Ice-Cream brand Ben & Jerry’s want to boycott what they call “Occupied Palestinian Territories” – what is behind this campaign? We bring you the scoop.
By Rolene Marks
One would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t love a creamy, sugary, indulgent delicious ice cream treat. We all have our favourites. Mine, ironically, is Ben & Jerry’s “Cinnamon Buns”. Go figure.
Sadly, over the last two weeks I, like many of you reading this has lost my appetite for ice-cream. I am almost at the point of being lactose intolerant! This aside, the statement by the Ben & Jerry’s recently that they will “not be selling their ice-cream to the Occupied Palestinian territories” has left a decidedly sour taste in our mouths.
Is the gate closing? Israel in a ‘cold war’ over Ben & Jerry’s ice cream ban.
Naturally this was met with widespread global condemnation for a of reasons. Do people really want a sprinkling of politics with their ice cream? Chief virtue signalers (okay Board members) of Ben & Jerry’s believe that we do. The problem is that they are singling out one conflict at the expense of many around the world and still sell their calorific treats to countries like Malaysia who has a dismal record with LGBTQ+ rights or China currently imprisoning over a million Uyghurs in concentration camps and more. Hypocritical much?
At least be an equal opportunity virtue signaler!
Settlements have long been a major source of debate – including inside Israel but are they the sole obstacle to peace? There are other major factors impeding the brokering of a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians and while many argue that settlements may be a part of this, we need to also consider decades of incitement of hate against Israel and the Jewish people, refusal to recognize Israel’s existence by Palestinian leadership and the pay-for-slay scheme which perpetuates an economy of terror.
Match gone Sour. Blue-and-white Ben & Jerry’s with Hebrew to match. (Photo by Naama Barak)
Ben & Jerry’s, instead of doing something productive and bridge-building, would rather deny Jews and Palestinians in these disputed territories their cartons of Cherry Garcia and such. The peacenik founders of Ben & Jerry’s said in an op-ed in the New York Times that they are proud of their boycott, and that while they are “proud Jews who support Israel” this is in line with their values and the best decision in the history of their company. The Jewish world and many who see this as flagrant discrimination and yes, antisemitism, is going to break out in a rounding rendition of Kumbaya any time soon.
But is there something more to what meets the eye happening behind the scenes?
Not content to sell over-priced calorific frozen treats to the world, the Ben & Jerry’s Board, operating independently from their holding company, Unilever, made this decision unilaterally – and with the advice of Omar Shakir, Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) Israel-Palestine. Shakir served as the sole advisor. International law expert, Eugene Kontorovich revealed the scope on Twitter last week.
A source at Ben & Jerry’s revealed that the company’s decision to boycott Israel was influenced by Omar Shakir, who was kicked out of Israel in 2019 for BDS activities and rejected calls to hear opposing opinions to Shakir’s narrative. The head of the Board is Anuradha Mittal, another proponent of BDS who describes herself as being an “activist for indigenous rights”. Except for Jewish indigenous rights!
Mittal has spent the last few weeks blocking Jewish voices opposing hers including reputable ones like Combatting Antisemitism, and Michael Dickson, Director of Stand With Us Israel.
This is more than a storm over ice-cream. Is this part of a wider campaign fueled by organisations like Human Rights Watch who have no interest in finding practical, peaceful solutions but would rather demonise and exclude one side – the Israeli?
Catering’ to anti-Semitism. Israeli leaders slammed Ben & Jerry’s saying the woke company “surrendered to anti-Semitism” with Israel’s Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett adding “it will turn out to be a business mistake, too.”
Israel has been swift to respond. Government officials from the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Interior Minister condemned the move as immoral and anti-Israel. There are massive concerns about the ramifications that this could have on the local manufacturer who stand to possibly lose their license at the end of 2022, which would result in unemployment for many staff including Palestinians. Israelis, in a show of solidarity have been buying up stock from the local Ben & Jerry’s Israel manufacturer.
Unilever are facing a conundrum. While they support Ben & Jerry’s right to make decisions independently, they unequivocally condemn BDS and stand by their operations in Israel. Condemning BDS as “unfairly singling Israel” was a statement released by the US State Department as well.
Bad Aftertaste. Ice cream on offer at Israel’s Ben & Gerry’s factory store. (Photo: courtesy)
Five US States (Florida, Texas, Illinois, New York and New Jersey) have begun sending warnings to Unilever that they will divest their pension funds and more if this move is found to contravene anti-BDS laws. At least 35 US states have these laws in place as BDS is considered anti-Semitic, a sentiment echoed by countries like Germany and Austria.
At least 90 members of the Knesset have sent a petition to Ben & Jerry’s warning them that this unjust action contravenes Israel’s anti-discrimination laws which prohibits discrimination based on where people live.
Will Ben & Jerry’s melt under pressure? We are all watching closely.
Ben & Jerry’s pay off line is “peace, Love and Ice Cream”. It’s a great pity that it doesn’t include Jews and Palestinians.
Disturbing Decision. Ninety members of Knesset urge Unilever to reverse ‘shameful’ Ben & Jerry’s decision.
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 – 26 July 2021 –IDF Strikes targets in response to arson balloons. Israel at the Olympics! Great strides in Israeli diplomacy!
The Israel Brief – 27 July 2021 – Covid cases surge. Iran claims capture of Mossad “agents”. Olympic update.
The Israel Brief – 28 July 2021 –“I am not an antisemite” says Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair and updates. Swastika on US State Dept building. Olympic update – will the IOC take action against forfeiters?
The Israel Brief – 28 July 2021 – South Africa “appalled” at AU for Israel re admittance. Three Israeli film makers return safely. Israeli and PA Health and Environment Ministers cooperate.
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).
I grew up in a traditional Jewish South African home. Our family was not religious at all albeit loving and close. My social environment was not affiliated with Judaism at all. Friday nights I went out and Saturday mornings was shopping / movies / coffee with friends. I remember seeing religious Jews on the street and feeling sorry for them – all in their sleeves on a hot day – and thinking, “what a bunch of nerds!”
To cut a long story short. I now live in Israel as an observant Jew and I am now the nerd.
The fact that I was able to turn my life in a different direction was based on the ability to ask hard questions and face the answers I didn’t like. I am part of millions of Jews who now call themselves Baale Teshuva. A group of people I am proud to be a part of. The turning points in a change of way of life requires sacrifice – and that is never painless.
I feel there is a serious pandemic in the world today and I am NOT talking about Covid. I am talking about intolerance – real intolerance.
I write this with a heavy heart – and it’s the weight of what I saw that drives me to put a message out, even if it’s a whisper.
