22 September 2026 – Boy George heading to Israel, Katz warns Hamas against kidnapping soldiers and a doozy of a question on The Israel Brief.
23 September 2026 – Buckle up! Trump takes aim at Iran, Macron’s epic fail and more on The Israel Brief.
24 September 2026 – Ambassador’s son critically injured in terror attack, Bibi heads to the UN, mensches, morons and more on 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).
Comparing Jewish Engagement across the Anglo Diaspora
By Reviva Hasson
For many South African Jews, the question often comes up: how do we compare?
Whether thinking about emigration, family abroad, or simply the state of Jewish life globally, we instinctively measure ourselves against communities in other countries. Anecdotal experiences from friends and family provide one perspective, but another avenue offering a more objective, broader birds-eye view approach is a comparison based on survey data.
The Jewish Community Survey of South Africa (JCSSA) is the largest survey of South African Jews. It was conducted in 2019 by the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies, based at the University of Cape Town, in collaboration with the London based Institute for Jewish Policy Research. Similar Jewish population surveys have been run across the Anglo world in similar periods which creates the unique opportunity to be able to compare Jewish populations, – in the United States Pew2020, the United Kingdom NJCS 2022, Australia Gen17 2017, and Canada SJC 2018.
A comparison with these four countries is not arbitrary. South Africa shares important features with other Anglo communities based on a common language and cultural heritage rooted in British institutions. Moreover as 70% of South Africa’s Jewish emigrants have moved to these four countries, the comparison is also personal.
Countries can be compared on many different variables. In terms of the size of the Jewish population, America has the largest population outside of Israel with some 6.5 million Jews, Canada has 400 000 Jews, the UK 312 000 and Australia 117 000. South Africa ranks 11th in world Jewry with 52 300 Jews. This article however focuses on Jewish life – how Jews express their Jewish identity through relationships, beliefs, practices, and values.
In the analysis that follows the comparison is grouped into four themes:
sociocultural engagement
religious engagement,
connection to Israel, and
the value placed on different elements of Jewish identity.
Of course, splitting Jewish life into different categories is artificial and any behaviour can be experienced in multifaceted ways, however for the purpose of this article it is useful to think about Jewish identity taking expression through different avenues.
SOCIOCULTURAL ENGAGEMENT
This theme explores the social and communal dimensions of Jewish life, including friendship networks, family traditions, charitable giving, and participation in activities that connect Jews to one another. While a Passover seder is rooted in religious ritual, it’s also a powerful expression of culture, bringing multiple generations together around a shared tradition. Similarly, the synagogue is a house of prayer, but it is also one of the primary spaces where community takes form.
In the figures that follow South Africa is shown by the black bar with the percentage of the community that answered in the affirmative to each measure. When interpreting the results it’s important to appreciate that the percentage who did not answer “yes” mainly include those that said “no” but also includes other responses like “some/sometimes” and “don’t know” or “Prefer not to say”. Where there are missing bars for a certain country it’s because that question was not asked in the relevant survey.
Figure 1. Sociocultural Engagement
Figure 1 shows that 57% of South African Jews are members of a synagogue, similar to the UK and Canada but below Australia where almost 80% of the community are members. 71% of South African report having mostly Jewish friends and 81% attend or host a Passover seder every year – both of which are comparable to Australia. 88% of South Africans made a financial donation to a Jewish charity in the past year, similar to the UK.
Intermarriage rates measure the proportion of marriages in a given timeframe that are between Jews and non-Jews, here South Africa exhibits the lowest rates with intermarriage at 17%. by contrast in America the rate is close to 60%
Taken together, the data suggest that South African Jewry exhibits strong levels of sociocultural Jewish engagement by Anglo-diaspora standards.
RELIGIOUS ENGAGEMENT
Religious engagement indicators examined in Figure 2 below include both measures of practical observance and expressions of belief.
Figure 2. Religious Engagement
South Africa performs among the strongest communities and leads in areas such as belief in God (78%), lighting Shabbat candles (52%) and fasting on Yom Kippur (76%). Significantly lower proportions of the community keep kosher (33%) and view halacha (Jewish law) as central to being Jewish (26%).
It’s interesting to observe that while only 21% of South African Jews indicated in the JCSSA that they are Shomer Shabbat (data not shown here) – a marker for religious Orthodox observance, the above data reveal significantly higher levels of participation across other religious life indicators. This suggests that religious engagement in South Africa extends beyond a small observant minority.
CONNECTION TO ISRAEL
A third dimension of Jewish engagement is connection to Israel, which for many Jews serves as an important expression of their Jewish identity, serving as a homeland and the centre of Jewish peoplehood.
Figure 3. Connection to Israel
Connection to Israel is an area in which South African Jewry stands out (Figure 3). 66% of South African express a strong attachment to Israel, and when those who report being “moderately” attached are included, 90% express a positive connection. Significantly higher than elsewhere in the Anglo world.
The vast majority (89%) have visited Israel at least once and many have visited multiple times, a figure matched by Australia and the United Kingdom. By comparison, fewer than half of American Jews have visited Israel.
The one area where South Africa performs relatively poorly in terms of its Israel engagement profile is Hebrew literacy where only 24% report being able to speak Hebrew quite well, far below Canada’s 40%. The proportion in South Africa who can read Hebrew is higher (54%)
WHAT MATTERS MOST TO JEWISH IDENTITY
Figure 4 shifts the focus from behaviour to attitudes, examining the proportion of respondents who rated various elements of Jewish identity as being “very important” to their personal sense of Jewish identity. The exact same question was asked in the UK and Australia surveys hence our comparison is limited to these three countries.
Figure 4. Elements of Jewish Identity. The percentage that responded that this element was “very important” to their Jewish identity
Note. Q. How important or unimportant are each of the following to your own sense of Jewish Identity? This graph only shows the percentage that answered, “very important”. The other options included: important, unimportant, don’t know and prefer not to say.
South Africa however stands out. In all but one of the thirteen statements, South African Jews are more likely to select “very important” than their Australian and British counterparts. Moreover, in five areas South Africa stands out particularly strongly compared to the UK and Australia: moral and ethical behaviour (85%), remembering the Holocaust (81%), donating money to charity (55%), belief in God (53%) and payer (36%).
A SUCCESS STORY WITH CAVEATS
Taken together, the findings reveal a community that compares remarkably well with its counterparts across the Anglo-Jewish world. The South African Jewish population consistently ranks among the most engaged across multiple dimensions of Jewish life. Moreover, the high levels of importance attached to many elements of Jewish identity suggest that this engagement is not merely behavioural, but underpinned by strongly held values, beliefs, and sense of Jewish peoplehood. Overall, South Africa emerges as the strongest performing of the major English-speaking Jewish communities, with Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom occupying a middle position, while the United States ranks lowest overall. This is a particularly striking finding. Despite its relatively small size, South African Jewry emerges as one of the most engaged Jewish communities in the Anglo diaspora, consistently punching above its demographic weight.
