different humanitarian work after October 7: combustible political activism against Israel.
Then came Dr Halima Begum, British-Bangladeshi academic, development expert and Oxfam GB’s first woman-of-colour CEO in December 2024.
Oxfam’s Obsession. Sacked as Oxfam GB’s CEO, Halima Begum accused the global charity of antisemitism that rushed to accuse Israel of genocide without the support of “evidence and good legal advice.” (Photo: video clip)
Begum’s academic pedigree is impeccable. She has a BSc in Government and History and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Her PhD from Queen Mary University of London is in Political and Human Geography. In 2024, she received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the university.
She was reportedly brought in to “decolonise” Oxfam GB. Her tenure ended abruptly in late 2025 after a leadership review, which she has called an orchestrated “witch-hunt”.
Begum did not go quietly. She set off a whistleblowing flare on her way out. The fallout sent shockwaves through Oxfam’s global confederation and the NGO world.
She quickly launched a legal offensive against her former employer. In her Employment Tribunal filing and high-profile Channel 4 interview in February 2026, Begum claims an incriminating “institutional whiteness” and “toxic antisemitic culture” infecting Oxfam GB’s heart.
Her core allegation is the “Gaza exception”. She says that Oxfam GB prematurely and ideologically began promoting the “genocide” slur against Israel in Gaza to appease its activist wing.
She ascribes this to “toxic” internal pressure specifically targeting Israel while ignoring other areas, among them El-Fasher in Sudan. That’s despite UN investigators finding clear “hallmarks of genocide” in the Sudanese sand.
Begum also claims that the environment that Oxfam GB created for Jewish staff was hostile and left them feeling “unsafe”.
Oxfam rejects all Begum’s allegations and says its use of the term, genocide, followed formal, legal “review”.
The dispute set off an inquiry by the UK Charity Commission that is examining whether Oxfam GB’s advocacy crossed the legal boundary separating charitable work from political campaigning.
Under British law, charities’ activities are required to align with stated humanitarian purposes, not partisan or ideological agendas. Whether Oxfam GB crossed that line is for regulators to determine.
The controversy raises broader questions about the humanitarian sector’s relationship with political advocacy and truth-telling.
Gift of the Givers
South Africa’s Gift of the Givers presents a different but no less compelling case.
Founded in 1992 by medical doctor Imtiaz Sooliman, the charity has an impressive reputation as the African continent’s most effective disaster-relief organisation.
Gift of the Givers is acknowledged globally for rapid deployment, low administrative overheads and ability to operate in difficult conflict zones. It has delivered billions of South African Rands in aid in more than 47 countries, including Bosnia, Somalia, Syria, Haiti and Yemen.
Its longstanding presence in Gaza since 2009 has drawn claims (routinely and hotly denied by Sooliman) that its donations meant for humanitarian aid sometimes found their way into Hamas’s coffers by default or design.
Critics argue that Sooliman’s public statements often blur lines between humanitarianism and political advocacy. They cite his public rhetoric at anti-Israel rallies, including antisemitic tropes of “Zionists” (the anti-Israel lobby’s code word for Jews) who “rule the world with money and fear,” and regular genocide references.
What ‘Gives’? Belying his humanitarian image, ‘Gift of the Givers’ founder and chair Imtiaz Sooliman when addressing a rally in Cape Town on 5 October 2024 sounded more jihadi than humanitarian by indulging in antisemitic tropes about Israel and “Zionists” who “run the world with fear … and control the world with money”.
To casual readers, Sooliman’s implication is unmistakable: Israel is committing the “Crime of Crimes” in Gaza.
He may feel emboldened under cover of his contacts at the highest levels of South Africa’s ruling ANC (African National Congress) government, particularly in DIRCO (Department of International Relations and Cooperation).
Sooliman appears oblivious to the heaviest of ironies in DIRCO leading the country’s lawsuit it launched at the International Criminal Court (ICJ) against Israel on a genocide charge just weeks after the horror of Hamas’s genuinely genocidal attack on October 7.
Gift of the Givers has thrown its weight behind the lawsuit.
Chipkin is an academic political scientist specialising in public administration, public policy and governance in post-apartheid South Africa. He lectures in public policy at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science and is co-founder and director of the New South Institute, a Johannesburg-based think tank focused on government and public-sector reform.
His focus in the article is the “peculiarity” of South Africa’s decision to charge Israel with the “Crime of Crimes” at the ICJ “while treating Hamas (at least in front of the ICJ) as largely blameless.”
Chipkin ascribes this double standard to an “organic crisis” facing the ANC, related to the ANC’s fading “revolutionary” character and the lawsuit’s likely effects on South Africa’s foreign policy. None of it bodes well for the country or the ruling party.
By Chipkin’s reckoning, the crisis lies in South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s inability to give “revolutionary meaning to ANC politics domestically.” Instead, Chipkin says that Ramaphosa has vainly attempted to “build its revolutionary credentials on the international stage as a vanguard of anti-imperialism and the struggle against colonialism.”
The ICJ lawsuit and Ramaphosa’s appointment of Naledi Pandor, a Muslim convert with extremist views, as foreign minister, “signal” that strategy, Chipkin writes.
He examines in graphic detail the legal basis for the lawsuit’s genocide claim. He finds it wanting on so many levels that “not only must the observer ask why South Africa did not seek any court order against Hamas, but why it did not even try.”
