THE SILENT WOUNDS OF WAR IN ISRAEL

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

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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 15 March 2026

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond.

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THE ISRAEL BRIEF –09–12 March 2026
(Click on the blue title)



Lay of the Land’s Photo Pick of the Week

ISRAEL AT WAR – NOWHERE IS SAFE

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

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

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!

LONDON’S DIRTY SECRET: HOW STOLEN REGIME FUNDS FLOW THROUGH THE UK
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

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.

IRANIAN WOMEN’S COURAGE MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

TEHRAN’S HOTELS: WAR, REGULATION AND SANCTIONS

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.

TEHRAN’S HOTELS: WAR, REGULATION AND SANCTIONS
(Click on the blue title)



(4)

THE FLAME

By Steve Linde

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.

THE FLAME
(Click on the blue title)



LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

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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).

TEHRAN’S HOTELS: WAR, REGULATION AND SANCTIONS

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).

THE ISRAEL BRIEF – 09-12 March 2026

09 March 2026 – Why is the international community silent on Iran’s use of cluster munitions? This and your “Lion’s Roar”/”Epic Fury” operations on Israel brief.



10 March 2026 – “Most intense day”, says US Secretary of War. Your Operations Lion’s Roar/Epic Fury updates on The Israel Brief.



11 March 2026 – How long will this war last? Your updates from Operations Lion’s Roar/Epic Fury on The Israel Brief.



12 March 2026 – Is the new Ayatollah about to meet the old? Your updates on the lion’s roar and the epic fury of your operatives on The Israel Brief.





09 March 2026 – Rolene Marks discusses Operations Lion’s Roar and Epic Fury on WINA The Schilling Show.





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).

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

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).

THE FLAME

By Steve Linde

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).

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

While we celebrated the International Women day on March 8th, we must remember the many brave Iranian women who have endured decades of hardships under the harsh rules of Islam, imposed on them by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today we are seeing the fruits of their struggles and suffering, praying that by the time you read this the Islamic Republic will have fallen – but the job is not done, and their suffering has not ended.

Under Islamic rules, Iranian women have been subjugated and suppressed for more than 47 years since the satanic Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran. Iranian women lost all their rights after the revolution in 1979. The regime started suppressing women systematically and publicly through many misogynist laws making women and women’s rights only half of that of men. The humiliation of women under the Islamic Republic runs deep in the regime’s DNA:

– Women are forced to wear a hijab from the age of seven.

– Iranian women cannot sing or dance in public, or have custody of their children after getting divorced.

– Women cannot travel or obtain a passport without the permission of their fathers or their husbands.

– Women cannot get government jobs or hold other important positions.

Under rulings of the Islamic regime, women are treated like property of men. Their testimony in court is equal half of that of men because under Islam, a woman’s brain is considered half of that of men. Women’s inheritance is half of men. However, under these same Islamic rules, girls as young as nine are mature enough to be married to old men because their prophet Mohammed married his wife, Aishia, at the age of seven.

Murdered by the State. Demonstrators protest in September 2024 in New York outside United Nations headquarters against the Iranian government behind placards featuring the faces of women who have been executed in Iran. (Photo: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Many Iranian girls and women have been murdered by their fathers, brothers, or husbands in what they call “honor killings” for which the men face no severe consequences because under Islamic rules there is no capital punishment against a male who kills their female relative for the purpose of their honor. One of my personal examples is most telling. After I talked to my brother about my conversion to Christianity, he talked to a mullah about his confusion between Islam and Christianity and mentioned my conversion to Christianity. The mullah told my brother to kill me, and he promised him there will be no punishment for him under the law of “honor killing.” There are countless other examples.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranian women have been arrested in the streets, beaten up in public by “morality police”, and humiliated only because of not having a proper Islamic hijab. One prominent example is Mahsa Amini who was murdered in 2022 for allowing her hair to show. She was beaten mercilessly after her arrest, went into a coma, and died at the hands of her torturers.


Fighting Back. An Iranian woman protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police in Tehran in September 2022 for improperly wearing a hijab. Her death ignited protests that exposed the regime’s use of sexual violence as a weapon of repression. (Photo: obtained by AP)

The Islamic regime also deliberately disfigures the face of many Iranian women by throwing acid at them, or shooting them, for disobeying the Islamic rules and not following the “proper” Islamic dress code. We have seen that abundantly during the recent protests across Iran.