These affirming findings about SA Jewry should be viewed alongside several important qualifications. South African Jewry is not a single homogenous community, and important differences exist across the geographical landscape. Across almost every measure from religious belief and practice to sociocultural expressions, connections and belonging, Johannesburg Jewry emerges as the most engaged Jewish centre in the country. Cape Town and Durban exhibit significantly lower levels of Jewish engagement in most areas. The national picture therefore conceals significant regional variation.
Moreover, South African Jewish life is not static. Tracking specific forms of Jewish engagement across historical surveys reveals diverging trends. On the one hand, there has been a gradual increase in Orthodox observance. The proportion of Jews who keep shabbat has risen from 9% in 1974 to 21% in 2019. This is mirrored in the data on Jewish strands of identity where a quarter of South African Jews have switched to a more religious Jewish strand of identity than the one they were raised in.
On the other hand, there is a parallel trend away from Jewish engagement. Intermarriage rates have increased such that in the 1970s 7% of all marriages occurring were interfaith unions, while in the most recent period (2015-2019) this has increased to 19%. Similarly, several markers that were historically near universal such as attending Passover seders, fasting on Yom Kippur, and lighting Shabbat candles, have declined in recent decades.
Why South African Jewry compares so strongly with its counterparts abroad is ultimately a question that warrants further study. However, several domestic factors likely play an important role, these include: exceptionally high rates of Jewish day school attendance – 75% of school-aged Jewish children currently attend Jewish schools, the highest in the Anglo world; relatively low incidence of intermarriage, strong communal institutions, and the dense social networks characteristic of a small and geographically concentrated Jewish population. Scholars have also pointed to broader historical and social influences, including the community’s largely Lithuanian heritage, the role of Orthodox outreach movements, and aspects of South Africa’s unique social and political history that may have reinforced communal cohesion.
Comparisons such as these do not tell us every dimension of a Jewish community. They do, however, provide empirical validation for something that many South African Jews have long felt intuitively: that there is something distinctive about both the breadth and strength of Jewish life in South Africa. Claims about the vitality of Jewish life in South Africa are not merely anecdotal; they are supported by a substantial body of evidence spanning religious practice, social connectedness, Israel attachment and the importance attached to many elements of Jewish identity. This broad-based pattern of Jewish engagement is perhaps one of the defining characteristics of contemporary South African Jewry.
To dive deeper into this fascinating set of findings based on the SA Jewish Community Survey, please join Midrasha Melton’s 2-part Online course with Reviva herself – Monday evenings, October 19 and 26 from 19H15-20H15 SAST.
Feature picture: Cape Town’s Old Synagogue, the first synagogue built in South Africa in 1863, which since 2000 has housed the South African Jewish Museum. (Photo: Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Alamy).
About the writer:
Reviva Hasson is a social scientist at the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at UCT. In 2019 she coordinated the nationwide survey of the South African Jewish population.
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 time has come to re-evaluate why more aid is given to some refugees than others in need.
By Neville Berman
Today there are between 30-45 million Kurds in the world. They are mainly Sunni Muslims. They are the largest ethnic group in the world without a sovereign country. The Kurds live across a vast area of mountainous regions spanning Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. They are indigenous to the regions that they have inhabited for thousands of years. Depending where they live, they speak Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian. They are pro Western in political ideology, and helped to defeat ISIS. The Kurds have never fully united under one leadership. In 2017, the Kurds in Iraq organized a referendum. 92% voted for Kurdish Statehood. All attempts to form a Kurdish State have been brutally suppressed and never recognized by the United Nations. The Kurds have been attacked in every country that they live in, and have been robbed of their rights to the profits from oil produced in places that they once occupied in Iraq and Iran.
Robbed of their Rights. Never galvanizing the massive support like the Palestinians, a small number of the Kurdish diaspora gather on 2026/01/28 in Leicester Square to protest and call on the UK government to take action against the Syrian military’s offensive in Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria. (Photo: Krisztian Elek/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ordered the killing and imprisonment of thousands of Kurds in Turkey and in Syria. All his actions have been ignored by the western world, the liberal press and human rights organizations.
The Kurds are undoubtedly one of the forgotten people of the world. The irony is that the Kurds have all the attributes of a State. They have land, their own language and culture, and are completely viable if they had control of the oil that is under their land.
Unfortunately,the world has never supported statehood for the Kurds.
Free Pass. While President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration has conducted extensive military campaigns and a severe political crackdown against armed Kurdish separatist groups and affiliated politicians, there are few international protests in support of the Kurds against the Turkish president.
Another group of people who have never been recognized as a State, are the Baloch people. There are over 12 million Baloch people in the world. The Baloch people are ethnic Iranian people, who are indigenous to the Balochi regions spanning Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. The areas that the Baloch people occupy in Iran and Pakistan are contiguous. They speak Baluchi and the language of the country in which they live. Over eight million Balochi people live in Pakistan and between 2-4 million live in south eastern Iran. The Baloch also have a long history in Oman dating back centuries. Today over 1 million Baloch people live in Oman. Over 380,000 Baloch live in the United Arab Emirates. Despite having land, a unique language and culture, they have never been offered a State of their own. They have been brutally suppressed by the Iranian regime. Pictures have emerged of Baloch leaders hanging from cranes in public squares in areas that the Baloch occupy. The hangings are a warning to the Baloch people not to protest against the regime.
Baloch leader Executed. While mostly escaping global attention, protests break out in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi against the hanging in Iran of a militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi who was “… fighting for the rights of the Baloch in Iran.”
The world totally ignores the Baloch people.
The Rohingya people lived in Myanmar for generations. They are a Muslim minority group living in a Buddhist-majority country. In 1982, the Rohingya were denied recognition in Myanmar as an ethnic group, and faced persecution. Decades of discrimination boiled over in August 2017. Armed attacks and serious human rights violations forced hundreds of thousands to flee. Today more than 1 million Rohingya live in poverty in Bangladesh. The majority are living in the Cox Bazaar region that is now the home to the world’s largest refugee camp. The United Nations has described the Rohingya as “the most persecuted minority in the world.” Obviously, the Jews are the most persecuted minority in the history of mankind, but the UN is never going to acknowledge this fact. The Rohingya refugees receive help from the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations. The help is minimal and the Rohingya are barely surviving. They face ethnic cleansing, and are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Their lives are total misery. Not one wealthy Muslim country has offered to help their fellow Muslims.
The Rohingya are another of the world’s forgotten people.
