Month: October 2022

MUSICAL DIPLOMACY

Rhetoric from Iran is met by melody from Israel

By David E. Kaplan

Isn’t it ironic  that while the leadership of Iran threatens Israel with destruction, people in Iran are being inspired by the music of an Israeli, as they bravely take to the streets to protest against this very regime .

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran has considered the Jewish state an enemy, making visiting – and even artistic cooperation – a punishable offense. Now that a song by an Israeli artist has now emerged as the Iranian “protest anthem”, I wonder if the self-proclaimed master of English irony  – Jeremy Corbyn  – appreciates Iranian ‘irony’?

Opening Doors. Liraz Charhi seen here photographed by Rotem Lebel in the Jaffa neighborhood of Tel Aviv for ROSE & IVY.

Resonating across Iran are Israeli  Liraz Charhi‘s lyrics:

 “Until when will we be silent, until when will we keep our head down?”

With the people no longer “silent” nor keeping their “heads down”, it is little wonder Liraz Charhi’s music has emerged as the soundtrack to Iran protests that were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police after being arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.

Women are saying Eneough. Iran is witnessing one of its worst unrests after the country’s morality police physically assaulted a 22-year-old Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini to death for wearing her hijab inappropriately. Her death has sparked a global protest against restrictions on women in Iran

It makes little difference to Iranians of every class and culture who are protesting for a regime change that Chardi has worn the uniform of the Israeli army. As a conscript, music was Chardi’s weapon serving in the military band of the Education and Youth Corps.

Born in Ramla in central Israel to a family of Persian origin, the Israeli actress, singer and dancer is a niece to Israel’s internationally famous singer and actress – Rita. Frequently singing in her native Persian language, Rita has been referred to as a cultural ambassador between Israeli and Iranian citizens hoping to “puncture the wall of tension” between their countries. In this quest her niece Liraz Charhi has joined her.

Female Freedoms. ‘Zan Bezan’ translated to ‘Women, Sing’ is an invitation to join Liraz’s private revolution of song and dance, calling on women in the Middle East and around the globe to build on the positive language of female freedoms.

Charhi told Israel’s Channel 12 that her first album, “NAZ”  – which featured Iranian artists  – was well received in the Islamic Republic after it was released in 2018.

“Very quickly I received videos of women dancing in underground parties and removing their chador and dancing to these songs,” she said.

Clearly, Charhi was having an impact. She was as the headlines proclaimed:

“….. SINGING FOR HER SISTERS”

Inspired perhaps by the changes that came about in the 1960s fueled by the freedom-loving music of the period, Charhi observes events in Iran with a mixture of fear and hope as her “sisters” protest against the repressive regime by burning their headscarves. “I’ve always believed women can make the revolution in Iran – we have the force to create change!”

Singing for her Sisters. Iranian women demonstrate against repression, Israeli-Iranian singer Liraz Charhi’s new album was made for them.

Especially these days she asserts:

“I’m very proud of my sisters and I support them and am with them in every breath.”

While Charhi grew up in a traditional Iranian home with Farsi-speaking, Persian-Jewish parents, as an Israeli she has never been allowed to visit the land of her heritage. But profoundly connected she is.

If unable to visit Iran with her body, she does so with her personality and talent.

ROYA IS REALISED

The saga behind the production of her latest album ROYA is most revealing. It was something like out of the Israeli award-winning spy thriller ‘Tehran’ in which Charhi stars as a Mossad agent. Cutting the album ROYA became a covert mission necessitating  to secretly meet with the Iranian musicians – including women – at a recording studio in Istanbul. It was so risky that Charhi only revealed to her family only the day before she left Israel. “Not evern my manager believed it would actually happen,” she says.

 “Liraz, this is dangerous. Are you sure?’ he said to her to which she replied:

 “It will happen.”

Tough Call. Liraz Charhi as Mossad agent Yael Kadosh in “Tehran.” (AppleTV+)

Turkey was selected as it’s one of the few countries Iranians can travel to without a visa. Nevertheless, the artists came on the condition that their faces would be blurred in any photographs taken and that their names would not be published anywhere.

It could have been out of the script of  the ‘Tehran’ mini-series. While quietly buying the air tickets for her Israeli band members, Charhi then hired a Turkish company to look after the ‘unnamed’ Iranian musicians, who would be met by security at the airport in Istanbul and taken secretly to the studio.