Sooliman should not be surprised that critics see similar gaps in his genocide claims against Israel.
Along with MSF and Oxfam GB, Sooliman uses the genocide accusation as advocacy to mobilise outrage, donations and political pressure.
Yet the genocide claim is a highest-order legal accusation which none of these organisations has the legal, moral authority to make. Doing so before an unequivocal legal ruling (expected in 2027) is not rhetorical flourish.
It is moral inversion and historical revision.
Genocide is not a slogan and the legal threshold for a finding is deliberately high.
Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, it requires proof of specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Determining such intent is not the purview of activists, charities or social-media campaigns. It belongs to the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC) that were created to examine evidence, test witnesses and weigh competing legal arguments.
They are not meant to operate on rhetoric, miasma and press releases. And despite the best efforts of the anti-Israel lobby, the scaffolding against genocide claims aimed at Israel remains strong and intact:
Jews were the primary victims of the crime that inspired the word, genocide; the Nazis murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust; the modern State of Israel emerged partly from world recognition that Jews needed a place where such annihilation could never happen again; the October 7 attack by Hamas had all the hallmarks of true genocidal intent; Hamas, PIJ and other terror groups have “the same genocidal message in the DNA of their charters – the extermination of the Jews.”
All that history should impose a degree of humility on those accusing Israel of genocide while ignoring Hamas’s blatant genocidal intent on October 7, and its public promises to repeat it “over and over until Israel is annihilated.”
That humility is absent, most likely because of the existential burden Jews face as targets of the “world’s oldest hatred” (Jew hatred).
British author, humourist and Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson identified it 12 years ago when he asked rhetorically:
“When will Jews ever be forgiven for The Holocaust?”
His answer: “Never.”
In a flurry of columns for The Observer in the UK after October 7, Jacobson vents his fury at “progressives” who downplayed the barbaric mass murder and rape Hamas perpetrated on the day and exaggerated Israel’s response.
He points out that “genocides don’t leaflet the populations they want to destroy with warnings to stay out of harm’s way.”
That leaves Israel looking very good at war and very bad at genocide.
Jacobson’s latest book, Howl(Jonathan Cape, 2026) is a novel based on October 7, with a delicate balance of humour and horror that only he could get just right. It allows readers who would weep even more, the respite of occasionally being able to laugh after October 7.
Humanitarian organisations present themselves as guardians of moral clarity and defenders of international law. But law and morality depend primarily on truth and truth telling requires restraint.
When humanitarians use forked tongues to stretch the truth about genocide, they erode its meaning, cheapen the suffering of genuine victims and erode trust.
If everything is genocide, then nothing is genocide.
Truth-telling is not a pastime. It is the foundation of humanitarianism. Without it, even the most well-intentioned humanitarian charity turns into a storyteller – and not always a truthful one.
About the writer:
Marika Sboros is a South African freelance investigative journalist with decades of experience writing fulltime for the country’s top media titles on a wide range of topics. She started her career as a hard-news reporter in the newsroom of the now defunct Rand Daily Mail, a campaigning anti-government newspaper during the worst excesses of the apartheid era. She commutes between South Africa and the UK.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
There is the war people see on the news – and then there is the war people carry home in their bodies.
By Bev Moss-Reilly
It lives in the mother who pulls a sleepy toddler out of bed at two in the morning because the siren has gone off again. It lives in the baby who cannot understand what is happening but feels the panic in the arms holding him. It lives in the child who has started clinging, crying more easily, wetting the bed again, or refusing to sleep alone. It lives in grandparents trying to sound steady when they themselves are frightened. It lives in every family in Israel that has had to keep going while their hearts are under siege – and it lives in every Jew throughout the world because Israel is our homeland, the people of ha’aretz, our family.
Human resilience during a complex security period. Mother and baby in a protected space.
War does not only injure people physically. It unsettles the nervous system. It robs people of the ordinary comforts that make life feel safe. Home no longer feels fully restful. Night no longer feels quiet. Sleep is interrupted, sometimes repeatedly, by sirens, rushing feet, phones ringing, alarms sounding, and the sickening knowledge that danger may be near. When this happens for days, weeks, and months, it does something profound to mental health. Research has consistently shown that broken sleep and disrupted circadian rhythms affect mood, concentration, memory, emotional regulation, and overall mental functioning. People become more fragile, more reactive, more exhausted, and less able to think clearly, not because they are weak, but because they are human.
People take shelter in an underground parking lot in Tel Aviv during the war between Israel and Iran, June 24, 2025. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90).
And then there are the families. The family unit is where so much of this pain lands. Parents are trying to comfort children while hiding their own terror. Husbands and wives are carrying fear in different ways and at different volumes. Siblings are separated by military service, reserve duty, evacuation, injury, grief, or sheer emotional shutdown. Some families are physically together but emotionally frayed from the relentless strain. Others are missing someone around the Shabbat table, at bedtime, or in the morning rush. In war, family life does not simply pause. It absorbs the shock. It is often the first place where trauma shows itself and the last place people think to support.
This is especially true for children. They may not have the language to explain what they are feeling, but their bodies often tell the story. A child may become more anxious, more angry, more withdrawn, or more needy. Teenagers may look distant, numb, irritable, or flat, even while suffering deeply inside. Research published after October 7 has found a high burden of trauma related symptoms, anxiety, and depression in the Israeli public, and more recent work has shown troubling levels of probable post-traumatic stress among Israeli adolescents as well. That matters deeply, because when children and teenagers grow up under prolonged threat, the emotional effects do not simply disappear when the sirens stop.