Rohingya on the Run. Where was the outrage for these dead refugee Rohingya adults and children killed after a boat capsized off Teknaf, Bangladesh on August 31, 2017 while trying to escape ongoing violence in Myanmars Rakhine state? (Photo: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
In 1962 Rwanda gained independence from Belgian colonial administration. In 1973 Juvenal Habyarimana became the second Hutu President of Rwanda. From October 1, 1990 a major Rwandan Civil war erupted between the government’s Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). On April 6, 1994 President Habyarimana was assassinated when his plane was shot down by the Tutsis. The assassination triggered the Tutsi genocide and in 1994 between 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis in Rwanda were killed by the Hutu majority in savage fighting. Approximately 75% of the Tutsi population were slaughtered in the course of 100 days. While France did not hold colonial rule over Rwanda, it maintained significant political involvement in the country during the 1990’s and armed and trained the Hutu army. At the start of the genocide, France deployed troops to Rwanda to evacuate foreign nationals, and then left the Tutsis to their fate. In 2021, President Macron of France acknowledged French responsibility for being “blind” to what was happening during the Rwanda genocide, and asked Rwanda to forgive France for its past behaviour. The Tutsis are without doubt one of the forgotten peoples of the world.
Blind to Barbarism. Visiting Rwanda in 2021, French President Macron acknowledged responsibility for being “blind” to what occurred during the Rwanda genocide when Tutsis were slaughtered in their thousands and the world and its institutions stood by. (Photo:Ludovic Marin / AFP)
In 2003, a catastrophic war in Sudan started when two rebel groups known as the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched a war against the government of Sudan. The Sudanese government responded by forming an armed Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, to crush the rebellion. The Janjaweed, together with the Sudanese Army, massacred between 200,000 to 300,000 non-Arab ethnic Sudanese. They created a massive humanitarian catastrophe by implementing a scorched earth policy that forced millions to flee. Tens of thousands of women were raped. An estimated 2.7 million people lost their homes between 2003 to 2005.
In 2023 the war in Sudan reignited. The war continues to this day. The UN now estimates that over 14 million Sudanese have been displaced. Approximately 10 million have been displaced internally and 4 million have fled to neighbouring Chad, South Sudan, Egypt and other neighbouring countries. Widespread famine, lack of adequate health facilities, and basic human requirements, are now threatening the lives of ten million displaced people in Sudan. In 2025, the US Secretary of State, determined that members of the Sudanese government forces known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are committing genocide in Darfur. No end to the war is in sight, with aerial and drone attacks becoming more common. The world has ignored the catastrophe in Sudan.
Slaughter in Sudan. This photo taken during a rally against genocide in the Sudan outside the embassy of Sudan in Washington, DC, captures the boredom and disinterest of much of the world.(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Basically, the world does not care about civil wars in Africa that have displaced and killed millions of people.
According to the United Nations (UN), there are 117 million people in the world in 2026, who have been uprooted by conflict, violence, or persecution. Instead of concentrating on the problems caused by the 117 million displaced people who are facing ethnic cleansing, widespread famine, and massive displacement all over the world, the world continues to invest more effort and financial aid to the Palestinian refugees than on any other refugees in the world. The one thing that is remarkable about this help, is how little it has improved the lives of the Palestinian people. What it has done is to make Palestinian leaders into either multi-millionaires or billionaires.
Selective Concern. Despite the over 117 million displaced people facing ethnic cleansing, widespread famine, and massive displacement all over the world,the ongoing situation with the Palestinians continues to command global attention as evidenced in the media and public protests. Seen here is a Palestine Action Group’s March in Sydney. (Photo: Flavio Brancaleone/AAP)
The Palestinians have mastered the art of depicting themselves as victims, and the western liberal world, which is mainly in massive debt, continues to pour money into the Palestinian coffers. It is time for the world to re-evaluate its support for the Palestinians. Jordan is the name of a river. It was never a state. In 1922, the British hived off 76% of the mandated area of Palestine and renamed it Transjordan. They then offered Transjordan to the Hashemites who had been kicked out of Arabia by Abdul Aziz, the head of the House of Saud. Transjordan was renamed as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Hashemites are not from Jordan. The Palestinians are the majority of the Kingdom of Jordan’s population. By both location and by being the majority of the population, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is in reality a Palestinian State. What the world should be looking at is why Palestinian refugee camps still exist in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and especially in Gaza. The whole question of why the world has ignored the plight of over a hundred million displaced people, and why the Palestinian refugees have not received citizenship in any of the 22 Arab states in the Middle East needs to re-evaluated.
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).
In a world of celebrities clamouring for fauxmanitarian shots for social media to shore up credentials, who speaks for Israeli children?
By Rolene Marks
On the train to Tel Aviv a few days ago, I watched a mother with her little girl travelling to their destination. The little girl, decked out in her princess dress and sneakers, armed with a backpack full of colouring books which she was busy with, happily chatted to her smiling mother and waved at the passing trains. I felt tears prickle behind my eyes. I looked at the innocent, pure child and the tears that threatened to spill out my eyes were indicative of an all too familiar emotion.
Why do people want to harm our children?
Why is the world silent when our children are harmed?
Ariel Bibas should have celebrated his 7th birthday this year. His mother, Shiri, and father, Yarden would have made a beautiful party for him on Kibbutz Nir Oz. All the children would have come to celebrate. In our minds eye, we can see Ariel who loved Batman and his dog Tonto, celebrating with the joy he had lived with in his all-too short life. We can hear the infectious giggle of his baby brother, Kfir, with his broad grin and matching red hair. It was a dream we hoped for.
Not to Be. The ‘gingy’ Bibas kids, Ariel and Kfir, kidnapped from their home on kibbutz Nir Oz were brutally murdered in Gaza with their mother, Shiri.
Ariel never got to celebrate his birthday. Instead, Ariel, along with his baby brother Kfir and their parents were kidnapped from their home on 7 October. Shiri the lioness and her flame haired cubs, were separated from Yarden. They were murdered in captivity, their remains returned in a grotesque spectacle of horror. Kfir and Ariel and many others whose lives and innocence were stolen that day.
There are the children like Avigail Idan, who was just three years old when she was taken hostage that day, or Emily Hand whose devastated father told CNN death would have almost been preferable to her kidnapping, knowing the monsters who took her.
Wrenched from her Bed. Avigail Idan was abducted from kibbutz Kfar Aza at the age of 3 during the 2023 October 7 attacks and released after 50 days in captivity. Her parents were both murdered during the Kfar Aza massacre.
There are the children who in the last three years have lost friends, parents, siblings, grandparents and loved ones to war. I think of Avigail’s siblings, Michael (9) and Amalia (6), who hid in a cupboard in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, their mother’s body on the floor in front of them, their father’s outside. They hid for hours, thinking their little sister had also been murdered.
Barbarism in the Bedroom. While celebrities focus on the suffering in Gaza, they ignore the massacres in Israel as evident in this blood-soaked child’s bed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the aftermath of the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7. (Photo: PMs Office)
I think of the countless children traumatized by missiles, loss, sirens and everything else that they have endured over the last 3 years. I think of the children forced to flee their homes and all that was familiar in both the north and south of Israel, becoming internal refugees in their own country.