Intolerance – Home | Facebook
I am part of a neighborhood group on Facebook and one morning I read a post put on there by a community member who had serious questions about vaccinating children under the age of 12. Before I say another word, I need to make abundantly clear that my opinions on the vaccine are irrelevant here and I beg you to not presume to know my position. I am not interested in the vaccine here at all. I am interested in Jewish behaviourbased on the comments on this particular post.
To my horror I saw fellow Jews bashing this man. Comments like:
“Anti vaxxers aren’t welcome here”
“This comment has no place on this neighborhood group”
“You (not the post) should be permanently removed from the group”
These comments were condoned by another demanding a public apology.
I could not believe how this seemingly innocent post was met. It affected me so badly that later in the day, I went back to check if there were further comments but the post had been removed.
Whether or not that post had a place on that particular group is completely irrelevant. If I see a post I don’t agree with or think is stupid, I simply keep scrolling. But to take the time to comment means people obviously feel strongly about their opposing positions.
At what point did Jews forget how to be a Jew?!
The entire premise of Judaism is to question, challenge and ASK! Ask and ask until what you think you know becomes something you KNOW you know. And even after that you still question. Is it not the trait of a Jew to disagree?
The man who commented on the vaccine obviously has not accepted entirely nor is he convinced of what he has been told about the vaccine and still has reservations about giving it to his children. Perhaps he has been exposed to scary data that isn’t trending on twitter or headlines on mainstream news. It is not farfetched to question the good intentions of a government. Last I checked, he not only has a God given right to ask and check, but he has a responsibility to his family to be sure about something like a vaccine before he goes ahead with it. He may eventually arrive at the point where he feels confident in the vaccine for his children. But the bottom line is, the man wants to protect his family and who am I to assume anything else of him. Unfortunately, now he is no clearer on his position on the vaccine but he now knows exactly where he stands with his community – charem. It’s disgraceful.
It’s completely unrealistic to expect all people to agree on everything. We are allowed to argue, we are allowed to ask. We are allowed to think and have different opinions but we should never be allowed to be disrespectful.
This disrespectful nature and ‘cancel culture’ mentality is deeply disturbing. Popular opinion is not always noble. As Jews, we should know better. Never throughout history has there been a time where any government has been completely uncorrupted and transparent with its constituents. Propaganda is a reality that should never be ignored – perhaps if German society didn’t swallow up the garbage they were fed on their national media, fewer of them would have stood idly by while six million of our people were murdered. To quote Albert Einstein:
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth”.
Poisonous Prose. German children in 1938 read an anti-Jewish propaganda book for children titled Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom).
We say never again to our enemies but sadly our enemies have emerged within the community! What is going on when we oust a Jew for thinking differently to the ‘majority’? Maybe he is wrong, but then is it not our responsibility to educate him in a reverent manner?
Why does this seem to be too much to ask?
The beauty about the Jewish faith is that we are encouraged to question. The more we ask, the more we uncover layers of God’s glorious truths. Anyone who has struggled and questioned their way through a concept in the Torah knows the beauty of that.
This is a skill that is applied to in all areas of life.
Careful consideration goes into what we chose to study, who we marry, which school we send our children and so on. Having an open mind does not mean you have to commit to any idea that seems right, nor do we need to be precious over it and protect it – because let’s face it, sometimes we are wrong, and that’s okay!
People are afraid to voice their opinions today even if they are slightly outside the “accepted opinion”. People are being bullied into obedient agreeable thoughtless slaves; too quick to jump to conclusions and too slow to make genuine assessments. “When the arguments is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser” – a quote found all over the internet. I think the next time you find yourself resorting to slander, you might want to ask yourself:
How far you have come from knowing what you know.
It has no place in a civilized community.
I am a Jew; I am a descendant of Avraham. Avraham challenged all the ideas of authorities, including those of his parents. Avraham asked; Avraham challenged his own beliefs; Avraham changed his ways.
But it was never Jews who threw him into the furnace.
About the writer:
Gabi Crouse – Based in Israel, Gabi writes opinions in fields of politics, Judaism, life issues, current social observations as well as creative fiction writing. Having contributed to educational set works and examinations, as well as interviews, Gabi will usually add in a splash of humour.
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).
Arab writers from the Middle East and beyond, opine on potentially explosive issues in the north of Africa – the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Turkey’s interference in the affairs of Libya – that could have a global impact.
Playing with Water (and fire)
By Abdul Latif Al-Manawi
Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt, July 15
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become one of the most important issues concerning the Egyptian people and, perhaps, the entire Arab world. This is because it revolves not merely around water, agriculture and food security – but also because it threatens the national security of several countries in the region. Many international players have acknowledged this to date, including the United States.
The Arab world has been united in its support for Egypt and Sudan, including, most recently, in a statement delivered by the foreign ministers of Arab countries in their recent meeting in Doha. Unfortunately, the Arab position doesn’t seem to affect the intransigence of the Ethiopian government, which continues to provoke and defy its neighbors to the north, including by moving forward with the dam’s second filling. It’s clear that the Arab world must move from talking to doing, and threaten Addis Ababa with sanctions and penalties should it refuse to cooperate with Arab demands.
Damn the Egyptians! Ethiopians protesting in response at what they see as Egypt’s interference in their dam.
I don’t know when the next round of negotiations will commence, but I expect that it will only lead to more Ethiopian intransigence and Egyptian-Sudanese steadfastness on the situation. What we know is that Egypt will not give up its right to the waters of the Nile. Likewise, Sudan – which suffers from a weaker and poorer infrastructure than Egypt, and is thus expected to be most harmed by the project – will not sit idly by as its water resources are stolen. Does Ethiopia realize this? Do the decision-makers in Addis Ababa understand that they are passing the point of no return?
The answer, unfortunately, seems to be yes.
Abdul Latif Al-Manawi
Fired up over Water. Sudan and Egypt are worried about the flow of the Nile in future years of drought.
Turkish Outage over the Flag Incident in Libya
By Suleiman Jawda
Al-Arabiya, London, July 16
The recent session held by the Libyan House of Representatives in the eastern city of Tobruk was unlike any session held by the House since its very formation. In the session, the legislature was planning to discuss the general budget after a long political brawl over how resources should be allocated.
True Colours. Libyans in the capital Tripoli hold a demonstration to condemn a provocation that targeted the Turkish flag.
However, the real drama took place not within the halls of the parliament, but rather outside, on the streets leading to the building. At the exact moment when Abdulhamid Dabaiba, Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, was heading in his convoy to attend the session, a group of Libyan citizens spread out the Turkish flag on the road so that cars and passersby making their way to the parliament would trample it. The act drove the Turkish government crazy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara was quick to issue a condemnation describing the event as an “affront to Turkey” and a “heinous attempt to desecrate its national symbols.”