Many Iranian women were raped in prison and were subject of sexual abuse by prison authorities. I personally witnessed this kind of abuse during my imprisonment at Evin prison in 2009 where I was sentenced to death by hanging just for being a Christian. One of my cellmates who got a job at the prison clinic, found the real job was to go there every day and to give sexual pleasure to prison authorities and government officials. They threatened her if she refused, they would kill her. I went through many psychological pressures and hardships to deny my faith in Jesus. I witnessed the execution of my best friend, Shirin Alamhooli, and many of my cellmates. I heard many stories of rape and sexual abuse from my cellmates who did not have any voices. I witnessed the torture and humiliation of women regularly.

Beauties and the Beasts. Former Iranian prisoners, the writer, (left), and Maryam Rostampour (right)  were sentenced to death in 2009 for spreading the message of Christianity but were finally released following intense international pressure. Many of their friends and cellmates were executed.

One of the most obscene ways in which women are subjugated, there is a perversion under the Islamic rules it is not legitimate to execute a virgin. So according to a fatwa (religious command) by Ayatollah Khomeini, virgins must be raped before their execution. Under the Islamic rules, raping virgins before their execution prevents them from entering heaven. This law is just an excuse and a reward to prison authorities for having sexual pleasure with innocent women before executing them. Under Islamic rules women have zero value.

Behind Bars for Beliefs. Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison where peaceful activists, journalists, intellectuals, human rights lawyers and Christians like the writer were imprisoned, tortured, sexually abused and many executed.

When I think about International Women’s Day, it reminds me of the suffering of millions of Iranian women like me. It makes me sad because it reminds me how much I was disrespected and humiliated in my birth country. It reminds me how much Iranian women are insulted, disrespected, and have suffered. It reminds me many horrible memories of being insulted and punished in school, and even at home by my brothers who were brainwashed by the Islamic regime to see me and all women as inferior.  It reminds me of the gross harassment by men who would look at me as a whore and the challenges I faced because I lived independently without being under a control of a man. It reminds me that I lived 30 years in Iran, but I never had a chance to travel around my beautiful country because hotels would not permit women to book a room alone.

War on Women. Iranian women prisoners sit at their cell in Tehran’s Evin prison. While allegations of sexual abuse and rape against Iran prison officials have been made by former female political prisoners, information about the alleged number of rapes committed by IRGC officials in Iran’s prisons remains unclear.

It reminds me of the terrible stories of my students who must accept the sick sexual advances and extortion by judges to be able to receive a divorce from their abusive husbands. I experienced that too. Under Islam, if women are abused or beaten by their husbands, there are no laws to defend them. There is a verse in the Koran (Al Nisa surah) that actually gives permission for men to beat their wives. 

Despite all these misogynist Islamic laws, millions of Iranian women bravely fought against these harsh rules and did not submit. Many of them never gave up and tried to stand for their rights at any cost, even losing their lives.

This year alone, the Islamic regime killed over 32,000 protesters in just two days in January. The regime intentionally targeted young women and men who were beautiful and athletic to punish the families. They believe if you target the children, you have killed the parents as well – ensuring they will not stand up against the regime in the future.

We should not forget that the brave mothers of all these young children who were killed by the regime who have turned their mourning to another form of defiance against the regime. Instead of crying, many mothers displayed their defiance by dancing in the funeral of their children. It is unbelievable where they found the courage to turn their sorrow and mourning to dance, to tell the Islamic regime that even the death of their children cannot stop them fighting for their rights and freedom.

Brave Iranian Women Who Turned Their Mourning to Defiance (Dance) Against the Islamic Regime, 2026!
Under Islamic rules, women are not allowed to sing and dance in public, but brave Iranian women are singing and dancing for their loved ones who were massacred in the nationwide uprising in January 2026. There are no more Islamic rituals or citation of Koran verses. This is another form of revolution against 47 years of indoctrination with Islamic laws

While dancing and singing in public is forbidden for Iranian women, the mothers and sisters of those who were murdered by the regime held back their tears and began to dance and sing loudly in public to show defiance. They stand as a symbol of courage for all women around the world.

Being a woman in Iran means enduring barbaric inhuman behavior in every facet of life. It means having remarkable strength, being made of steel, to survive all those brutalities one faces daily.

It is a shame that instead of making the Islamic regime accountable for what they do to Iranian women, the United Nations rewards them by giving them a seat to monitor women’s rights around the world. This is an obscene joke, and another type of insult against Iranian women by the clowns and buffoons at the UN to close their eyes to the misogyny and brutalities against Iranian women.


Defiance. Despite the threat of arrest and execution, an Iranian woman without a mandatory Islamic headscarf flashes a victory sign as two veiled women walk by at a market in Tehran in June 2024. (Photo: AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
 

On International Women’s Day, we must remember brave Iranian women who have no rights and have been targets of discrimination and abuse for so many years. We must remember the high price that they are paying every day just to survive. We must remember many Iranian women who have no voice and their lives have been ruined by the Islamic regime. We must remember hundreds of thousands of mothers who are mourning for their children in hiding, while dancing in public to undermine and humiliate all the Islamic laws against them and say “No” to five decades of indoctrination.