Kidnapping Kids. Seized on kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th while at a sleepover at a friend’s house, Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand (9) is seen here reunited with her father Thomas after being held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 50 days.
These are the children the world has forgotten.
If you are a celebrity/former royal worth your “humanitarian” credentials, one of the first things that you do, is ensure that you land your high-paying self on site of the nearest global tragedy – preferably a war zone. Bonus points if the war zone involves an ability to blame Israel. Going to the border with Gaza means hitting pay dirt – and you can wear your best Prada bucket hat and Jolie-esque like humanitarian outfit.
Of course, no visit to a war zone is complete without a camera crew to document your concern from every possible angle – especially the most flattering.
Earlier this year, former (are they still royal? Who can keep up?!) Royals, Harry and Meghan graced Jordan with their presence, courtesy of the World Health Organization. Suitably attired in this season’s Chanel pumps, Meghan managed to contort her face into looking concerned and emotional for the cameras. Whipping back the covers of a hospital bed, cameras captured a child who had lost a leg as a result of the war. Conveniently excluded from the messaging is that the particular NGO employed staff who posted pro-Hamas content. It felt so exploitive of the child’s private pain. Naturally they failed to pop over the border to visit with Israeli survivors of 7 October, former child hostages or the children of soldiers, given that Harry is patron of the Invictus Games which supports wounded veterans. Israel is a member of Invictus.
Contrived Concern. Harry and Meghan took a 2-day humanitarian trip to Jordan (seen here) in February 2026 at the invitation of the World Health Organization to focus on displaced persons and medical relief but failed or neglected to include Israel in their itinerary to engage with victims of a massacre. (Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Images/Getty Images)
I must be very clear – there is absolutely nothing wrong – and it is very important and admirable to care about the children of Gaza. We all should. The human cost of war is devastating and as an Israeli, I don’t want to see my neighbours suffer. The hideous reality of war is that children, the most vulnerable, are killed and every single death is a tragedy where words just simply fail. I do have to wonder where these newly minted child advocates were when Hamas was forcing children to become soldiers, a clear violation of international convention on child soldiers, or when they were mercilessly used as labour to dig tunnels. I wonder where these paragons of virtue signaling were when children are taught to hate and kill Jews in their schools and at summer camps. It is not something that they can deny – it is more than evident in the public domain through textbooks, media and proud photos of young Gazans in camouflage being taught to leopard crawl through obstacles and fire weapons.
It is not alternative education – it is child abuse.
Where were the voices of the glitterati when Hamas leaders openly boasted about their human shield strategy, wanting as high as possible casualty rates among children? Silent.
We all should be concerned for the children of Gaza – they deserve a better future.
What is missing from global concern is Israeli children. There are also children in Israel who have suffered tremendously. Who speaks for them? There has been a very conspicuous silence and lack of concern for their trauma, safety and loss.
In the media-friendly performative activism of the many, an important voice has been drowned out. Erased. Ignored. Deliberately.
There has been no visit from Angelina Jolie, the paragon of humanitarian work with refugees, to the communities that were evacuated from both the south and the north of Israel following Hezbollah’s firing on communities close to the border with Lebanon. Israel had over 250,000 internal refugees, many of them children who had lost loved ones, their homes and their foundations – but Ange ‘forgot’ to visit them. She still hasn’t met with our profoundly traumatized children.
From upon their platforms at awards shows and on social media networks, the talented and sanctimonious have preached (while wearing their pins celebrating the lynching of two IDF officers) and signaled their virtue about the horrors of war – but said nothing when our children were sitting in captivity. I don’t recall anyone expressing their horror about the murder of Ariel and Kfir Bibas – and the grotesque parading of their coffins in front of a baying mob in Gaza that included children. Suffer the innocents. We will never forget how the morally deficient tore down the posters of kidnapped Israeli children in cities all over the world.
Many took to their social media in what I can only describe is a carefully orchestrated campaign (by who, we have yet to find out) to share the exact same graphic about the impending death of 14,000 Gazan children. In May 2025, Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, claimed on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show:
“There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them. I want to save as many as these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours.”
Needless to say, it never happened.
Neither did the apologies from the entertainment industry who all suspiciously shared the same graphic at the same time. Strange, that. There was no apology for the parading of Palestinian children with congenital disease who were readily exploited to push the mass famine narrative – or expressed outrage for the condition that Israeli children starved, beaten and harmed in unspeakable fashions in captivity suffered. No apology for Eitan Yahalomi who was one of the many child captives whose experience was made public, “First, he was beaten, then they put him alone in a cell with bars and he was left alone for 16 days in the custody of armed men from Hamas,” said his mother, Bat-Sheva.
Reunited with Mom. Seen here being hugged by his mother after his release, 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi had been kidnapped from Nir Oz with his father Ohad (later murdered in captivity) and held hostage in Gaza for 52 days where he was forced to watch videos of the 7 October atrocities. (Photo: Israeli Defense Forces/Reuters)
The signalers of virtue and naturally women’s rights were missing in action when the reports of sexual violence committed against children were made public in all of their devastating details. Me too – unless you are an Israeli child.
Nobody seemed too concerned when missiles rained down from Hezbollah on to the communities of the north of Israel. There was no mention of the 12 Druze children, murdered by a Hezbollah rocket as it slammed into them on a sunny Saturday afternoon as they played football (soccer). We thought one little boy was hiding or missing – but he took the impact of the missile and there was nothing left of him.
What about these angels?
From the pulpits of pomposity, the noble and sanctimonious have said nothing about the ballistic missiles and drones that rained terror over Israel, courtesy of the Islamic regime who unlike Israel, did not target military installations. They targeted civilian centres.
Israel’s children have endured the unthinkable these last three years. No toddler should have the words for “sirens”, “hostage” or “fallen” in their lexicon. Acknowledging their suffering does not negate the suffering of Gazan children. Instead, it should motivate all of us to fight for a better world for all of them – but when it comes to speaking up for our children, who else if not we?
Do not let them be forgotten.
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).
Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted.
PRE-ISRAELI ELECTION DEBATE IN ENGLISH
Lay of the land and TbT (Truth be Told) have invited speakers from the major political parties to participate in a panel debate to be held on Monday the 28th September, 2026 at 7.00pm at Beth Protea, 5 Asher Barash street, Herzliya. There will be a nominal entrance fee (NIS 20) for non-Beth Protea residents. To register or for more information contact: David Kaplan: 050-7432361 or hildav@netvision.net.il , organizer and debate moderator. Peter Bailey (TbT) : 054-2663051 peteyb4@gmail.com
What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.
Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.