Moscow called upon the Libyan authorities to take whatever steps necessary to arrest those involved in the incident. Those who followed these statements could easily sense how outraged the Turkish government was. But the truth is that Turkey shouldn’t be surprised by what transpired. The defiant act represents what a majority of Libyan citizens think about the Turkish presence in Libya.
Mischief Maker. Imbedding itself in Libya’s troubled waters, Turkey interference is likely to prolong the internal conflict.
Turkey describes its presence in Libya as a legitimate presence, and claims that it was agreed upon together with the government of Fayez Al-Sarraj. However, Turkey refuses to understand that its presence in a foreign country is illegitimate and illegal. The best thing for Erdogan’s government to do is to stay silent and swallow its pride. Then, it should think of ways it can quickly and elegantly exit Libya – because the flag incident is just the beginning.
It’s a prelude to the rage that exists among ordinary Libyan citizens who feel like their country has been kidnapped from them by foreign mercenaries.
Suleiman Jawda
*Translated by Asaf Zilberfarb
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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Wishing “Team Israel” as it strives for excellence in Tokyo
Lay Of The Land wishes Israel’s largest delegation ever to an Olympiad the “best of Luck” as they engage with an unsettled world embracing the Olympic spirit of friendship and solidarity.
What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LotL’s “The Israel Brief” broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTubeby 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.
The Hills of Yodfat are Alive with the Sound of Hebrew
By David E. Kaplan
Sounds of Success. Near the site where Jewish kids were taken into slavery, Yodfat’s children today sing to Barmitzvah boy.
Over 2000 years ago, Yodfat was a fierce battleground in a war of the Jews with Rome that would lead to exile until 1948. A lively barmizvah of the writer’s family at modern day Yodfat, ignites thoughts and reflections of a people’s destiny and proud homecoming.
Looking Beyond. There is an ingrained perception that Jews fit a certain stereotype in the way they look.
Not all discrimination or racism is experienced in the same way. When aimed at Jewish women, antisemitism takes on an additional and sometimes distinctly misogynistic element.
*Warning – contains language some may find offensive.
Media Malice. Publishing despicable outright lies against Israel, this South African paper is promoting antisemitism.
While a South African newspaper saw fit to publish an inciteful article referring to Israel as a “settler colony” describing it as “racist”, “ethno-supremacist” and “set on ethnic cleansing” and calling for international sanctions, the writer, a practicing South African lawyer, responds in Lay of the Land after being refused a right of reply in newspapers across South Africa.
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 – 19 July 2021 –Tension on Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av. Ben Gurion Airport not to close decides Health Minister. Human Rights Watch’s Ken Roth blames Israeli government for surge in. antisemitism.
The Israel Brief – 20 July 2021 –Ben & Jerry’s brouhaha. Rockets fired from Lebanon? Gantz and Abbas speak.
The Israel Brief – 21 July 2021 – US State Department stands with Israel. IDF reenact historic jump. Ken Roth deletes despicable tweet but does not apologise.
The Israel Brief – 22 July 2021 –Will Texas blacklist B&J? Israel to rejoin AU and more. Iranian delegation welcomed to Israel.
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 Hills of Yodfat are Alive with the Sound of Hebrew
By David E. Kaplan
It is a Kaplan family Bar Mitzvah in the quant intimate shul (synagogue) at Yodfat, a moshav in northern Israel in the picturesque high mountains of the Lower Galilee. The shul is packed – mostly with animated children of all ages. Following my brother Sidney as both a Cohen and grandfather to the Barmitzvah boy Yoav being called up first for an Aliyah – I followed.
The Children are our Future. The children of Yodfat singing a song to the Bar Mitzvah boy – Yoav Kaplan. His grandsfather, Sidney Kaplan (right) was a founding member of the nearby South African moshav – Manof.
I made my way, maneuvering the short joyful journey between children sitting on bunk benches in the isle, I ascend the Bimah and before reciting the blessing for the reading of the Torah, I look up and to the right of the ark out a wide window and saw the green valley leading to the mountain-top fortresses of Yodfat.
It is no ordinary vista that this shul looks out on!
Embedded into the physical landscape of modern Israel, it is in the psychological landscape that this ancient Jewish fortress stands as a stark and dark reminder of those enemies that may come to try erase Jewish life from this land. It happened 2000 years ago and began the process of exile until 1948, but the same battle persists. “Rome” has other names today.
I recite the prayer; the Barmitzvah boy reads from the Torah and I smile as I look at all the children who are armed to their teeth with sweets to later throw at Yoav when he has completed his Haftarah, to wish him a “sweet” life as he makes the transition to adulthood. I then momentarily reflect on who was armed to the teeth at this very same spot 2000 years earlier – ROMANS – and not with sweets!
War and Peace. Looking out from where the Roman legions were positioned 2000 years ago to modern day moshav Yodfat in the background where the synagogue is perched on the crest of the hill.
What bloodily played out on these ochre hilltops created a narrative that continues to caution and inspire ensuing generations of Israelis.
Walking to the shul earlier, I breathed in the fresh country air and feasted my eyes on the valley with its vineyards and orchards, olive trees, and goats roaming in the distance tended by a young shepherd. The scene was pastoral and peaceful – a far cry from the cataclysmic clash of arms that occurred at this exact spot in 67 CE when heroic Jewish fighters took on the might of the Roman Empire.
Time to Rejoice. Grandfather Sydney Kaplan speaking in Hebrew to his grandson Yoav at the Bar Mizvah reception in a garden overlooking the site of the tragic Roman siege 2000 years earlier.
In early June of that year, a force of 1,000 Roman cavalrymen arrived at Yodfat to seal off the town, defended by Jewish forces commanded by Yosef Ben Matityahu (the future Flavius Josephus). Prior to the Roman assault, Ben Matityahu had fortified nineteen of the most important towns of the region, including Yodfat.After a failed attempt to confront the Roman army at Tzipori, he retired to Tiberias, but soon thereafter established himself at Yodfat, drawing the Roman legions to the town. A day later at the foothills not far from the shul where we were proudly celebrating Yoav’s Barmitzvah, stood the amassed Roman legions of the Fifth, Tenth and Fifteenth as well as auxiliaries consisting of Arabian archers and Syrian slingers led by General Vespasian and supported by his son Titus, who would both emerge as future emperors of Rome.