“Dad is back!” A boy hugs his father who came back from the reserves. (Photo: “Beitmona” Archives).
There is also the emotional burden carried by ordinary people trying to make an honest living. The small shop owner opening despite exhaustion. The grocer wondering whether stock will arrive. The café owner trying to smile at customers while checking the news every few minutes. The worker who knows that if the business does not survive, neither does the family income. Financial fear and mental strain are deeply intertwined. Studies looking at small business owners during the ongoing conflict have found significant psychological distress, which is hardly surprising. It is very hard to feel calm, hopeful, or secure when one’s livelihood is as uncertain as tomorrow’s siren.
Then there are the families of the IDF, the IAF, and all those protecting our beloved Eretz Yisrael. These families wake every day with a private ache in their chest. There is pride, yes, but also dread. There is the constant checking of messages, the waiting, the imagining, the praying. Mothers and fathers try to be strong. Wives and husbands hold households together while carrying the fear that one phone call could change everything. Children miss their parent and do not always understand why the grown-ups seem distracted or tense. There is no neat way to carry that kind of love and fear at the same time.
Medical teams are carrying a burden of their own. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, trauma teams, surgeons, support staff, and first responders have worked under relentless pressure, long hours, and heartbreaking circumstances. They have treated injuries, witnessed fatalities, supported grieving families, and often put their own emotional needs aside so that others could survive. The World Health Organization has described a significant mental health crisis affecting frontline workers in Israel in the wake of October 7, and that should make all of us stop and take notice. The people who care for everyone else also need care. They are not machines. They are human beings who see too much, hold too much, and are too often expected to simply continue.
No group, however, embodies the long shadow of this trauma more painfully than the former hostages and their families. On October 7, 251 people were taken hostage, including babies, children, women, men, and the elderly. For those who returned alive, freedom did not mean the suffering simply ended. Official Israeli health guidance recognises that captivity can leave long lasting physical and emotional consequences and that survivors and their families need comprehensive, deeply compassionate, ongoing care. The body may come home, but sleep, trust, appetite, safety, and peace of mind do not always come home with it.
What of the families who waited? The mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses, grandparents, and children who lived in suspended agony, not knowing whether to hope, fear, pray, rage, or prepare for the worst. That kind of waiting is its own trauma. It stretches time into something unbearable. It invades every waking moment. It reshapes the nervous system around dread.
The names of little Ariel Bibas and baby Kfir Bibas pierced hearts around the Jewish world, together with their mother, Shiri. Their faces became symbols of innocence stolen, and of a grief too deep for words. Even writing their names is painful. They were not symbols first. They were a family. A mother. Two little boys. Loved, held, kissed, known. Their story reminded so many people that the wounds of October 7 were not abstract, not political, and not distant. They were intimate, devastating, and brutally personal. Their surviving father/husband lives with unimaginable mental scars, ones that are irrevocable.
The Bibas family (L- R) Ariel, Yarden, Shiri and Kfir.
People often speak of Israeli resilience, and it is real. It is extraordinary. Israelis do keep going. They do show up. They do rebuild, volunteer, comfort, fight, donate, cook, pray, and stand shoulder to shoulder. But resilience must never be used to minimise pain. Strong people still break down. Brave people still have panic attacks. Loving parents still cry in the shower, so their children do not see. Soldiers still come home carrying things they cannot yet say. Survivors still wake in terror. Bereaved families still must face mornings they never asked for. Resilience is not the absence of trauma. It is what people do while carrying it.
That is why mental health support is not optional. It is essential. People need spaces where they can speak honestly and without shame. They need trauma support, counselling, community care, practical help, and the reassurance that struggling does not mean they are failing. Families need checking in on. The bereaved need people who are willing to sit with them in their sorrow, not rush them through it. The wounded need continued support long after the visible injuries begin to heal. Medical staff need rest and psychological care. Military families need support before, during, and after deployment. Children need adults who understand that behaviour is often the language of distress.
Anxiety treatment and psychotherapy for children, adolescents and adults suffering from various types of anxiety.
Sometimes support is very simple. A phone call. A meal. A lift. A quiet visit. An offer to sit with someone who does not want to be alone. A willingness to listen without trying to fix the unfixable. A reminder that they are not forgotten. In Jewish life, we know this instinct well. We gather. We show up. We carry one another. We understand, at our best, that if one Jew feels pain, we all do.
That truth matters now more than ever.
The fight for survival is not only about borders, sirens, or uniforms. It is also about preserving the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of our people. It is about protecting the minds and hearts of babies, children, families, shopkeepers, soldiers, medical staff, survivors, and the bereaved. It is about making room for grief and fear while still choosing life. It is about refusing to let trauma have the final word.
Israel needs strength, yes – but it also needs tenderness. It needs mental health support that is accessible, compassionate, and sustained. It needs communities that do not disappear once headlines fade – and it needs all of us, wherever we live, to remember that solidarity is not only political or practical. It is emotional. It is deeply human. It is the act of saying, your pain matters to me, and you will not carry it alone.
We stand by our people and our homeland, and we pray for peace for all. We are grateful to all who carry the supportive and emotional weight of this war, and those that have preceded it. Kol HaKavod v Todah Rabbah. Am Yisrael Chai.