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“ONLY DULL PEOPLE ARE BRILLIANT AT BREAKFAST”
Deconstructing Pretoria’s Latest International Court of Justice (ICJ) Submission. By Yoram Blumstein
Whatever the ‘Case’. Who takes a case (or manufactures one) and against whom to court without credible evidence? Answer: South Africa’s ANC government and against the Jewish state. Siting insights from Oscar Wilde, the writer lays out the whys and hows.
How will Mount Sinai – the symbolic birthplace of the Jewish nation – being transformed into an Egyptian government megatourism project alter this sacred landscape? By Motti Verses
Inclusion or Erasure? The writer raises the question of how a megatourism project at the place where Moses received the 10 Commandments and which serves as a cornerstone for Western civilization and global morality, might record the Jewish narrative to this sacred site.
Why Mahsa Amini’s death still matters – especially this year. By Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Regime Change. For the writer, Mahsa’s murder is personal, triggering traumas of her own experience as a prisoner sentenced to death in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Iranians, she asserts, aren’t calling today “ …for tweaks or talks; they’re demanding the end of this evil theocracy.”
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).
14 September 2026 – The IDF slams controversial movie, Fauda takes the Arab world by storm and more on The Israel Brief.
15 September 2026 – The IDF investigating legal measures against Naza, Macklemore dropped for rest of Ed Sheeran tour and more on The Israel Brief.
16 September 2026 – Ed Sheeran in the firing line and a surprising country may join the Abraham Accords on The Israel Brief.
17 September 2026 – Soldiers speak out against NAZA, Abbas denied Visa for UNGA, mensches, morons and more on The Israel Brief.
17 September 2026 – Rolene speaks to Rob Schilling about elections, UK-Israel relations and the Sheeran – Macklemore debacle.
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).
Why Mahsa Amini’s death still matters – especially this year.
By Marziyeh Amirizadeh
This week’s anniversary of the arrest, beating, and murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 is more important to be remembered – than perhaps more than ever before. Mahsa’s murder triggered one of the most widespread and enduring protests within Iran and overseas against the Islamic Republic under the banner of “Women, Life, Freedom.” Mahsa’s murder represents the widespread suffering of the Iranian people and misogyny that has victimized Iranian women and girls over nearly half a century. Mahsa’s murder is relevant still today, emblematic of the threats the Islamic Republic on America and the world.
Call for Justice. Protestors outside of the United Nations on Sept. 21, 2022 in New York City in support of Masha Amini. (Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
None of this suffering is new, not from my childhood, and not from Mahsa’s brutal murder four years ago. But this year, if the world ever needed evidence of this brutality and suffering of millions of Iranians, the ayatollahs put their evil on center stage with the massacre of tens of thousands of Iranians, as many as 60,000 in just two days in January, and thousands more since. Just this year alone.
For me, Mahsa’s murder is very personal, and something that cannot be stated enough. It unavoidably triggers many traumas I will always bear. But it’s not just her memory, suffering, and horrible murder that cause me trauma.
In 2009, I was arrested and sentenced to death by hanging simply for converting to Christianity, a “crime” in the Islamic Republic called “apostacy”. Thank God I was saved, but in nine months of imprisonment, I suffered tremendous physical and psychological hardships, witnessing rape, torture, and the execution of innocents like my dear friend and cellmate Shirin Alamhooli, who suffered unspeakable torture and whose body was never returned to her family.
Shirin, like Mahsa Amini, was a young Kurdish woman. Her crime? Daring to dream of freedom. So, when I think of Mahsa Amini’s murder, it’s not as a distant observer, but as a sister in suffering. Mahsa, was a vibrant 22-year-old Kurdish woman, arrested in September 2022 by the so-called “morality police” for an improperly worn hijab. She was savagely beaten into a coma and died days later in custody. Her murder wasn’t an isolated incident — it was just another example of the regime’s savage war on women, on dignity, on humanity itself. Mahsa’s story remains a blazing torch that we all must carry, illuminating the unyielding evil of the ayatollahs and demanding justice with the prayer that soon their tyranny will be extinguished.
Why does Mahsa’s murder still echo so powerfully today? Because the savagery hasn’t stopped; it has only intensified. On top of the massacre of tens of thousands of Iranians yearning for freedom and the restoration of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the Islamic Republic continues to execute protesters, journalists, and dissidents at a horrifying rate, They hang innocent victims many for vague charges like “enmity against God” or “corruption on earth” not with any pretense of justice, but to instill fear and brutalize Iranians daily. Women are dragged from the streets for defying medieval hijab laws, beaten and raped in detention centers, and victimized through deep seeded misogyny that brainwashes men to think that women are worth only half of a man.
Hair–raising. A demonstrator holds hair during a protest in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 23, 2022.(Photo: Christian Mang/Reuters)
The regime’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” crackdown lingers like a poison in the air, with underground resistance simmering despite the bullets and beatings. This year, the bullets came with an added price, not just gunning down and murdering tens of thousands, but injuring and disfiguring many more times that. Families of victims who were killed were forced to pay thousands of dollars in a crumbling economy for the “cost” of the bullets used to kill their loved ones, before they could retrieve the bodies for burial.
These are not anomalies; they are the regime’s very blueprint for exerting control. Brainwashed from childhood to chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” Iranians are hostages in their own land. The ayatollahs fund global terrorism through proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, exporting their hatred while starving their people. In the once thriving nation of my birth, simple things like water and electricity are scarce.
Mahsa’s death ignited uprisings where women burned their hijabs and men faced gunfire, proving that the spirit of freedom endures. This year tens of thousands of people turned the murder of their loved ones into acts of defiance against the regime demonstrating that the yearning for freedom cannot and will not be extinguished. Mahsa’s murder is relevant still because it remains an open wound that needs healing. As the regime’s grip weakens, it clings on through instilling fear, brutalizing any resistance, and foreign appeasement.
Sights of Solidarity. An Iranian woman living in Turkey, reacts after she cut her hair during a protest outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Sept. 21, 2022. (Photo: Murad Sezer/Reuters)
The savagery of the Islamic Republic knows no bounds. This is a regime that hijacked a proud Persian civilization in 1979, imposing Sharia law that treats women as property and minorities as expendable. I lived it: in Evin Prison I saw political prisoners tortured, Christians like me branded filthy apostates, and Kurds like Mahsa marginalized, tortured, and murdered. Beyond Iran’s borders, the ayatollahs arm terrorists who slaughter innocents, from Israeli civilians to American troops. They pursue nuclear weapons not for energy, but for domination, the tools to carry out their intent to wipe Israel off the map. Their ideology is a cancer, spreading antisemitism, misogyny, and Islamic extremism worldwide.
Negotiations with and appeasement of the regime are a fool’s errand. These only embolden them, as it did under Obama and Biden, allowing them to rebuild to repress. The regime isn’t reformable; it’s rotten to its core, built on lies and its victims’ blood.