These Roman “occupiers” meant business. Literally ‘Dressed to kill’, they aspired to crush an uprising that would become known in history as “The Great Jewish revolt” or “The Jewish War”. This was 2000 years ago and long before anyone ever heard of Palestinians!
Hill of Hereos. The ancient town of Yodfat was positioned on this isolated hill hidden between high peaks, surrounded on three sides by steep ravines. During the “Great Revolt” in year 67 CE – Yodfat, the last stronghold of Jewish resistance after the fall of Zippori – was besieged by three Roman legions and resisted for 47 days before the city fell.
I return from the Bimah to take my seat next to my brother. We exchange comments about the lively atmosphere with loving parents battling to keep some decorum amongst their animated kids – mostly friends of the Barmitzvah boy. It’s a sheer Shabbos delight. And then I contrast this image of an imagined one of Jewish kids 2000 years earlier looking down at the Roman legions with their frightening coloured attire and menacing siege machines. It was laughter today; it was fear then. It should never again be the other way around – ever!
Romans came Prepared. A typical Roman siege machine that the defenders at Yodfat would have faced.
Vespasian had pitched his own camp north of the town, facing the only accessible side, while his forces surrounded the city. An assault against the wall on the second day of the siege failed, and after several days in which the Jewish defenders made a number of successful sorties against his forces, Vespasian changed tactics. He instructed for the building of a siege ramp against the city walls, and when these works were disrupted by the Jews, Vespasian set 160 engines, catapults and ballistas – backed by lightly armed troops, slingers and archers – to dislodge the defiant defenders from the walls. These were in turn met with repeated sallies by the besieged, but work on the ramp continued, raising it to the height of the battlements and forcing Ben Matityahu to have the walls themselves raised. Roman measure was met with Jewish countermeasure and the battle ebbed and flowed…..
Peace and Tranquility. The only connection today of Yodfat to the times of conquering Rome is that its pastoral beauty is often described as “Shades of Tuscany”.
As always with such sieges, water was an issue for the defenders on top of a high hill so Ben Matityahu had Yodfat’s limited supply of water rationed before the siege began. The Romans had heard of this and began to use their artillery to target any efforts to draw water, hoping to exacerbate an already difficult situation and bring a swift end to the siege. The defenders, in a far-in-the-future future Mossad type of maneuver, cunningly confounded the Romans by wringing out their clothes over the battlements until the walls were running with water, leading the Romans to believe the Jews had some hidden supply of water.
According to Ben Matityahu, later writing as Josephus, this taunting had a twin effect – one negative and one positive. It strengthened Roman resolve but it also steeled the mettle of the defenders to fight, preferring to die by the sword than from thirst or starvation.
Man with Menace. A statue of Emperor Vespasian who in 66 AD was appointed to suppress the Jewish revolt underway in Judea.
There was of course an atmosphere of inevitability where this was ultimately heading. “Proportionality” was never a consideration in Vespasian’s battle plans to expunge a Jewish presence at Yodfat.
With the completion of the assault ramp, Vespasian ordered a battering ram brought up against the wall. The defenders responded with ingenuity. They lowered sacks filled with chaff to absorb the blows, they set fire to the ram and as chronicled by Josephus, one of the defenders, renowned for his strength, cast a huge stone on the ram from above, breaking off its head.
This infuriated the Romans. A physical act but it was also symbolic – decapitating the “head” of a war machine. This shortly took on a new meaning when the “head” – the future Emperor Vespasian himself was wounded by a defender’s dart. The Romans were so incensed driving their assault to a fever pitch but still were beaten back.
Eventually, on July 20, 67, a band of Romans reportedly led by Titus himself, stealthily scaled the walls, cut the throats of the watch and opened the gates, letting in the entire Roman army.
What followed was a slaughter. While the descendants today of some of Rome’s conquered like in modern day Britton may cherish the famed Roman baths, Yodfat records only a Roman blood bath!
According to Josephus, 40,000 were slain or committed suicide and 1,200 women and infants were taken into slavery. Vespasian ordered the town demolished and its walls torn down and prohibited burial of the fallen. It was only a year or more later when Jews were allowed to return to bury the remains in caves and cisterns.
Yodfat Today. Enjoy the fun of Yodfat today by visiting “Boacha Yodfat” (literally, “As you approach Yodfat”) – a recreation and shopping center, located in a grove of oaks, providing stunning views. Here you will find stores, a gallery, a jewelry studio, a delicatessen, a dairy café, a bakery and a nearby “Monkey Forest”.
So even on this day 2000 years later, the sound of innocent chatter and laughter soliciting reprimands from the rabbi, were to me like music to the ears.
If the few surviving children of ancient Yodfat were cruelly sold off into slavery never to return, Jews did RETURN and today’s young children in the shul of modern Yodfat on this Shabbat were sending a strong message – this was our home 2000 years ago and is our home today.
Nothing more audibly conveys this message than that Latin – the language of Rome – is today a dead language while the hills of Yodfat are alive with the sound of Hebrew!
L’Chaim – “to Life”. Two thousand years later, there is much to toast about at Yodfaf as seen by these visitors enjoying the good life at “Boacha Yodfat”
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).
Antisemitism takes on an additional and sometimes distinctly misogynistic element when aimed at Jewish women. *Warning – contains language some may find offensive.
“But you don’t look Jewish”. I have lost count how many times I have heard this. I normally respond by asking the protagonist what they think a Jew looks like. “You don’t have a Jewish nose” is often the response. Epic face-palm moment.
There is a perception that Jews fit a certain stereotype in the way we look. Over the last year or so, as antisemitism rises, so this has come more to the fore and ugly stereotypes are rearing their heads. This time there is a new iteration – singling out Jewish women.
Hurtful Humorist. Comedian Seth Rogan sparked outrage after mocking a Jewish journalist Eve Barlow who wrote an article expressing concern about the rise of anti-Semitism.
Following the recent conflagration between Israel and Hamas, there has been a misogynistic element to the antisemitism that women are experiencing. Movie star joker, Seth Rogan, most famous for toilet humour type antics and smoking his fair share of wacky baccy, piled into journalist, Eve Barlow, after she wrote an op-ed for Tablet Magazine describing how some of the anti-Semitic invective online resembled an “online pogrom”. Barlow was vulnerable, sharing some of the horrendous messages she and many of us who are active online, receive on an almost daily basis.
Rogan’s response was to trivialize and mock this by commenting “Eve Fartlow” – with a fart emoji.
Mature, isn’t he?
Many were quick to defend Barlow, calling out Rogan’s rather flatulent response.
Barlow wasn’t alone. In an op-ed for Tablet Magazine, fierce and fabulous social media maven, Emily Schrader, describes her experience with some of the online trolls. She shares some of her “messages” here:
“Go suck Netanyahu’s ball [sic] … Hey slut I will bomb your house.”