About the writer:
Bev Moss -Reilly is a Jewish freelance content writer living in South Africa with a deep and heartfelt focus on mental health, emotional wellbeing, trauma, grief, and the unseen struggles people carry every day. Through her writing and her Mental Health Packs, she aims to bring comfort, awareness, compassion, and practical support to individuals, families, workplaces, and communities. Her work is rooted in empathy, dignity, and the belief that nobody should feel alone in their pain, especially in times of crisis.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Thank you to all those who inadvertently helped Israel.
By Neville Berman
Jews have been debating and arguing with each other for over 3,000 years. Discussions and arguments over conflicting commentaries on every letter and word in the Talmud, is part of Jewish tradition. The only thing that unites Jews, is when they are under attack. At this point they set aside all their differences, and rally round the flag.
The question that arises is which non-Jews should be thanked for either deliberately or inadvertently helping Jews to build a thriving country in a land with no natural resources. The answer is full of surprises.
Best News in 2000 years! On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly approved the ‘Partition Plan’ establishment of two states in British Palestine – Jewish and Arab.
Let’s start with thanking the 13 countries from South America, the 8 European countries, the 5 Eastern European countries, the 3 Asian Pacific Countries, and the 2 African and 2 North American countries that voted in favor of the UN Partition plan of Palestine contained in UN Resolution 181 in 1947. Without your 33 votes the re-establishment of Israel would not have occurred in 1948.
The Arabs should be thanked for rejecting the UN Partition Plan. If they had accepted the plan, Israel would have become a small slither of land without defensible borders. Jerusalem would have become a separate entity to be governed by an international trusteeship, and the Palestinians would have had a state. Thank you for rejecting the Partition Plan.
Street Spontaneity. While Jews in Palestine take to the streets in jubilation, Arabs in neighboring countries take to their arms in anger following the announcement of UN ‘Partition Plan’ establishment of two states for two peoples. Seen here are crowds in Tel Aviv breaking out spontaneously on November 29,1947, to dance the ‘Hora’.
Thank you to the 700,000 Palestinians who fled to neighboring Arab countries in 1948. Israel could never have become a democratic and Jewish State if the majority of its population were not Jewish. Thank you for leaving. What a pity that having lost the war, the same Arab countries that advised you to leave, refused to give you citizenship and turned you into refugees.
Thank you to those Christian and Muslims Arabs who remained in Israel in 1948. Your continued existence and growth to more than 20% of the Israeli electorate is proof that Israel has been faithful to one of its founding principles of freedom of religion, contained in its Declaration of Independence. Your very existence is irrefutable proof that Israel has never, and will never, engage in ethnic cleansing or genocide. Thank you for not leaving.
Thank you to the Arab countries that expelled 800,000 Jews after Israel gained independence in 1948. For thousands of years, Jews lived as second-class citizens in these countries. They never relinquished their Judaism. “Next year in Jerusalem” was their dream repeated for centuries in their prayers. Not all of those who were expelled came to Israel, but over 600,000 did. They were stripped of all their assets and arrived in Israel as penniless refugees. They were immediately welcomed and granted citizenship. They overcame severe hardships and discrimination, and today they and their descendants are thriving in a free and Jewish democratic country that they helped to build. Thank you to the Arab world for expelling some of your brightest and most Intelligent citizens.
Recognising Jewish Refugees. With the creation of the State of Israel and in the decades afterwards, hundreds of thousands of Jews who had lived in the Arab nations for centuries were expelled from their home countries. Having failed in 1948 to destroy the new State of Israel, Arab rulers took revenge on the Jews who lived in the nations they controlled. These Jews, faced with official persecution, mob violence, pogroms, and the confiscation of their property, fled these countries, most of them to Israel. To this day, they remain mostly unrecognized.
In 1967, President Nasser boasted in public rallies that he aimed to destroy the State of Israel and assume the leadership of the pan Arab world. In May 1967, he demanded the withdrawal of the United Nations peacekeeping forces from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. The UN immediately complied with this demand. Nasser then closed the international waterway in the Red Sea known as the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Closing an international waterway is considered an act of war, and this gave Israel the legal right to launch a preemptive strike against Egypt.
On the morning of June 5 1967, the Israeli air force launched a surprise attack, and successfully destroyed the bulk of the Egyptian air force on the ground. Nasser then lied to both President Assad of Syria and King Hussein of Jordan, by claiming that Egypt was bombing Tel Aviv. Syria and Jordan then joined the war. It was a strategic mistake for both. Without aircover, the tanks and soldiers in the desert were no match for Israel. In 6 days, Israel defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan and gained control of the whole of the Sinai, Judea and Samaria, (West Bank) the Golan heights, and all of Jerusalem. It was one of the swiftest military victories in history. From 1948 to 1967, America refused to supply Israel with any military equipment. The Six Day War changed America’s perception of Israel. America finally realized the importance of Israel, and became Israel’s greatest ally. Thank you, President Nasser, for causing this to happen.
Thank you, President Sadat for defying the Arab League and coming to Jerusalem. Thank you, for signing the first Arab Peace Treaty with Israel in 1979. This heroic act did not end Arab rejection of the State of Israel. What it did do was to set in motion the acceptance of Israel by other states in the middle east. It was undoubtedly a pivotal moment in the modern history of the middle east. Sadat paid for it with his life, but his legacy and place in history will be remembered long after all those who rejected the State of Israel have been relegated to the dustbin of history. Thank you, President Sadat.