Rage in Rome. People shout slogans and hold signs during a demonstration organized by “Woman Life Freedom” (Donna, Vita, Libertà) movement to mark the first death anniversary of Mahsa Amini, on September 16, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo: Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)
The only solution to end this nightmare is to bring down the ayatollahs – regime change, swift and decisive. Iranians aren’t calling for tweaks or talks; they’re demanding the end of this evil theocracy. Today, with their air defenses crippled, the economy crumbling, and not even water or electricity in many places, the time is ripe.
It’s essential to support the Iranian people – amplify their voices, strengthen their resistance, and isolate the mullahs globally. Back leaders like Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who represents the hope of millions yearning for a secular, democratic Iran, not fake reformists or MEK/NCRI cultists who betray us.
This isn’t just Iran’s fight – it’s in America’s vital interest. Yes, even if it costs more to fill up your tank. The Islamic Republic is America’s sworn enemy, funding attacks on U.S. soil, against Americans, and our allies. Their “Death to America” isn’t rhetoric; it’s policy, manifested in cyberattacks, assassinations, and nuclear threats. A nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize the Middle East, empower terrorists, and endanger global security. It’s a goal from which they will not back down, no matter how beaten or how much they beat Iranians. It can never be allowed to happen, at any cost.
Paris Protests. Protestors take to the streets in Paris, France in a demonstration organized by the “Women’s Life Freedom” movement to mark Mahsa Amini’s first death anniversary on September 16, 2023. (Photo: Ameer Alhalbi/Getty Images)
Regime change eliminates this threat, opening the door to a stable partner in Iran. Regime change aligns with American values of liberty and human rights, preventing the spread of extremism that could flood our shores. As an American citizen, I urge: don’t negotiate with scorpions. Stand with Iranians, apply unrelenting pressure, and watch a new Persia rise.
Freedom for Iran means security for the world. In God’s name, in memory of Mahsa, Shirin, and countless other victims of the regime, now is the time to end the ayatollahs’ reign forever.
*Feature picture:A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini at a demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images)
About the writer:
Marziyeh (Marzi) Amirizadeh is an Iranian American author, public speaker, human rights advocate, and President of Newpersia.org. She has written two books “Captive in Iran,” and “A Love Journey with God” which are available on www.marzisjourney.com. She is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death by hanging in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation in Evin prison- one of the most brutal prisons in the world.
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).
How will Mount Sinai – the symbolic birthplace of the Jewish nation – being transformed into an Egyptian government megatourism project alter this sacred landscape?
By Motti Verses
Next month, around 190 kilometers from Eilat, at the place where, according to tradition, Moses received the Ten Commandments, Egypt plans to open the first phase of one of the country’s most ambitious tourism developments: the Great Transfiguration Project.
New hotels, eco-lodges, a Peace Square, cultural venues, hiking trails and extensive new infrastructure are all part of the ambitious development. The project represents an investment of approximately EGP 25 billion, or around half a billion US dollars. Once known primarily as a destination for hikers and pilgrims, the aim of Egypt’s Great Transfiguration Project is to transform the historic and sacred area surrounding Mount Sinai and Saint Catherine’s Monastery into a world-class global destination for spiritual, environmental, and cultural tourism.
The Great Transfiguration Project at Saint Catherine in the Sinai, around the sacred mountain landscape during the construction period. (Photo: Ben Hoffler)
The vision is being promoted at the highest levels of the Egyptian government with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi actively championing and directing the project framing it as Egypt’s “gift to humanity.”
The ambitions are considerable: Egyptian authorities have set a target of approximately one million tourists a year, more than three times the roughly 300,000 who visit the area annually.
For Judaism, it is difficult to overstate the symbolic significance of this place. According to biblical tradition, this is where the revelation at Mount Sinai took place and where Moses received the Tablets of the Covenant – one of the defining moments in the identity of the Jewish people.
UNESCO, too, defines the Saint Catherine area as sacred to the three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – and explicitly refers to the tradition according to which Moses received the Tablets here.
Moses with the Tablets of the Law. Rembrandt strips away the crowd and the landscape around Mount Sinai and depicts only the prophet, Moses, lifting the two great stone tablets, their Hebrew letters glowing out of the gloom. (Rembrandt, Moses with the Tablets of the Law, 1659. Gemaeldegalerie, Berlin.)
For Egypt, the economic logic is clear. A tourist who arrives by bus from Sharm el-Sheikh, visits the monastery, perhaps climbs the mountain and then returns, contributes little towards the local economy. On the other hand, a visitor who stays for two or three nights requires a hotel, restaurants, guides, transportation and activities. The vision is to create a tourism product combining nature, adventure and spirituality with high-quality accommodation, turning Saint Catherine from a destination visited for a few hours into a place where travelers stay for several days.
Saint Catherine’s Monastery, within its walls is also the site traditionally associated with the Burning Bush (Photo: Joonas Plaan)
In June, the Egyptian government reported that work on the megaproject had reached approximately 97.5% completion and that the current target is to open with the first phase in October.
What Does the Project Include?
The experience of arriving in the area is set to change completely. A new visitors center covering more than 3,000 square meters is intended to serve as an organized gateway to the destination. It will include a tourist information center, restaurant and café, shops and tourism services, as well as a dome designed for screenings and immersive visual experiences.
Nearby is the Peace Square, alongside a cultural complex featuring exhibition spaces, a theater and a conference hall. The objective is to present Saint Catherine not merely as a Christian site, or as the starting point for climbing Mount Sinai, but as a place of profound significance to all three monotheistic religions.
One of the most significant changes is the expansion of the area’s hotel offering. At its heart is the Mountain Hotel, a new five-star property with approximately 144 rooms and suites, designed to blend into the mountainous landscape. Alongside it, a new Eco Lodge is being developed, with 192 rooms and an additional 56 eco-suites. 248 accommodation units in total. At the same time, the existing Eco Lodge, comprising approximately 74 accommodation units and a restaurant, is being renovated. In addition, a Mountain Tourist Resort is being built on the high plateau, featuring villas and chalets, alongside a commercial district and bazaars. It is already known that one of the hotels in the project will be managed by Germany’s Steigenberger, which currently operates 16 hotels across Egypt. Among them is the Steigenberger Hotel & Nelson Village in Taba, originally built in the 1980s by Israeli hotelier Eli Papouchado.
Taken together, these developments represent a dramatic change in both the scale and character of accommodation in an area that for years has been associated mainly with guesthouses and relatively modest hotels. It was not confirmed yet whether the new accommodation complexes will begin receiving guests as part of the October soft opening. My assessment is that they will not.
An AI-generated illustration depicting the comprehensive development plan in Sinai, including luxury hotels, an expanded airport and commercial complexes alongside Saint Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai.