Another stated, “Your vagina is so dirty and disgusting, I can assure that it was a rape of an Israeli dog [sic].”
Hmmmm, classy.
An ill Wind. Following twitter users writing “Eve Fartlow” in response to a recent article by Jewish reporter Eve Barlow (above) on antisemitism, actor Seth Rogan then climbed into the act by posting a “gust of wind” emoji commonly used to represent flatulence, further mocking the journalist.
During the height of the conflict with Hamas, a convoy of pro-Palestinian goons drove through suburbs of London where there are large concentrations of Jews screaming:
“F*** the Jews, rape their women”. Because raping Jewish women is going to “Free Palestine”?
But last week there was an incident that really motivated this article. Fashion designer and podcaster, Recho Omondi, who hosts the show “The Cutting Room Floor”, trotted out some distinctly anti-Semitic stereotypes to “call out” (yes this is a verb from the dictionary of Woke) ManRepeller Founder, Leandra Medine Cohen for her “privileged upbringing”.
Omondi in this episode, in which Cohen discussed not realizing until recently that she “actually grew up rich” despite being raised in a “privileged environment” on the Upper East Side.
“I couldn’t stomach another white assimilated Jewish American Princess who is wildly privileged but thinks she’s oppressed,” Omondi said on the episode after ending the interview with Medine Cohen, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
“At the end of the day you guys are going to get your nose jobs and your keratin treatments and change your last name from Ralph Lifshitz to Ralph Lauren and you will be fine.”
Sorry, what?
From where I write this in the diverse state of Israel, Jews are a kaleidoscope of multiple ethnicities. We are blonde hair (dye not withstanding!) blue-eyed like me, we are Jews from Ethiopia and India, South America and Scandinavia, the USA and Europe. I thought the term “Jewish American Princess” went out in the 90’s like stone-washed jeans and boy bands but evidently not. We are not all “spoilt princesses”. Some of us fled Arab persecution, survived fascism, walked from Ethiopia through the Sudan to freedom and are the descendants of names of relatives that echo through the generations, names of relatives who perished in the Holocaust. To diminish us like Omondi did to nose jobs and hair treatments, negates our noble, proud and more often than not, tragic history.
Picture Imperfect. Recho Omondi (right) was accused of antisemitism for calling Leandra Medine Cohen (left) a “Jewish American Princess.” (Getty Images)
It made me think about a time in my own history when I was personally diminished as a Jewish woman. At the age of about 20, I worked for a radio station. This was a time that long preceded the “Me Too” movement and sexist comments towards female staff was just another day in the office. I was the youngest and only Jew and the running joke used to be that if you broke a mirror or needed to break a curse of sorts, then one should “F*** a Jewish woman – then you will have good luck”.
Charming.
Without the wisdom and confidence of age, my reaction was to look slightly uncomfortable, say nothing and cry in the car as I drove home, feeling humiliated and diminished.
Speaking about my experiences, and these are just a few of many, is deeply painful – but an absolute necessity. We are having important conversations about tolerance and racial discrimination. Not all discrimination or racism is experienced in the same way. For Jewish women, the reduction of us to mere sex objects to be derided or spoilt princesses with bad noses coupled with the usual gross hate invective that is the every-day experience of Jews is untenable.
The Price of Being a Zionist Woman on Twitter. “These days the worst social media crime is daring to be a pro-Israel woman,” writes Emily Shraeder, the founder of Social Lite Creative, a political marketing consultancy firm.
We need to be included in the conversation and we need to be taken seriously – not reduced to fart emojis. This is our lived experience – online and off. We need to summon the courage of our ancestors, because that stubborn, brave, will to survive that was in them is inside us as well and remember who we are. The descendants of queens, matriarchs, priestesses, mothers, pioneers, trailblazers, judges, warriors and Zionesses.
The time for us to roar back is now.
And if my nose is not petite enough for some, it is time they checked their moral compass.
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).
“It is important to say consistently Israel is a racist, ethno-supremist, settler-colonial state set on ethnic cleansing,” writes Jon Fish Hodgson in an outrageous article, published this month in South Africa’s Independent(*See original article below).
Adv. Craig Snoyman responds
A’le’lay li, woe is me. Once again I have struck out. Once again, an article of mine was submitted to a South African newspaper and has been rejected and once again I was hopeful and now thankful that Lay Of The Land saw the need to publish. This time my article was in response to a three-quarter page spread in the national fleet of Independent Newspapers, published on Saturday 3 July 2021. It was written by a certain Jon Fish Hodgson, who does not appear to have any recognised credentials that would suggest his article should have been published or given such prominence. To me, it appears that he was published purely on the basis that he is a Jew. Jews make great news, particularly when they malign Israel.
Hodgson makes great news.
In an article entitled “Palestinian conflict “not complex”” Hodgson’s bias shines through like a 5000-watt spot -light beamed into a tiny room. Issues that have eluded solution by many of the brightest minds on the planet over the last one-and-a-half centuries, he regards as “not complex”!
Hodgson seeks to take the simplistic attitude that the intersectional custom-designed “settler colony” theory solves everything and nothing else is relevant to Israel. He dumps in a couple of other derogatory opinions of Israel at the same time. He views Israel as irredeemably bad and committed to the oppression of innocent good Palestinians. By endorsing this one-dimensional concept, and by following this uni-directional, biased approach, Hodgson concludes that the Israel-Palestine conflict is not complex. His solution to “Israel bad, Palestine good” is to boycott the current State of Israel and to replace Jewish Israel with a Palestinian State. On the face of it, this over-simplistic view does not warrant a three-quarter page opinion piece.
Unfortunately, it received national prominence!
Mission Reprehensible. Jon Fish Hodgson, a Jew set on undermining the legitimacy of the Jewish state.
I had always understood that if an opinion was to be expressed in the media, it should be based on fact, with justifying comments permitted within reasonable limits. When reading this article, I question whether I have been labouring under a misapprehension. Hodgson’s blinkered approach is visible from the very first paragraphs. He commences by stating that “the profound political and ethnic dimensions of the “so-called” conflict are plain” and then lists adjectives of opprobrium, which he states apply to Israel. He refers to Israel as a “racist, ethno-supremacist, settler- colonial state set on ethnic cleansing” which is based on a Zionist “might makes right” ideology and which it teaches to its children. He states it is hypocritical that the innocent Palestinian victims should be “vilified and victim-blamed if they dare fight for liberation” and they are in death spiral “struggling for liberation and life” (note the order). He seems to question whether a conflict actually exists.