Momentous Milestone. President Sadat’s heroic visit to Jerusalem in November 19, 1977, did not end Arab rejection of the State of Israel but set in motion the acceptance of Israel by other states in the middle east for which he paid for it with his life, but his place in history will be remembered long after all those who reject Israel have been forgotten.
Thank you to King Hussein for announcing in 1988, that Jordan was severing all its claims to the territory in the West Bank that it had occupied since 1948, and for signing a Peace Treaty with Israel in 1994. This changed the whole legal situation in the territory known as the West Bank. Clearly Israel was not seizing land from another country by force. Thank you, King Hussein.
In the 1970’s, Russia’s Leonid Brezhnev initiated the first small wave of Jewish emigration to Israel. In 1974, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment was passed by the American Congress. It linked Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union with trade benefits. In an attempt to improve the soviet economic situation, Mikhail Gorbachev allowed mass emigration of Jews to Israel in the 198O’s. Today there are more than 1 million Jews from the former Soviet Union living in Israel. They have brought enormous benefits to Israel. Thank you to everyone who brought this about.
In 1990, President Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait. This was seen as an attack on the oil supply of the West. In reply, President Bush assembled an international coalition of countries in order to attack Iraq. In order not to undermine the coalition, Israel, under the leadership of PM Yitzhak Shamir, was forced not to join the coalition and not to retaliate against the attacks by Saddam Hussein. This was contrary to all Israeli military doctrine. Thirty-nine scud missiles were fired from Iraq into Israel. Israel decided that something needed to change. It decided to harness and concentrate its considerable brain power and innovation capacity to develop a defensive system against missiles. The results, largely funded by the United States, includes the Iron Dome for short range missiles, David’s Sling for medium to long range missiles, and the Arrow 2 and 3 systems for ballistic missiles. In addition, Israel has just developed a laser beam system that can destroy drones at a cost of less than a dollar a time. Today Israel is the 7th largest exporter of military systems and equipment in the world. Thank you to all those who made it possible.
Iron Resolve to Iron Dome. With a success rate of over 90%, Israeli ingenuity in the form of the Iron Dome has, inter alia with other hi-tech defense weapons, protected Israel’s civilian population.
Thank you to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for signing the Abraham Accords in September 2020. The Peace Treaties with Egypt and Jordan created a “no war” situation but never created normalization between the parties. The Abraham Accords are unique in that they created normalization between the Arab countries and Israel. Israel has solved many of the problems facing countries in the Middle East and can dramatically improve the lives of millions of Arabs. The Abraham Accords are a win-win situation for all. They have the potential to expand and really bring to fruition a peaceful and prosperous Middle East. Thank you, President Trump for bringing this about. Thank you also for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and for recognizing the Golan Heights is part of Israel.
In a strange way, Hamas also needs to be thanked. The Iranian plan was to launch a simultaneous attack by all its proxy forces surrounding Israel. At the same time, Iran would launch a massive missile attack on Israel. The combination of all the parties acting simultaneously was planned to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and quickly eliminate Israel. In order to keep the attack secret, Hamas never informed Iran or any of the other proxy forces that were about to attack Israel. The attack on the morning of October 7, 2023 by Hamas on Israel was initially successful, but it effectively sabotaged years of planning and preparations by Iran.
At this point in time, the leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran have been largely eliminated and their capacity to attack Israel have been greatly reduced. Thank you, Hamas for acting in the abhorrent way that you did. It had unintended consequences of uniting Israel.
It is also time to thank all those millions of Christian Zionists, and especially the Evangelical movement in the United States for your support. Israel could not be what it is today without your enormous outpouring of support. It is greatly appreciated.
At the time of writing, America and Israel are jointly attacking Iran. Thank you, President Trump, for recognizing that the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism, is a threat to world peace and cannot ever be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Thank you for your leadership in this war against Islamic fanaticism and barbarism.
To all those mentioned above. Thank you for your contribution in making Israel the powerhouse of innovation and spiritual regeneration that it is today. It may come as a surprise to some, but the obvious conclusion is that what is taking place at present, is the fulfillment of the divine promise of the land of Israel to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Thank you to all of those who deliberately and inadvertently helped to bring this about.
About the writer:
Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award. In 1978 he immigrated to the USA to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel. He is married with two children and one granddaughter.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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The sound of air raid sirens is Israel’s daily soundtrack setting off its citizens to find the nearest shelter. Then you wait for the news of casualties and damage.
Missile strike in central Israel, March 15, 2026. (Photo: MDA)
ARTICLES
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LONDON’S DIRTY SECRET: HOW STOLEN REGIME FUNDS FLOW THROUGH THE UK
Britain cannot claim to confront the Iranian regime while simultaneously serving as a repository for its money. By Emily Schrader
London’s Laundromat. Islamic regime-linked wealth has become deeply embedded inside the British financial and property system. Is it any surprise that despite years of warnings, the UK government has failed to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization!
IRANIAN WOMEN’S COURAGE MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Being a woman in Iran means enduring barbaric inhuman behavior in every facet of life. By Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Beauties and the Beasts. Former Iranian prisoners, the writer (left), and Maryam Rostampour (right) were tortured and sentenced to death but were finally released following international pressure. Many of their friends and cellmates were executed.