“I knew that they would come,” she says. The fact that they were participating anonymously “meant they did not do it for money or publicity. They did it because we’re sharing the same dream and the same hope of meeting together and bringing our music and our love to the world.”

This resonated with the name of the album
ROYA, which in Persian means ‘fantasy’ or ‘dream’.
For all her conviction, until the minute the musicians landed in Istanbul and were united in the underground studio with her Israeli band of three women and three men, Charhi was more than anxious.
“I kind of fainted in the recording,” she says. “I felt that I could not sing.” This fear permeated in the song recorded Tunha, meaning “alone”. It came through in a slight quiver in her voice lending authenticity to what these musicians were going through just to make a recording!

She could so easily have been “alone”  – in the sense without her Iranians – but as Herzl wrote, “If you will it, it is no dream.”

It turned out it was no dream. ROYA had been realized.

Charhi was moved by their bravery.

“I waited all my life to meet my friends and family from Iran; the fact that you weren’t afraid and were brave is… WOW,” said Charhi as she welcomed the musicians on their safe arrival at the studio in Istanbul.

One of the musicians told Channel 12:

“I know this might be dangerous, but I do what I love.”

Message of the Music. The music of Israeli singer and actress Liraz Charhi, recorded in collaboration with Iranian artists, has become widely associated with recent protests in the Islamic Republic.

Music mission

Charhi’s cause-driven cultural mission continued unabated. Following the recording of the album, she went on tour over the summer when she was offered an opportunity by the Jewish Culture Festival to perform with her Iranian musicians at the Old Synagogue in Krakow, Poland.

Incredibly, the Iranians agreed as long as they were masked so golden hijabs were woven to conceal their identities.  However, one of the artists insisted on showing part of her hair and was later identified and suffered repercussions in Iran for performing with an Israeli.

I Have a Dream

Since the outbreak of protests in Iran which have claimed over 200 lives so far – including over 28 children – at the hands of the security services, Charhi has received messages of support from fans in Iran over Instagram.

“Thank you for being our voice, I will never be forgotten,” one message read.

“I love your songs in Persian and hope that one day you will sing in beautiful Tehran,” another supporter wrote.

This second message brought back memories for me when I interviewed Charhi’s aunt Rita in in 2014 for Hilton Israel Magazine. Iranian-born Israeli pop singer and actress, Rita has mesmerized audiences globally from concert halls to Britain’s House of Lords and the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York. Her message has always one of love – that music unites people irrespective of their religion and nationality.

Aunty Rita. “There’s no quarrel between Israelis and Iranians, just between governments,” says Liraz Charhi’s aunt, Israel’s premier female vocalist, Rita  Jahan-Foruz seen here in 2014 with then US President Barak Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres.

When I asked, “What’s next?” she replied:

.“There is a saying in Arabic that says, ‘Throw your heart forward and fetch it.’ It does not matter if the dream is realistic or reasonable but one has to chase it.  My dream is to sing in Persian in Iran.”

“You really believe this will happen,” I asked

“Yes,” she said and then with a broad smile, “and still when I have my own teeth.”

Who knows, maybe sometime soon, niece and aunt will  fulfill their dream of singing in Iran in Persian.

May the Tehran of tomorrow be the location not of spy thrillers but musical concerts.

As a plan  it ‘SOUNDS’ GOOD!







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- 11-13 October 2022


The Israel Brief – 11 October 2022 – Maritime deal reached. Soldier in serious condition following shooting. Kanye West antisemitic rant. Sukkot.



The Israel Brief – 12 October 2022 – Jerusalem on high alert. Security cabinet votes on maritime deal. Russia and Israel – war of words. Jewish sports museum opens.



The Israel Brief – 13 October 2022 – Violence in Jerusalem. Fatah and Hamas officials meet in Algiers. Israel gives Intel to Ukraine. IDF rescue American.





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).

GOOSE STEPS TO GOOSE BUMPS IN POLAND

A visit to Oscar Schindler’s Enamel Factory inKraków

By Motti Verses

When Queen Elizabeth’s death was announced, we were in Kraków, Poland standing in the ticket queue at the Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory – today a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. Standing in front of us were a group of English ladies  – a clear giveaway from their accent.

Former office block of Schindler’s enamel factory, now a branch of the Historical Museum of Krakow.

“Where are you from?” I asked politely.

“From Northern Ireland,” they eagerly replied.