Massacre Mastermind. Israel Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan (left), at the terminal at Lod Airport immediately after the terrorist attack on May 31, 1972 that killed 26. The “Lod Airport Massacre” was co-masterminded by Ghassan Kanafani who Hodgon’s quotes to support his case against Israel.
It would be quite simple, although rather tedious, to rip Hodgson’s article apart paragraph by paragraph, line by line, misquote by misquote, starting from his first quote, one from Netanyahu, who uses the “Strong Horse” theory, first set out by the Medieval Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun about the weak and the strong surviving and making alliances. Rather than researching, he lazily parrots a comment which compares Netanyahu’s speech to one of Hitler’s. Unfortunately, this lack of original thought permeates the entire article. For instance, he elects to quote Ghassan Kanafani, a terrorist and writer, whose writings reflect the simplistic dualism of the evil Zionist aggressor and the good Palestinian victim. A leading member and spokesman for the PLFP, Kanafani is believed to have masterminded together with the Japanese Red Army the Lod airport massacre in 1972 killing 26 people and injuring 80 others.
In the absence of proper research, he also falsely attributed the death of Kanafani to inspire of Palestinians to join the liberation struggle.
Plotting with Prose. Writer and killer, Ghassan Kanafani at his Beirut office. (Assafir)
Kanafani is widely believed to have been killed by another terrorist, Abu Ahmed Yunis who in turn was eliminated by other PLFP terrorists. Hodgson similarly inverts the concept of children who go to Hamas vacation camps to learn how to become terrorists and Palestinian school books filled with anti-Semitism by stating that it is the Israelis who teach their children hate. Allegations of double standards, child-killing, victim blaming, dropping bombs on innocent Palestinians, silencing dissent, Zionism being anti-Semitic and allegations of racism, including the intersectional “constitutive racism” roll off his pen. All of these allegations have been debunked hundreds of time in numerous articles written by experts in the field. But another article, this time from a layperson, is just one in a continuous succession of nauseous invective.
A simple reading of Hodgson’s article should suffice to show that there is little fact in the article, and that which there is, is usually not accurate. A simple examination of the first few paragraphs is sufficient to show up a deficient and misguided ideology.
His article commences by stating that “Palestine’s history” is “long and detailed”. No detail of this history is given, thus avoiding the inconvenient intimate link between Jews and the land of Israel and Jerusalem. The simple truth is that the “long and detailed history of Palestine” has always been inter-twined with the Jews. The Jewish connection to Israel appears thorough the bible and is acknowledged by Jews, Christians and Muslims. After the ill-fated Bar Kochba rebellion in 136CE, Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina and Israel became part of Syria Palaestina. Both the names “Aelia Capitolina” and “Syria Palaestina” were introduced to try and remove the Jewish link to the land. The Ottoman Turkish Empire, probably the world’s greatest coloniser, included the biblical Israel within Greater Syria, which was an Eyalet, or province of the Empire. The name “Palestine” was not used. In fact, from the fall of Rome until the early twentieth century, the name “Palestine” was used virtually only by the Jews, who sought to return to their homeland. Only when Great Britain was granted a mandate by the League of Nations in 1922, did the name “Palestine” re-enter international discourse. The Jews referred to themselves as Palestinians until the State of Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948. The Arab occupants of Palestine (including the portion of the Palestinian mandate that Great Britain gave to the Arabs in 1922, which became known as Jordan) regarded themselves as Arabs, not as Palestinians. In February 1949, shortly after having captured the West Bank in the Independence War, King Abdullah I of Jordan banned official usage of the word “Palestinian”. Renowned historian Efraim Karshi states that the Arabs only started identifying themselves as Palestinian and making regular use of the name “Palestinian” for political identification with the land, after the Six Day War of 1967. With the strong Jewish link to the land of Palestine and the name “Palestine” and the lack of an Arab attachment to Palestine is not a convenient dialogue to raise, if you are anti-Israel.
It is far easier to gloss over history by referring to it as “long and detailed”.
Hodgson’s article then proceeds to the demonisation of Israel.
He refers to Israel as racist. To evaluate this claim objectively, it is appropriate to refer to an internationally recognised definition of racism. Defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary, racism is “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. When one looks at Israeli society, there is no evidence of a reliance on the inherent superiority of a particular group of people in that society. People of all races, colour and religion are entitled to the same schooling and tertiary education, the same political and social rights. Minority grouping fill the same ranks as other groups in fields such as medicine, law (both as lawyers and as judges), big business, politics and even members of cabinet. One cannot say with any degree of honesty that Israel subscribes to, or is dependent upon, the belief that only certain people can perform specific jobs because of their inherent racial traits and capacities which made them superior to other groups of people in that society.
Hodgson’s next allegation is one of ethno-supremacy. This can be repudiated on the same grounds as his claim made in respect of racism. The aspect of ethnicity should however be addressed. In modern era, when Jews from all over the world move to Israel, no matter their background, they still all share common ethnic characteristics which were handed down by their forefathers and whose practices are found in their bible. It was no different with the earlier immigrants to and Jewish occupants of Israel. They were and are not settlers. Their ethnicity and history link them to the land. Ethnology and anthropology and other histological facts place the Jews as an indigenous population. It is actually the Arabs from the time of the Ottoman Empire that became the settler-colonialist rulers, expelling and re-admitting the indigenous occupants. Pinhas Inbari’s Review of the History of Palestine clearly identifies the genealogies of many of the Palestinian clans and tribes, showing them to have originated outside the Southern Levant. Former Hamas Minister Fathi Hammad proclaimed on television that “Personally, half my family is Egyptian. We are all like that. More than 30 families in the Gaza Strip are called Al-Masri [“Egyptian”]. Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis.” The Jew’s ethnicity does not create a supremacy, it merely created a strong claim to the land. Be that as it may, ethnicity in Israel has not created a superior class; all citizens have equal rights. It does raise the issue as to validity of the grounds upon which the Palestinians lay claim to the land. Once again, Hodgson’s allegation doesn’t fit the internationally accepted definition.
On a point of Clarification. Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad slams Egypt over fuel shortage in Gaza Strip, and says: “Half of the Palestinians Are Egyptians and the Other Half Are Saudis.”
The third allegation that Hodgson makes is that of settler-colonialism. This is a theory-nouveau, introduced and applied because the theory of colonialism didn’t quite fit the Jew-Israel paradigm. Allegations of substantial Arab colonisation of Israel only start during the Ottoman Empire period when it cannot be shown that the Jews have a single sovereign or colonising county, the colonial theory starts hitting problems.