Discerning differences is not visible in the lobby; it lies within the system behind it. By Motti Verses
Under the Proverbial Veil. Behind the splendor of Tehran’s 5-star hotels lies a rigid regulatory management system shaped by geopolitics, where Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence monitors the movements and communications of guests – particularly foreign nationals.
World on Fire. Expressing this Purim his thoughts in poetry rather than prose, the former editor of The Jerusalem Post and Jerusalem Report, pens this poignant poem while his people are again enduring war.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Discerning differences is not visible in the lobby; it lies within the system behind it.
By Motti Verses
As heavy airstrikes struck multiple targets across the Iranian capital, Tehran, the city’s hotels have assumed an unexpected role, transforming into temporary civilian shelters. Unlike several Gulf cities where hospitality properties have suffered damage during the regional escalation, no hotels in Tehran have so far been reported hit despite the extensive bombardment.
According to reports in Iranian media, around 1,100 residents whose homes were damaged have been accommodated in approximately 13 hotels across the city. Among them is the Laleh International Hotel, where roughly 150 rooms have been allocated and more than 300 people are currently staying on a temporary basis. Additional hotels belonging to the Parsian International Hotels group, have also opened rooms for families displaced by the strikes. In a city under bombardment, Tehran’s hotels have so far avoided physical damage, yet many have quietly shifted from welcoming travelers to sheltering residents whose homes no longer stand.
The Laleh Hotel in downtown Tehran, originally built as the Intercontinental, retains a faded charm recalling its 1960s heyday. Today, the Laleh International Hotel is one of 13 hotels across Tehran that is accommodating city residents whose homes have been damaged in the current war with the US and Israel.
The Laleh itself carries historical significance. During the era of ruler Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it was one of Tehran’s most prestigious hotels, welcoming Western diplomats, international business figures and official guests at a time when the city stood prominently on the Middle East’s tourism and business map. For the local hospitality industry, the current use of hotels as emergency accommodation is unusual, though limited in scale. Estimates suggest that Tehran’s hotel sector offers roughly 8,000 to 12,000 rooms in total, meaning that only a small fraction of the city’s hospitality capacity is currently hosting displaced residents.
The gap also reflects Iran’s local evacuation model. Unlike Israel, where more than 120,000 evacuees were accommodated in hundreds of hotels following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Tehran has not seen the large-scale evacuation of entire districts. Many affected residents stay at home or first seek temporary solutions with relatives or in public facilities before turning to hotels.
This reality offers a rare glimpse into Tehran’s hotel industry. Behind the imposing facades and marble-lined lobbies of properties such as Espinas Palace Hotel and Parsian Azadi Hotel,operates a management structure quite different from what hotel executives in Dubai, London or New York would recognize. On the surface, these are fully fledged five-star hotels: spacious suites, refined restaurants, multilingual staff and sweeping views of the Alborz Mountains. Yet behind the scenes, lies a system deeply shaped by Iranian regulation and geopolitical realities.
Unlike the hotel landscapes of the Gulf emirates, Tehran today hosts no Western hotel brands. Prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, several leading international chains operated in the city as Iran opened to global tourism and business. Properties such as Hilton, Hyatt and InterContinental – today’s Laleh – were built to international luxury standards and managed by Western companies. After the revolution, the hotels were nationalized, foreign operators withdrew, and the properties were renamed and transferred to Iranian hotel groups.
Beneath the splendor of Tehran’s 5-star Parsian Azadi Hotel, lies – like most of Tehran’s hotels – a rigid regulatory management system shaped by geopolitics. Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence monitor the movements and communications of guests, particularly foreign nationals, in hotel premises.
Since then, many of these hotels have operated under ownership structures that are sometimes private and sometimes semi-governmental. They lack the backing of global loyalty programs, international marketing systems or standardized operational frameworks. Hotel managers often have to build their service standards largely on their own, train local staff internally and maintain quality levels even when market conditions remain unstable.
There were, however, a few exceptional years. Near Imam Khomeini International Airport, hotels operated by the French hospitality group Accor – including Ibis and Novotel – opened after the 2015 nuclear agreement. Airport hotels may lack the glamour of city landmarks, but for investors and international chains they represent a reliable anchor: predictable cash flow, relatively low risk and a stable operating model. Three years later, with the return of U.S. sanctions, Accor ended its direct involvement in the country and management was transferred to a local operator.
Under local ownership, operations are fully subject to Iranian law. Alcohol is prohibited; guest registration is conducted through government systems and financial transactions are constrained by sanctions. Management takes place within a tightly controlled regulatory environment.
Every foreign guest is registered in official databases, passports are scanned and information is transferred to authorities. Hosting delegations or senior business figures may require additional coordination. In an environment of regional tension, running a hotel means dealing not only with rooms and restaurants, but also with emergency procedures, security coordination and careful control of external communications. Even the ability to respond quickly to media events or leverage publicity opportunities is not always fully within the hotel management’s autonomy.
Teheran’s Parsian Esteghlal International Hotel – formerly the Royal Hilton which attracted the city’s elite – today operates under intense state surveillance and is located in an area of the city that is close to the conflict with the US and Israel.
Social and cultural rules add further layers unfamiliar in the West:
a complete ban on alcohol
strict modest dress codes in public spaces
and for local guests, verification of marital status in certain circumstances.