I have visited the monastery many times in the past and even climbed Mount Sinai when I was younger. Saint Catherine’s Monastery, founded in the sixth century, is considered one of the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monasteries. Within its walls is also the site traditionally associated with the Burning Bush. And therein lies an almost biblical irony. According to tradition, the bush burned without being consumed. As Egypt embarks on its Great Transfiguration, the question is:
Can Saint Catherine undergo a transformation of its own without consuming the very qualities that have made this sacred landscape so extraordinary?
Yet for me, much of the power of the experience has never been confined to the religious sites themselves. It lies equally in the immense mountain landscape, the isolation and the silence. All of these are inseparable from the character of the place.
And this is precisely where the controversy surrounding the project begins.
Burning Bush. Moses is depicted here before the Burning Bush as described in the Book of Exodus (3: 1-21). The bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. (Credit: History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Saint Catherine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site not only because of the monastery and its religious landmarks. UNESCO also emphasizes the surrounding mountainous landscape, remoteness and isolation as integral elements of the site’s universal value. As early as 2023, the World Heritage Committee, together with numerous enviromental organizations, expressed concern about the scale of the development and requested that Egypt conduct a Heritage Impact Assessment.
This is the great paradox of the new Saint Catherine: the very transformation Egypt is seeking to achieve – greater accessibility – is also what could fundamentally alter the character of the place.
Upscale hotels will facilitate more visitors to stay overnight, but they also increase the number of tourists. New roads make the destination accessible to families and older travelers, but they also bring more buses. A Visitor Center can tell the story of Saint Catherine more effectively, but it could also transform a place that once felt wild and intimate into a planned and managed tourism experience.
Saint Catherine already possesses something that wellness hotels around the world spend millions trying to manufacture artificially:
genuine silence, desert, mountains, isolation, and thousands of years of history and spirituality.
If Egypt succeeds in combining high-quality hotels, modern infrastructure and international tourism without erasing the qualities that made the place special in the first place, the Saint Catherine project could become one of the most fascinating tourism destinations in the Middle East.
One question, however, remains unanswered:
How will Judaism be represented in the project?
Around three years ago, the Abrahamic Family House opened in Abu Dhabi as a symbol of coexistence among the three Abrahamic faiths. When I visited shortly after its opening, I was deeply impressed by this extraordinary project. Within the complex, a mosque, a church and a synagogue stand side by side, equal in size and status. The synagogue, named after Maimonides, is an active Jewish house of worship and is oriented toward Jerusalem. In Abu Dhabi, Judaism is presented not simply as part of history, but as a living faith granted a visible and dignified presence.
An Emirati Muslim guide explains the essence of Judaism at the synagogue in the Abrahamic Family House complex in Abu Dhabi (Photo: Motti Verses)
The timing of Egypt’s megatourism project for Jews is poignant. Soon, Jews around the world will celebrate Simchat Torah, rejoicing in the very Torah that, according to Jewish tradition, was first given to their people here, at Mount Sinai. As they dance with Torah scrolls thousands of years later, how will Judaism find its place in Egypt’s ambitious new development facing the mountain where that extraordinary relationship began, if at all?
About the writer:
The author, Motti Verses 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).
Deconstructing Pretoria’s Latest International Court of Justice (ICJ) Submission.
By Yoram Blumstein
In Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play, An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley famously quipped that “only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.” This aphorism embodies classic Wildean satire of people who display early-morning, performative illocutionary acts of sagacity while lacking real substance. DIRCO’s (the Department of International Relations and Cooperation) August 2026 statement on South Africa’s submission to the ICJ bears a remarkable resemblance to Wildean wit. The accusations against Israel, as contained in the press release, are bereft of legal strategy and are not even based on the evidential foundations of probabilistic reasoning. This is nothing more than headline-setting and grandstanding to deflect attention from crucial domestic issues. DIRCO’s statement should not be construed as illogical or irrational, for there is “method in their madness”, as William Shakespeare might have added. The fact that the South African Presidency cleared DIRCO’s press statement shows intent.
This article argues that DIRCO’s “breakfast performance” must be seen in the context of political theatre and an obnoxious performance designed for domestic political expediency rather than grasping the prevailing facts on the ground and international law. DIRCO’s dossier on Israel’s so-called “non-compliance” with previous ICJ provisional measures will not be made public unless the plaintiff publishes it in full or a full bench of the ICJ commences deliberations on the submission. Notwithstanding this, DIRCO’s statement offers a vignette of the dossier, as it is laced with mendacity and utter “bullshit”. As such, the task of your writer is to deconstruct DIRCO’s ICJ statement, identify the thespians, question its underlying assumptions, and offer only the truth as opposed to its performative posture.
DECONSTRUCTION DIRCO “BREAKFAST” LIES
On August 25, 2026, DIRCO submitted a “dossier of evidence” (pursuant to Article 11 of the ICJ’s Internal Judicial Practice Rules) to an ICJ panel of judges alleging Israel’s “non-compliance with the court’s previous binding provisional measures. In essence, DIRCO cites casualties, displacement, deteriorating humanitarian conditions, mass starvation, the killing of journalists, a “so-called ceasefire”, etc. – purportedly perpetrated by the Israeli government.
To disprove the above lies, DIRCO’s statement:
Absolved Hamas of blame.
Failed to mention that Gaza is still an active war zone, as Hamas (while degraded, battered and bruised) is quietly rebuilding its military capabilities with the help of Iran, facilitated through a recent meeting between the Iranian regime and the terrorist organization’s expatriate political leadership in Tehran (Iran). The fact that Hamas recently elected Khalil al-Hayya as its political leader is an affirmation that the terrorist organisation is not prepared to disarm and will direct operations in Gaza from abroad, as some Hamas brigades are still operational and will not disarm – a key requirement as part of a later ceasefire framework.
New Face, Same Mindset. Hamas elected hardliner Khalil al-Hayya as its new leader, replacing Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 massacre. (Photo: Turkish Foreign Ministry handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ignored the fact that humanitarian aid has increased since the October 2025 ceasefire. However, logistical bottlenecks remain in meeting the daily (600) aid truck flows through various crossings as envisioned in the ceasefire. This is not a deliberate strategy by the Israeli government to withhold aid from Gazans but rather a corollary of logistical challenges caused by an active combat zone and the difficulty of aid distribution in the enclave’s collapsed infrastructure.
Neglected to reference that Hamas is weaponising aid by intercepting humanitarian convoys to secure funds for its operational longevity, the same way as the late Somali warlord, Mohammed Farrah Aidid, during Somalia’s 1991 civil war.
Slighted international and regional peace brokers by referring to “a so-called ceasefire.” The agreement signed in October 2025 is legitimate and involved Israel, the United States, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and interlocutors representing Hamas. The Palestinian Authority (PA), while not included in the ceasefire negotiations, subsequently endorsed it, as did major Arab and Western capitals. In fact, Hamas has repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire as it refuses to cease hostilities, disarm and hand over the Strip to a body acceptable to Israel. A disarmed Gaza and the expulsion of Hamas’ remaining military leaders are a sine qua non for the Jewish state, as a repeat of October 7th is unfathomable.