By the addition of “settler” to colonialism, a new less problematic paradigm than the coloniser theory is created. Settler-Colonialism “seeks to replace the original population of the colonized territory with a new society of settlers” . This fits in well with the current academic trend toward a global oppressor-oppressed paradigm, which has already spawned intersectionality and critic race theory. It allows the “Israel bad, Palestine good” narrative to be placed in a settler-colonial exemplar.
The argument of settler – colonialism only works if it can be shown that the Palestinians have a better historical title to the land than the Jews. To provide substance to this position, the Palestinians have claimed that they are directly descended from the biblical Canaanites. Muslim scholar, Zakariyya Muhammad, has effectively refuted this position. He points out the critical weakness of this so-called “Canaanite ideology” is that this Canaanism cancels the assumption that Zionism is a European coloniser movement. It completely negates the “coloniser” argument. This is the same flaw that exists in the “colonial theory” – the settler, who is a settler and when does one become a settler. The anti-Israel lobby needs to rely on the Canaanist argument, but equally needs to rely on the mutually destructive Euro-Zionist coloniser argument.
The third flaw of the theory relates to the lack of Palestinian ethno-national consciousness. Karshi makes the point that these Arab occupants of Israel and the Territories, post 1967, had no common ethnic distinction other than their Arab heritage. So the settler-colonial doesn’t fit the unique Israeli situation, even with its own set of designer requirements. Intersectional academia is redefining “settler colonialist” as the modern day “Israeli settlers” but continues to ignore the history of Zionism and the development of Israel or even whether it is possible for Israel to colonise itself. This boutique-designed, secular supersessionist theory continues to mutate in order to falsely replace the account of the return of the Jewish people to its land.
Lastly, on Hodgson’s list of bald allegations is that “Israel is set on ethnic cleansing”. (note the present tense) It is a regrettable fact that the world is presently witnessing ethnic cleansing. Myanmar exterminating and/or expelling its Rohingya, Ethiopia – as I write- is ethnically cleansing its Tigray population. The rapes, deaths, brutality, destruction, expulsion, and mass-terror that attach to ethnic cleansing are terrifying viewing, if you have the stomach to watch. There can be no mistake, ethnic cleansing is one of the most graphically horrifying events of our time. Ethnic Cleansing or “the mass expulsion or killing of members of one ethnic or religious group in an area by those of another” does not embody the full barbarity of this conduct. Yet Hodgson states, apparently without qualm, and without any factual basis, that Israel is guilty of ethnic cleansing. Both the Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the Palestinian Territories have continued to be fruitful and multiplied. Israel is continually in the spotlight of hundreds of NGO’s and is the virtual headquarters of a global press, with probably more civil-rights representatives and journalists per square kilometre than anywhere else in the world. Many are hostile to Israel. Yet with all of this, there are no allegations by any of them of mass killings or mass expulsions. No front page headlines and no international reports from Human Rights Organisations. Unless Hodgson has somehow divined the intention of the Israeli government (because it’s not complex?), this can only be viewed as another perversion of the facts and another diabolical attempt to vilify Israel.
In his next paragraph, Hodgson seeks to deal with the issue of Zionism. Hodgson again provides no facts, quite irrationally, and in his “not-complex” manner, chooses to redefine Zionism. He states that Zionism has been concisely articulated in a quote from Netanyahu (whose name for some reason he chooses not mention, which in itself is strange if this is the person that you are relying on for a definition.) His definition, again, is a risible calumny. Netanyahu (without reference to context) is quoted as stating: “There is no place for the weak. The weak crumble, are slaughtered and erased from history, while the strong, for good or ill survive. The strong are respected and alliances are made with the strong and in the end peace is made with the strong.” This is an observation that one might expect find in Pliny or Cicero. Instead Hodgson seeks to demonise Netanyahu by linking the quote to Hitler. With just less lazy parroting and a little better research, he could have found this concept in the works of Ibn Khaldun. Netanyahu’s quote may articulate many things, but it certainly does not articulate Zionism – or as Hodgson has referred to it: “Israeli Zionism” (the latter being an unfamiliar animal, which Hodgson seems to imply is different from common or garden-variety Zionism).
Netanyahu’s use of the “strong horse” theory was also articulated by Yasser Arafat at a mosque in Johannesburg in May 1994. Having just concluded a historic agreement with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and acquiring self-rule for the Palestinian Territories, and while still receiving tributes from world leaders for this accomplishment, Arafat said to a vast assembly of mosque congregants:
“This agreement, I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our prophet Mohammed and Koraish, and you remember the Caliph Omar had refused this agreement and [considered] it a despicable truce.”
The incident to which Arafat referred, relates to how the then-weak Mohamed entered into an agreement with the then-strong Koraish. Once Mohamed and his followers became strong, they breached their agreement of despicable peace, slaughtered the tribe of Koraish, plunging the tribe into the forgotten annals of history, and he proceeded to conquer Mecca – just one of those instances where the weak crumbled, were slaughtered and erased from history, while the strong survived to enter into other alliances. No doubt, many devout Muslims would be rightly indignant at having this incident involving the holy prophet, described as an articulation of Zionist ideology.
Loose Lips. Arafat got caught by an unexpected tape recording referencing the Koran in a May 10, 1994 speech in a Johannesburg mosque, calling for a “jihad” to liberate Jerusalem and suggesting his peace agreement with Israel was only a tactical step that could be reversed.
Zionism is described as the national movement of the Jewish people, starting in the 19th century seeking to recreate a Jewish state in Palestine, and return the original homeland of the Jewish people, thus there seems to be little correlation with Hodgson’s allegation that Zionism is a “might makes right” ideology . Hodgson’s Zionist ideology bears no resemblance to actual Zionist ideology. Once again, Hodgson disregards accepted definitions for his own mission.
So having dealt with the first few paragraphs and found the basic foundation of the article to be faulty, disingenuous and shameful in numerous respects, one then questions the need to read the rest of the article. Nonetheless, reading the rest of the article, there is nothing new or novel. It is a substantial repetition of bias, errors. hyperbole and theories, which when applied to Israel are plain bunk.
Complex issues are not called complex for nothing. Simple answers for complex issues usually suggest that the writer has not understood the issue properly. A one-dimensional “Good Palestinian” while heaping blame and opprobrium on “Bad Israel” is not complex, but it is not true! Hodgson’s simple perception may be why no comprehensive answer to a complex question, but it certainly seems to reflect a poor understanding of the situation which he addresses.