A hotel general manager in Tehran is not only a host, but also an enforcer of regulatory requirements. Operational flexibility is limited.
The flag of Iran’s ‘Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts’ which is the body responsible for the oversight of tourism establishments that includes the enforcement of strict Islamic rules in hotels, notably – strict dress codes (hijab) for women and the banning of alcohol.
The economic challenges are no less complex. In the absence of regular international payment systems and under the shadow of ongoing sanctions, financial operations become intricate. Procuring equipment, maintaining high-end facilities and managing cash flow in a volatile currency environment require constant creativity and risk management. Global procurement systems and stable supply chains, common in major international hotel groups, are largely absent.
Yet for the guest, the experience can still feel polished and impressive. Staff are courteous, public spaces expansive and service often warm and personal. The difference is not visible in the lobby; it lies within the system behind it.
For hospitality professionals, Tehran represents a unique model of luxury hotel management under constraints:
-a combination of professional hospitality expertise
– political awareness
-and the ability to navigate a tightly regulated environment.
In some ways, the city resembles Russia or Cuba, where luxury hospitality continues to operate under sanctions and heavy state oversight, relying on flexible local management and the ability to maneuver within a restricted financial and political framework.
For cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg or Havana, there remains a long-term ambition to reconnect more fully with global tourism flows. For Tehran, the trajectory appears less certain. The displaced residents currently staying in the capital’s hotels are, in a sense, the privileged ones who secured temporary shelter. Whether foreign guests will one day return to these properties in significant numbers again is a question that the outcome of the current conflict may ultimately answer.
About the writer:
The author is a seasoned hotel expert, traveler, writer, and videographer, and formerly served as Head of Public Relations for Hilton Hotels & Resorts in Israel. Today, as a travel writer and hospitality trends analyst, his insights and experiences are regularly featured in leading Israeli media outlets.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Britain cannot claim to confront the Iranian regime while simultaneously serving as a repository for its money.
By Emily Schrader
The United Kingdom likes to pretend it is still a defender of democracy and a leader in confronting authoritarian regimes. Yet when it comes to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Britain’s policies reveal a far more uncomfortable reality.
Despite years of warnings from security officials and lawmakers, the UK government has still failed to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, even after the European Union has done so. There are a litany of excuses offered as to why, but one possible factor is increasingly difficult to ignore: Islamic regime-linked wealth has become deeply embedded inside the British financial and property system.
Recent reporting illustrates just how extensive these connections may be. Investigations into the financial network surrounding the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have linked him to a series of luxury properties in London. Property records indicate that two high-end apartments in Kensington were purchased in 2014 and 2016 for roughly £50 million. The apartments are located just meters from the Israeli Embassy. The properties were reportedly registered through companies tied to Iranian businessman Ali Ansari, a longtime associate of regime elites who has since been sanctioned by the British government for his alleged role in helping finance activities linked to the IRGC.
Too Close for Comfort. Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei (left) reportedly owns two London apartments on same street as the Israeli embassy (right). Only 50 yards away, it enables easy surveillance, constituting a ‘serious security breach’.
Further reporting suggests these apartments may represent only a fraction of the assets connected to that network. Investigations have identified a broader web of London properties linked through intermediaries and shell companies, including homes on Hampstead’s Bishops Avenue, often called Billionaires’ Row. The combined value of these properties has been estimated in the hundreds of millions.
At the center of this network is Ali Ansari, an Iranian banker and businessman who built a vast property empire across some of London’s most expensive neighborhoods. Yet by the time sanctions were imposed, many of the assets connected to his business network had already been absorbed into the British property market through offshore companies and complex ownership structures – something which works to the benefit of nefarious actors like the Supreme Leader.
The financial power surrounding the Supreme Leader’s office is enormous. A 2013 Reuters investigation estimated that Setad, the conglomerate controlled by the Supreme Leader and formally known as the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, oversees assets worth roughly $95 billion across industries including telecommunications, banking, pharmaceuticals, real estate, and energy holdings. Setad was originally created after the 1979 revolution to manage properties confiscated from Iranians who fled the country, including businesses and land seized from political opponents and religious minorities. Over time it evolved into a vast corporate empire operating largely outside public oversight and answering directly to the Supreme Leader’s office.
Tentacles of Terror. Iran’s new Supreme Leader’s London properties were reportedly registered through companies tied to Iranian businessman Ali Ansari (above) who has been sanctioned by the British government for his alleged role in helping finance activities linked to the IRGC.
Setad is only one component of the broader economic structure controlled by Iran’s ruling elite. Religious foundations known as bonyads, which also report directly to the Supreme Leader, control an estimated 10 to 20 percent of Iran’s economy. These organizations operate with minimal transparency and enjoy sweeping tax exemptions while managing massive portfolios of real estate, industrial assets, and financial investments.
Analysts have long viewed Mojtaba Khamenei as a key figure inside this financial and political network. For years he has been widely described by Iran experts as a power broker within the Supreme Leader’s office who maintains close ties with senior commanders of the IRGC. Together, the economic empires of Setad, the Bonyads, and IRGC-linked business networks control significant portions of Iran’s economy, creating a system where political authority and economic wealth are tightly intertwined.