“But your Queen has  just passed away. Why are you here?” I asked.

Their collective reply was poignant and prescient:  

“Nothing will stop us from visiting this place. Nothing.”

End of the Road. Dark Ghetto streets with arched design walls, similar to bible scrolls. (photo: Motti Verses) 

Observing the masses of visitors inside speaking in countless languages, I understood how powerful the Oskar Schindler name is. Although this October Oskar Schindler  passed away 48 years ago, his legacy keeps growing in popularity contributing enormously to educating about the Holocaust. Thanks to Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Oscar award winning “Schindler’s List”, Oskar Schindler was transformed from relative obscurity into a global hero, while the movie careers of Liam Neeson (as Schindler) and Ralph Fiennes (as Amon Goeth, the SS commandant of the notorious Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp) skyrocketed.

Roads of Remembrance. A ride in a tram car of the 1940s observing black and white movies, seen from the windows, reflecting ghetto street scenes.  (Photo: Motti Verses)

A permanent exhibit entitled “Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945”, was riveting as it was equally horrifying. Comprising 45 exhibition rooms, every minute was literally hair-raising  – little wonder I and others walked around with goose bumps! Numerous black and white documentaries of Jewish life in the ghetto take you back to a dark time, reinforced by the dark ambiance.

Gateway to Hell. The main gate of Płaszów Nazi concentration camp the southern suburb of Kraków, shown in the museum as an exhibit (photo: Motti Verses)

This experience includes a ride in a historical tram of the period, holding a leather strip attached to its ceiling rail. The black and white movies seen from the windows, reflect ghetto street scenery. The visitor experiences going back in time -a dreadful excursion into a dark past.

Hold on for dear Life.  Authentic interior of the tram car from where you observe life in the ghetto.

Unlike Jewish Holocaust memorials I have visited in the past, this exhibition is different as it presents Poland as the core focus, emphasising that both Polish Christians and Jews as one collective were victims of Nazi atrocities. There is a major focus on the part played by the Polish military trying to resist the German Nazi invasion which although resulted in total failure, the Polish soldiers are presented – throughout the exhibition – as war heroes. Clearly, what is in play here is to revise the history of Poland’s role in WWII so as to crush any suggestions or intimations of Polish collusion. The official announcement of the exhibition states the following:

“The exhibition is primarily a story about Kraków and its inhabitants, both Polish Christians and Jews, during World War II. It is also a story about Nazi Germans – the occupiers, who arrived here on 6 September 1939, brutally disrupting Kraków’s centuries long history of Polish-Jewish relations”.

Dark Ages. Personal stations with documentaries of Jewish life in the ghetto takes the viewer back to a dark age.  (Photo: Motti Verses)

As part of the exhibition, the visitor walks along the Ghetto’s dark streets, on cobblestones with darkened light, resembling the winter weather. The walls have arched designs, similar to bible scrolls. This was the architecture set by the Nazis to identify the ‘people’ locked within – isolated from the rest of Polish society. Some visitors interpreted the design of the walls as resembling tombstones in a Jewish cemetery, implying there was little to no chance that any of the residents would ever leave alive.

Oskar Schindler’s heroism is naturally a significant part of the experience. A walk inside his former office is intensely emotional as this historic room located in the factory’s administrative building has been preserved intact. The most impressive exhibit in the office is the symbolic “Survivors’ Ark”. It is made of thousands of enameled pots, similar to those manufactured by Schindler’s employees during the war. An extraordinary work.

Feeling the Heat. The exhibit “Survivors’ Ark” made of thousands of pots similar to those manufactured by Schindler’s employees during the war. (Photo: Motti Verses)

History marks the following facts. After the German troops entered Kraków, Schindler moved to the Polish city and took over the former enamel factory “Rekord”, converting it into the Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik. The factory also provided for the German munitions industry, which guaranteed its owner special privileges. Schindler employed more and more Jews by the year, saving them from death in concentration camps.

Schindler the Savior. Celebrating of four years of operation, Oskar Schindler (centre) and his administrative staff in 1944.

In 1944, Schindler evacuated his employees to Moravia, where the factory functioned until the Red Army entered on May 8th, 1945. Schindler, who saved over one thousand Jews, was awarded with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations in 1963. The Righteous Among the Nations are non-Jewish individuals who have been honored by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, for risking their lives to aid Jews during the Holocaust.