My heart pains me this International Women’s Day when I think about all the atrocities Iranian women have suffered and are suffering still. My heart pains me when I remember, like millions of Iranian women, how much I was insulted, disrespected, and ignored just because of being born as a woman in Iran under the Islamic Republic government. I cannot hold back my tears for Iranian women who are still living under this tyranny and suppressions and are paying the price with their lives.

Reign of Terror.  Activists in red ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ robes hold placards with portraits of women who were killed in Iran during an International Women’s Day demonstration in London in March 2023. (Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

I salute Iranian women on this day for being the true symbol of courageous resistance and dignity under the most barbaric Islamic rules imposed on them every day.  I pray that they will have their relief, their rights, and freedom soon.  It cannot come soon enough.

This International Woman’s Day we must not forget. We must be the voices of and bear witness for Iranian women.  We must pray that by this time next year, Iran, and Iranian women, will be free.



About the writer:

Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity.   She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is author of two books (the latest, A Love Journey with God), public speaker, and columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world, to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com.





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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 08 March 2026

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond.

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THE ISRAEL BRIEF –01–05 March 2026
(Click on the blue title)



Lay of the Land’s Photo Pick of the Week

ISRAEL’S RESILIENT UNDERGROUND CULTURE

Pulsating Purim. Israeli revelers dance and sing as they celebrate Purim in an underground parking garage in Tel Aviv while sheltering from Iranian missiles on March 2. Not only are the people’s spirits high, but so are Israeli stocks that have defied war panic with key indices like the TA-35 and TA-125 surging to record highs. (Photo: Erik Marmor/Getty Images)




ARTICLES

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

WHY THE WAR AGAINST IRAN IS NOT ONLY RIGHT BUT ESSENTIAL

Since its inception, the Islamic Republic has been deceiving and lying to the West as its centrifuges churned away enriching uranium to a level only required for a weapons program.
By Marziyeh Amirizadeh

(who survived Tehran’s infamous prison under a death sentence)

Bargaining, Bluffing, Buying Time. Ready to once again lie and deceive, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi smiles on route to the first round of talks with the USA in Geneva. Within days, the US called his bluff and the Ayatollah lay under rubble, his regime likely to follow.

WHY THE WAR AGAINST IRAN IS NOT ONLY RIGHT BUT ESSENTIAL
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

DESPERATELY SEEKING SALVATION

How Western countries can confront the challengers of growing unassimilated immigrant populations.
By Neville Berman

The New Wave. As a result of French President Sarkozy banning the right to wear full-face veils in public spaces, he lost the presidential election with well over 90% of the Muslims – who made up 8% of the population – voting against him. As the Muslim vote determined who became President of France, mass Muslim movements may well determine the future of Europe.

DESPERATELY SEEKING SALVATION
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

THE ROEDEAN-KING DAVID ‘AFFAIR’ – A MARATHON MATCH

How a cancelled school tennis match escalated into a wider political battle over Israel, antisemitism, and boycotts.
By Marika Sboros

Back to Court. While the two schools have tried to move on following an apology and a promise to resume play, this “affair” is not going away with South Africa’s anti-Israel lobby hell-bent on turninga girls tennis match ”… into an international propaganda tool.”

THE ROEDEAN-KING DAVID ‘AFFAIR’ – A MARATHON MATCH
(Click on the blue title)



LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

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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).


DESPERATELY SEEKING SALVATION

How Western countries can confront the challengers of growing unassimilated immigrant populations.

By Neville Berman

Despite the enormous improvement in the material lifestyle of the 21st century, millions of people have not shared in the abundant wealth created by technology and innovation. Many countries are in reality failed states, unable to provide jobs, sufficient food for their population and repay loans to international aid agencies such as the World Bank. With no foreseeable prospect of a better life in the countries of their birth, millions of people are risking their lives in attempting to immigrate to other parts of the world. The vast majority of these immigrants are economic migrants seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families. They normally have low marketable skills, little or no financial resources, and are unfamiliar with the language, culture or religious practices of the countries that they are desperately trying to reach.

Chancing the Channel. Migrants sit on a dinghy as they wait to cross the English Channel from France. (Photo: Getty/Carl Court)

Most countries in the western world are running on financial deficits that are reaching alarming proportions. Interest payments on debt have become a major issue in the budgets of almost all western countries. Countries are cutting social services to their own population, while at the same time providing new immigrants with free housing, health care, educational assistance, and direct financial aid. The inevitable clash between the local population and the new immigrants is tearing countries apart. Hatred is on the rise. Immigration has become a hot topic that will play an important role in future elections in the western world. There is almost zero immigration going the other way.