The IRGC itself operates one of the largest economic empires in the Middle East. Analysts estimate that companies connected to the IRGC control between 20 and 40 percent of Iran’s economy, with holdings in construction, telecommunications, banking, energy, transportation, and shipping. The Guard’s massive engineering conglomerate, Khatam al Anbiya, has secured billions of dollars in infrastructure and energy contracts across the country. Because many of these businesses operate through private companies, front organizations, and intermediaries, the financial networks tied to the regime frequently extend far beyond Iran’s borders.
This financial ecosystem intersects with another vulnerability inside the British system. London’s real estate market has become one of the world’s most attractive destinations for opaque foreign capital. Transparency advocates have warned for years that Britain’s property sector functions as a global laundromat for politically exposed wealth. According to Transparency International, more than £5.6 billion in suspicious funds has been invested in UK property linked to corruption or politically exposed individuals.
A major reason for this vulnerability is the widespread use of offshore ownership structures. Prior to recent transparency reforms, roughly 90 percent of foreign-owned property in London was held through offshore shell companies registered in secrecy jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands or Panama. Even today, more than 90,000 properties across the United Kingdom remain owned through offshore entities, often making it extremely difficult to identify the ultimate beneficial owner. These structures have allowed politically connected elites from around the world, including figures linked to sanctioned regimes, to quietly park wealth in Britain’s property market.
Members of the Islamic Republic’s ruling families have also established personal and professional footholds in the United Kingdom. Hadi Larijani, the son of senior Iranian regime official Mohammad Javad Larijani, works as a professor at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. Another Larijani family member, Zeinab Ardeshir Larijani, is listed in UK corporate filings as a director of British companies. The Larijani family is one of the most powerful political dynasties in the Islamic Republic. Several brothers have held top positions in the regime including speaker of parliament, head of the judiciary, and senior adviser roles to the Supreme Leader.
The contradiction is striking. While the Iranian regime arrests protesters, suppresses women’s rights, and funds militant proxies across the Middle East, relatives of senior officials appear able to live, work, and conduct business in Western countries including Britain.
This reality raises an uncomfortable question. If the UK government were to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization and aggressively dismantle the financial networks tied to the regime, what else, and who else, might be exposed inside Britain’s own economy?
For years, London has benefited from its role as a global financial hub. But that openness has also created vulnerabilities. The same system that attracts legitimate international investment has also provided opportunities for authoritarian elites to shield their wealth abroad.
Britain cannot claim to confront the Iranian regime while simultaneously serving as a repository for its money. If the UK is serious about countering Tehran’s destabilizing activities, it must begin by addressing the regime-linked financial networks operating within its own borders.
Until that happens, the message from London will remain painfully clear:
The Islamic Republic may be condemned in speeches and sanctions lists… but its money is still welcome.
About the writer:
Emily Schrader is an American-Israeli journalist, human rights activist, and the founder of the Iran Israel Alliance. She is an an anchor at ILTV News, and the host of Axis of Truth on JNS. Emily also is a cofounder of the Cyrus Strategic Fund, and she sits on the executive board of the Institute for Voices of Liberty, a think tank focused on European and American Iran policy, and has advised lawmakers across North America and Europe on Iran policy. In 2025, she released her first book, 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go To College and has lectured all over the world on the topic of rising antisemitism. Emily is the winner of the 2023 Nefesh b’Nefesh Bonei Zion award for outstanding immigrants to Israel, and in 2025, she was given the Women of Iron award by Chochmat Nashim for her dedication to women’s rights.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Despite millennia of persecution and exile, the Jewish people – characterized by their historical resilience and survival often attributed to a divine covenant, enduring faith, and a mission to be a “light unto the nations” – is once more at war. It is at times like these, that renown writers, reaching into the soul of their people, prefer to express their thoughts and emotions not in prose but in poetry. So, it was for this esteemed former editor of The Jerusalem Post and Jerusalem Report, Steve Linde, who this Purim, penned this poignant poem below. David E. Kaplan Editor, Lay of the Land
There is a flame that runs through time, An ancient, ever-lasting rhyme. A people small, a story vast, An echo rising from the past.
It burns in stone and desert sand, In songs and prayers across the land. In exiles forced to wander far, Yet guided by a constant star.
Strange how this flame reveals its power. For some, it warms the darkest hour. For others, it ignites disdain And turns old hatred into flame.
One word can stir the air with spite, Old myths repeated day and night. The ancient blame, the poisoned art Of hurling lies at Jewish hearts.
They dress falsehood in robes of truth, Recycling slanders long uncouth. As if a scattered people few Could bend the world the way they do.
Yet rising too across the earth Are voices proving human worth. A hand extended, calm and strong: “You are not alone. You still belong.”
From distant shores and crowded streets, From quiet homes where conscience beats, Come words of courage, clear and bright, A simple stand for what is right.
For every cry of rage and scorn, Another light is quietly born. A candle lit, a flag unfurled, A sign of hope across the world.
So still the paradox remains: Two currents running through our veins. One born of darkness, fear and blame, One guarding justice like a flame.
And though the shadows sometimes rise, The flame endures. It never dies.
Steve Linde Purim March 4, 2026
About the poet:
Steve Linde, the JNS features editor, is a former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Report and The Jerusalem Post and a former director at Kol Yisrael, Israel Radio’s English News. Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, he grew up in Durban, South Africa and has graduate degrees in sociology and journalism, the latter from the University of California at Berkeley. He made aliyah in 1988, served in the IDF Artillery Corps and lives in Jerusalem.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