As an Israeli – visiting Kraków’s Jewish district known as Kazimierz, just outside the old city walls – was an experience that was both illuminating and shocking. Exploring it with a golf cart and guide is highly recommended. “Kazimierz is Kraków’s China Town,” said our guide Walter – a middle-aged Professor that worked at the University as a Mathematician – driving a yellow golf cart. At first I thought the description offensive, however on reflection, thinking about it objectively, he was right. No human story can beat what the Jewish community contributes to tourism flowing to this impressive and most recognisable Polish urban brand in the world. Nothing remained from the old Jewish Ghetto. Sixty-five iron chairs are all set permanently in its former square. Symbolically marking 65,000 Jewish lives that were sent to death camps. Families and little children play there, using the sculptures as a playground.  In this way, they inter’play’ with the past, hopefully having a positive impact on the future.

Oscar’s Office. Schindler’s desk with his family photos, desk lamp, a folder, and a telephone from the 1940s.

A visit to Kraków must be on everybody’s bucket list, including – 70 Kilometres to the west – Auschwitz concentration camp. If you make the trip there or not, the experience of the Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory on 4 Lipowa Street is highly recommended. The sound and sight of goose steps has past but its legacy leaves lingering goose bumps as I leave.

The visit will stay with me forever.


* Feature picture – The writer standing in front of the entrance to Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory with photographs of the Jewish workers he saved  (photo: Motti Verses).



About the writer:

Motti Verses is a Communications Executive, Video Presenter, Writer, Marketing and PR Expert. He was Head of Public Relations for Hilton Hotels Israel for more than 30 years. Now he is the publisher of Travel Flash Tips.

http://linkedin.com/in/motti-verses-a7369913






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 ELIZABETH LINE

A personal account of what it was like to be a part of the historical Queue to pay tribute to Her Majesty, The Queen as the late monarch lay in state.

By Rehna

I found the experience of seeing her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, lying in the state at Westminster hall, profoundly moving.

The silence as you enter the hall and walk past the catafalque (the raised platform on which the closed coffins rests) is almost otherworldly. The emotion on the faces of the people paying their respects is very real. The admiration and love is palpable. It’s not an experience anyone lucky enough to enter that hall is likely to forget. As one of my group quietly said as he exited, “Well, that was powerful stuff!”

The magic of it also is that, as you bowed or curtsied or simply filed past the coffin you forgot the many hours in the queue that brought you there.

The Queen’s Queue. People standing in lines to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II near Westminster Hall (Photograph:Reuters)

THE QUEUE

Many have joked that ‘the queue’ was the queue British people have been waiting for all their lives. Joke or not, it’s probably true. It was indeed the mother of all queues!

But, it’s not actually a real queue at all. Not in the proper sense of people shuffling along one by one. Instead, it was like going for a walk along the river Thames with 100,000 of your nicest mates.

Wittily dubbed ‘QueueE2’, it was a large mass of people constantly moving along, in a sort of order, to get to a common destination. I’ll grandly call the queue I was in, ‘my queue’ with no disrespect intended to others in it.

WHERE IT STARTS

My queue started in Southwark Park. The nearest tube station was Bermondsey and it was signposted from there. There were friendly, helpful stewards along the way from start to finish. Towards the end they cheered you on just as you were flagging. At the start they gave you their time estimates for the whole exercise. People took the estimates with a pinch of salt. They were mostly on the pessimistic side, probably not to raise hopes early on.

Well-wishers and stewards make their way up the South Bank. (Stephen Chung / Alamy Stock Photo)

There were over 44,000 people in front of me and more behind.

The police were also on hand to help with the queue. We met two officers who told us that it was their day off but they wanted to help out “for Her Majesty.” They said they would be on duty in Hyde Park on the Monday during the funeral, and that they would ‘bow their heads’ for a moment to pay their respects. We met people who were passing by who cheered us on and expressed similar sentiments all along the way.

Initially you just started walking with the crowd. Then near Tower Bridge there were stewards handing out wristbands. You couldn’t go further without a band. The wristband was a different colour each day, presumably to prevent people returning and jumping the queue.

Towering Figure. The queue for The Queen at Tower Bridge on the Thames River.