Greener Pastures. This photo taken at a Spanish enclave on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, encapsulates a visual clash of cultures as migrants from North Africa scale a fence to reach Europe while one golfer is in mid-swing, while another gazes in bewilderment as if under surprise attack. (Photo: Jose Palazon/Reuters)

What is happening all over the Western world is that new immigrants usually live in low-income areas just outside major cities. Many of these new immigrants cannot find jobs. The areas that they live in soon take on a different character to what existed before, and end up becoming a no-go area for local police. This scenario is replicating across the Western world.

All Aboard. Uncertain which country in Europe they might eventually end up residing, some 500 passengers on this boat crossing from Libya to Italy. What is ‘certain’ is that Europe is changing as a result. (Photo: Massimo Sestini).

Children born in a country normally enjoy a right of citizenship. While exposed in their home environment to the language of their parents, they then spend their formative years in local schools that inculcate the language, culture, values and heritage of their adopted country into their lifestyle. At the age of 18, they are granted the right to vote in local and national elections. On the other hand, what happens with immigrants is that five years after they are granted the legal right to live in the country, they are granted citizenship. Provided they are over the age of 18, they are entitled to vote. After five years of living in a country, they usually still communicate with their family in the language of their birth, and are probably not fully integrated into the local customs, values and culture of the country. In many cases their religious beliefs are foreign to the accepted religious practices of the majority of the local population.

All Western countries are democracies that hold elections for public office. The increase in the proportion of the immigrant population with the right to vote, can be the determining factor in who gets elected. In the case of France, President Sarkozy banned the right to wear full-face veils known as burqas in public spaces. The result was that over 90% of the Muslims, who made up 8% of the population, voted against him in the 2012 French presidential election. Sarkozy lost the election by a 3.2% margin. Clearly the Muslim vote determined who became President of France. Political parties across Europe took note of what happened in France. They started pandering to the Muslim community in their countries, in order to have a better chance of being elected. The question that arises is what can be done to alleviate the problems described above?

Paris ‘Street Scene’. It’s not artists anymore that tell the story of the “city of Lights”. Taking over public areas, Friday prayers on the pavement in Goutte d’Or,18th arrondissement, Paris. (Photo: William Daniels/Panos Pictures)

The first suggestion that I would like to make is to grant citizenship only to people who have lived in the country for 18 years and not 5 years. After eighteen years of living in the country they will probably be more integrated into the country and more acclimatized to local norms, values and customs than after only 5 years of living in the country. If locally born citizens need to wait 18 years before they get the right to vote, it seems reasonable that foreign immigrants should also need to wait for 18 years before acquiring the right to vote. The second suggestion is that during the 18 years of acclimatization, they will be subject to mandatory deportation if convicted of a crime that involves a prison sentence of more than 2 years. This will act as a deterrent against engaging in criminal activity by the immigrant population. During the 18 years of waiting to be a citizen, a Purple Passport should be issued to all legal immigrants who wish to travel in and out of the country. This passport will not grant any rights of citizenship to the holder of the passport. 

Cultural Clash. Standing in the way of integration, Muslims demonstrate in the UK demanding the introduction of Sharia Law.

Almost all countries are increasing the amount allocated in their defense budgets. They are doing this in order to deter and to be better able to defend themselves in the event of an attack by a potential enemy country. They are also increasing their budgets to defend against cyber-attacks that can cripple the smooth running of the country. What they are not taking into account is that one of the main threats facing many countries is not external but internal. There are many factors that lead to dissatisfaction, hatred and anarchy in a country. The right to free speech has become a license for hate speech. A disproportionate amount of hate speech can be attributed to the changing makeup of the country caused by mass immigration of people with different beliefs and values. It is time to think outside the box and adopt new measures that are aimed at preventing the disintegration of Western society from within. Across the Western world, democracy itself is under threat!

They Came, They Saw, They Conquer. Something Britains never thought they would see occur in their territory – dozens of Muslim protesters at a rally in 2014 in the Brick Lane area of London warning retailers that they face up to 40 lashes if they continue to sell alcohol.

INTO EXTRA TIME

While the suggestions expressed above may alleviate more than resolve, they will at least provide additional  time for countries to formulate policies and programs that will seriously tackle the internal problems that they face. Like climate change and artificial intelligence that have the potential to lead to job losses and economic hardships for millions of people, so too will mass immigration of unskilled people that will not disappear in the near future. If anything, it is likely to increase. 

Planning and managing this process needs to start now.  



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.





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