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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Lay Of The Land’s David Kaplan will be participating in this important webinar on the 14 March celebrating the centenary of the heroic rescue of Jewish orphans from war-torn Eastern Europe in 1921 and brought safely to South Africa and whose descendants today reside all over the world.
To register: http://bit.ly/sajr82
Articles
(1)
Fast Times at IDC Herzliya
Aspiring for pole position in Israel’s hi-tech revolution, increasing number of women are enrolling at IDC to study Computer Science
By David E. Kaplan
From a high of 30% in the 2019-2020 academic year at the IDC Herzliya’s School of Computer Science, women student enrollment has risen to an unprecedented 37% in the 2020-2021 year. The writer delves into this phenomenon as women forge ahead in a field once mostly exclusive to men.
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(2)
Middle Eastern Winds Blow into Africa
By Rolene Marks
Understanding that the seemingly intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is no longer an impediment for African countries to establish mutually enriching bilateral relations with the Jewish State, more are doing so with trade and cooperation between the continent and Israel growing even during a global pandemic.
Middle Eastern Winds Blow into Africa
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(3)
Erasive Antisemitism
Naming a Subcategory of Antisemitism
By Ben M. Freeman
When the much loved and respected Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg recently died, her Jewishness – other than to recognise that she died on Rosh Hashanah – was mostly omitted by the international media. The writer questions whether such “omissions” are not part of a wider trend of “Erasive Antisemitism” that aims to strip or redefine the Jewishness of individuals.
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(4)
Polish Dialogue
By Sarah Ansbacher
The writer reveals a very personal verbal journey of discourse and dialogue on the Holocaust between herself and Polish citizens over the years. What began years earlier in London with an uneasy exchange with a Polish tourist, the years passed with further exchanges in Europe and in Israel arriving at greater understanding.
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(5)
The Arab Voice – February 2021
Arab writers from the Middle East and beyond, opine on the impact to the Middle East by (1) the undermining of US democracy by its Far Right, (2) the life-threatening danger of “Conspiracy Theories” in the ‘Age of Corona and (3) the change in US administrations from Trump to Biden.
The Arab Voice – February 2021
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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)