Submitted false claims that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) adopted a blanket approach to kill local journalists. On the contrary, some local journalists were discovered to be Hamas members.
Overlooked the fact that child fatalities, while alarming and tragic, did not consider that Hamas recruited child soldiers, often through coercion. Under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), if a child carries a weapon and engages in hostilities, they are treated as combatants. However, the opposing force must exercise a “duty of care” and “maximum restraint” when dealing with child soldiers. The recruitment of child soldiers by Hamas is well-documented and constitutes a war crime, especially under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. This effectively means that Hamas individuals and leaders in Gaza can be charged with war crimes under international law for recruiting and using child soldiers.
Conveniently forgot to state that the IDF is the most moral army in the world, that warns residents through pamphlets, radio broadcasts, and “knock-on-the-roof” methods to shelter in place before it hits terrorist targets. In this case, international law permits the temporary transfer of residents to safe zones.
Kids into Killers.Three months before perpetrating the October 7 massacre, Hamas showing kids how to kill Jews at an exhibition in Gaza City on June 30, 2023. (Photo: Mohammed ABED / AFP)
CONTEXT MATTERS
Given the lack of evidence :
– What motivated DIRCO to lodge an ICJ submission formally?
– What are the contextual factors?
– Who are the actors behind it?
DIRCO’s statement on the ICJ submission was designed to deflect attention from crucial domestic issues. DIRCO seems to have a quixotic obsession with the Jewish state and the Palestinian cause – issues that are not in South Africa’s national interests. It is peripheral, and the ICJ case has diverted millions of dollars from domestic priority programs. A country’s foreign policy extends its domestic policy. Yet, DIRCO cannot claim that the ICJ case and its ongoing diatribe against the Jewish state serve the domestic base. DIRCO’s trite rebuttal is that South Africa’s foreign policy is based on democracy, human rights and self-determination for the oppressed. This is hypocrisy personified, as DIRCO’s leadership engages in selective moral outrage while remaining silent on the genocidal actions of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, Africa and beyond. The ICJ case serves the interests of the African National Congress (ANC), pro-Palestine activists, and senior government officials. It is palpable that the Islamists, in many guises, have an undue influence over South Africa’s Israel policy.
Although DIRCO claims to represent all domestic constituents, it is controlled by the corrupt, sclerotic and ossified ANC. Former DIRCO Minister Naledi Pandor, a veteran ANC politician, was the key architect of the decision to take Israel to the ICJ, with help from her former special advisor, now DIRCO Director-General, Zane Dangor. The timing of the latest ICJ submission also warrants scrutiny. It was submitted a few weeks before UNGA 81 (United Nations General Assembly) begins its annual anti-Israel gabfest in New York. South African leaders and diplomats will use the multilateral platform to promote and seek support for an unsubstantiated genocide case. This matters because momentum at the ICJ favours Israel, as some countries have distanced themselves from South Africa’s case. Columbia is a case in point. Although foreign policy rarely features in local government elections, the ANC is using the case for political expediency (as the party did in 2024 just before the national elections) to garner support, as opinion polls predict heavy losses for the party in key metropolitan areas due to service delivery failures, corruption, high unemployment, exorbitant crime, etc. These are “bread and butter” issues, and the French philosopher and diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville aptly remarked that real democracy takes place at the local level, in town halls. Yet, the ANC, which has ruled and pillaged South Africa for at least three decades, has failed to address crucial domestic issues and instead developed an idẻe fixe with Israel and the Palestinian issue.
Prime Movers. ANC veteran,Naledi Pandorwas the key architect of the decision to take Israel to the ICJ, supported by Zane Dangor.
QUO VADIS, DIRCO?
Oscar Wilde – known for his epicurean taste, hedonistic lifestyle, and nocturnal habits – would have satirically advised DIRCO to become nocturnal creatures, as logical reasoning (ratiocination), deep reflection and strategic thinking (in the mould of realist thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Hans Morgenthau, and Henry Kissinger happen after midnight, away from the morning’s geopolitical grandstanding and diplomatic theater. A nocturnal DIRCO would quietly build meaningful economic alliances with key regional and international players and sign trade deals to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). On paper, this is DIRCO’s foreign policy mandate, aligned with the South African government’s overarching National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, which aims to reduce inequality, alleviate poverty, and drastically create jobs. As of September 2026, South Africa’s unemployment rate stands at 33.6% (Statistics South Africa), one of the highest in the world, just behind Eswatini (34.4%) and Sudan (61.3%, primarily due to the civil war). Morocco has just overtaken South Africa as Africa’s most industrialised economy due to a pragmatic, business-friendly foreign policy that aligns with the Moroccan government’s domestic priorities. Despite South Africa’s economic malaise, DIRCO has become sublimely adept at shining at the breakfast table with meaningless, rushed media statements maligning the State of Israel, and has yet to master the art of nocturnal thinking.
Diversion and Deflection. While its ANC government focuses on attacking Israel, it fails to address young South Africans struggling to survive as employment remains a major economic and social concern.
About the writer: Editor’s Note: Yoram Blumstein is a nom de plume the author uses to protect their identity because of previous security threats.
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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ARTICLES
Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.
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PRETORIA’S GENOCIDE CASE DID NOT BEGIN AT THE ICJ
In line with the company the ANC keeps, Pretoria reached its political verdict first – the legal campaign followed.
By Shaun Schutte
‘Making up’ its Mind. When SA decided to file a case of “genocide” against Israel at the ICJ in 2023 less than 3 months after the October 7 massacre, was it a ‘case’ of proceeding in law of pursuing politics? The writer breaks it down.
The first casualty in South Africa’s presented ‘casualty figures’ are the figures themselves. By Kenneth Moeng Kgwadi
To Sum Up. Journalists, international bodies and governments rush to use casualty figures provided by Hamas without scrutiny. It is hardly surprising, asserts the writer, that the inflated numbers advance a terrorism agenda.
MR. PRESIDENT, YOU ASKED WHEN THE IRANIAN PEOPLE WILL RISE UP. THEY NEVER STOPPED FIGHTING
The blood of Iranians nationwide attest to endless defiance and resilience. ByMarziyeh Amirizadeh
Is our Blood invisible? If the US president can ask the question “When are the Iranian peoplegoing to rise up and fight?” the writer fires back in response, “Where is the world when we do and die?”
BEHIND BARS TO LAP OF LUXURY – EXCLUDING JERUSALEM
Buildings designed to prevent people from leaving are being transformed into places where guests pay considerable sums to get in. By Motti Verses
Behind Bars. While once bars kept prisoners in, today bars are serving drinks to paying guests in prison-converted hotels. Will this global trend reach Jerusalem where its centrally located police HQ and detention center seems to resist the lucrative temptation?
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