In these nine days before Tisha B’Av, we are again focused on “sinat chinam” or baseless hatred that resulted in the destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash. The PLO wasn’t the cause; it wasn’t around at the time. But in modern days, the PLO has imposed a death sentence on anyone who sells land to a Jew (not an Israeli, a Jew) and has stated that its’ Palestine will be a Judenrein state. It wasn’t Hamas, which also cannot claim the Temple’s destruction. Both of these organisations are external enemies that still seek the destruction of the State of Israel in their Charters. No, it was people like Jon Fish Hodgson that were responsible for the destruction of the Temple! There can be no greater demonstration of sinat chinan than a Jew who publicly denigrates Israeli, calls for its destruction with its associated ethnic cleansing and eradication of the millions of fellow Jews living in Israel, and disgracefully adds his voice to the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” A’le’lay li that I ever heard of you, Jon Fish Hodgson.
Shame on you, Jon Fish Hodgson!!
About the Writer:
Craig Snoymanis a practising advocate in South Africa.
original article
Palestinian conflict ‘not complex’
By Jon Fish Hodgson*
The Palestinian liberation struggle against the settler colony of Israel is not confusingly “complex”‘. While Palestine’s history is long and detailed, the profound political and ethical dimensions of the so called “conflict” are plain.
It is important to say consistently Israel is a racist, ethno-supremacist, settler-colonial state set on ethnic cleansing. The Palestinian people are struggling for liberation and life. So we must act in solidarity with Palestinian struggles through international boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel.
Israel’s Zionist “might-makes-right” (“kragdadigheid”) ideology was concisely articulated by a long -standing Israeli Prime Minister in 2018:
“There is no place for the weak. The weak crumble, are slaughtered and are erased from history while the strong, for good or for ill, survive. The strong are respected, and alliances are made with the strong and at the end peace is made with the strong.
This recalls Hitler in 1923: “The whole of nature is a mighty struggle between strength and weakness, an eternal victory of the strong over the weak”. This is what the Israeli regime teaches its children.
The conquistadorial Zionist “flag march” two weeks ago involved Israeli children gleefully chanting: “Death to the Arabs!”
As James Baldwin pointed out: “The boys and the girls who were born during the era of the third Reich, when educated to the purposes of the third Reich, became barbarians. Last month the Israeli state and street mobs lynched Palestinians. This week ethnic cleansing continues.
The Zionist’s state’s friends and/or recent weapon trading partners include Neo-fascist Jair Bolsonaro, Victor Orban and Rodrigo Duterte, who likened himself to Hitler; and of course, the openly antisemitic Donald Trump. For Israel is still supported primarily by the US’s weapons and money as well as its vetoes and geopolitical influence. Liberation is a struggle to build counterpower, against
Zionist efforts to silence dissent are a function of Zionists’ fear of resistance – because of dissent, let alone struggle, is inspiring. Radical Palestinian liberation leader Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated in Lebanon in 1972 because he powerfully inspired others to join the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Two Years before he was murdered Kanafani unmasked questions about “conflict”, “peace talks” and “non-fighting”: “The history of the world is the history of… weak people who has (sic) a correct case fighting strong people who use their strength to exploit the weak … People usually fight for something (in context: liberation)”.
Palestine shows that in liberal politics asserts a double standard towards settlers colonialism: Colonised people are vilified and victim-blamed if they dare fight for liberation, instead of prostrating themselves as innocent and powerless victims. even this double standard is imposed in bad faith as Israel regularly murders children- on this spurious claim that Hamas (or another convenient bogeyman) is or was “wherever we dropped our bombs”.
Zionism’s “war on the truth” is evident to anyone who learns that Israel bombs schools; or learns that Israeli soldiers routinely maim “peaceful” Palestinian protesters for sport (shooting people in the feet, or legs to prevent them from playing football).
Regarding Gaza, Israeli leaders call their regular pastime “mowing the lawn” (one MP recently called for “flattening the strip”). We must deny Israel’s manipulative lie that those who resist Zionism are anti-Semitic. Jews, especially, must oppose this slander. Judaism is a complex tradition but it has long tried to teach far better behaviour. In fact, Zionism itself is anti-Semitic – as more and more Jews are o
Unsurprisingly Zionism’s constitutive racism is apparent in Israel’s oppressive treatment of Mizrahi and especially African and/or black, Jews. A fundamental insight articulated by a black Jewish philosopher Lewis Gordon, via Frantz Fanon is that ethical interaction is impossible between colonists who consider themselves as categorically superior, and colonised people whom the colonists herd into “the zone of non-being”.
Only political action led by colonised people(s) to change these political conditions will enable ethical interaction. Thus, the Palestinian liberation struggle teaches us life, as Palestinian poet-activist Rafeef Zaidah reiterates. Living towards the future requires hope: the understanding that our actions may matter, even if we can’t see how, now. We must be committed to act without guarantees.
Our actions may create ways towards a more just future. We must (re)commit to and agitate for the full international boycott of, divestment from, and sanction on Israel. This includes ending South-Africa’s annual import of R3.4 billion in Israeli goods and services, as well as more in the form of weapons.
From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.
News 24/7
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*Jon Fish Hodgsonis a Jewish South African who attended Herzlia schools from 1994-2003. He has worked in education for more than a decade.
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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As South Africa picks up the pieces and deals with the aftermath of what unfolded on its streets, Lay Of The Land applauds MK Ruth Wasserman Lande who grew up in South Africa, for raising the matter of the human tragedy to the attention of the Knesset (Israeli parliament).
Articles
(1)
Victor in Name and in Life
By David. E. Kaplan
My Word. From the media to the stage, Victor’s writing, enthralled , entertained and challenged.
Remembering South African Victor Gordon – artist, musician, community leader, strong literary advocate for Israel – and an award-winning playwright, whose play, “Pollard’s Trial” became the only play in the history of Israel to receive an invitation to mount a private performance at the Knesset!
Selective Reportage. Where was the media covering the protests of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat who died in PA custody?
All too quick to direct their cameras and proverbial pens where blame can be directed at Israel, the global media is nowhere to be seen when it comes to the growing unrest on the streets of Ramallah against President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority over frustration following years of corruption. WHY?
The Human Touch. The writer witnesses’ soldiers break down and cry”.
“It felt like a war zone!” describes the writer. Champlain Towers was “the place where my husband picked me up on our first date,where we got engaged, where three of my four children were born” but also the place where many of her old neighbours and friends were the night of the collapse! An all too human perspective by the Vice-President of WIZO USA!
Four wooden dolls with different postures over a white background
If the tire to a car lacked sufficient air or the steering was pulling to one side, the driver would not neglect the problem. And neither should we neglect the posture of our bodies as our ability to breathe properly is best when the body is in proper alignment.
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).