THE ROUTE

It was a pretty, scenic route along the river.  You walked through parts of Southwark which looked like they could have been used as locations for Oliver Twist.  The queue then headed towards London Bridge, past Tower Bridge, the Cuttysark, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate gallery, the London Eye, heading towards Southbank and then, finally, further along the river, opposite the Houses of Parliament, over Lambeth Bridge towards Westminster gardens.

In the Public Eye. The queue as it forms a loop beneath the London Eye. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

There were lovely tributes to the Queen all along the way. The Tate gallery had a series of portraits in front of it. The BFI (british Film Institute) had a film about the Queen playing outside its entrance. There were displays of photographs and posters in many shops and restaurants.

COULD YOU LEAVE THE QUEUE BRIEFLY?

Yes, for brief periods.  There were portaloos provided all along the route. But some people preferred to avoid the ‘Glastonbury experience’ and went into one of the shops and Cafes along the way, bought a coffee and used their facilities. Your wristband had a number on it and if you moved out of the queue for a few minutes, you simply looked for the group and rejoined them. You broadly stayed within your group number rather than strictly according to your individual one because the queue was not a straight line.

WHAT WE TOOK

Comfortable walking shoes. Food and drink. I took a book with me but didn’t open it once because I was chatting to people in the queue, as we were walking and there was no time.

The People’s Queen. On and on people of all ages queued as seen here on Tooley Street.

THE CROWD

I spoke to a lot of people in the queue. They were all extremely friendly and just plain nice!

People shared food, sweets and bought coffees for strangers they had just met. It was wonderful – even the woman who tried to share her homemade marmite (!) sandwiches and the young woman  desperately trying to offload a big bucket of flapjacks!

Route of Revelations. There were plenty of Union Jack umbrellas and Paddington Bears to be found along the seven-kilometre route. (Vuk Valcic / Alamy Stock Photo)

Don’t let social media tell you otherwise – the crowd was diverse in every respect. Lots of young people. (I’ve been pleasantly surprised at all the events I’ve covered, so far, by how many young people came out for the Queen. Outside Buckingham Palace on the Thursday after the death of the Queen was announced, the majority of the thousands who were there, in the pouring rain, were in their late teens and early 20’s. On Saturday there were whole families, including thousands of children).

In my queue there were people of every age group, different ethnicities, nationalities and sexualities. Women in hijabs, men with dreadlocks, people from Scotland, Yorkshire, Suffolk, everywhere, tourists from the USA, Japan, China , gay couples holding hands, suited professionals carrying briefcases, older people using walking sticks. Obviously the majority were white because that’s the demographics of the country.

 I will also say this, in response to the ugly posts of Americans like Uni Anya who wrote a cruel tweet about the Queen and the ‘journalism’ of once respected The New York Times on the subject – I can’t think of any another head of state who would draw crowds of this number and this diversity. Only The Queen could draw such crowds for her Platinum Jubilee just three months before; and now she was drawing them 24/7 for her last ‘public engagement’ on earth.

THE BANTER

People were chatting to each other throughout the entire walk. Obviously people talked about the Queen. They spoke of her younger years, of the programmes they had watched about her life, the commemorative supplements they had bought in the recent days as a collection of ‘history’.

Bird’s Eye View. A 30-hour wait allows plenty of time for feeding seagulls. (David Ramos/Getty Images)

For many, it seemed that the television coverage, the documentaries and tributes were proving to be a living history lesson. Teachers told me that children who usually have little interest in learning were genuinely interested in the media output about the Queen and royalty. “Queen Elizabeth” was a big trend on social media platforms like Tik Tok! (Rejoice! This year kids on TikTok have discovered Kate Bush, Elvis and the Queen)!

The Friday after the Queen died, I tried to buy one of the newspaper special editions printed to mark the death of the longest serving monarch in British history. Every single newspaper had sold out everywhere. I haven’t seen that happen in decades. In fact, I personally can’t remember it ever happening. Maybe it did forPrincess Diana too. That should give the British press pause for thought as to what their readers appreciate, which is namely Royals who have a sense of duty and who display class and regal behaviour.

Apart from the Queen, the people I spoke to, in the queue, admired the new Prince and Princess of Wales (William and Catherine), Princess Anne and Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. They want to see more of them in the media. Nobody wanted to see more of actress Meghan Markle – or at all. The dislike for her amongst everyone I spoke to in the queue was intense. Her malodorous jabs at the Royal family and everything the Queen stood for have not gone unnoticed. People of different backgrounds said they simply “do not want to see her face pushed upfront by the media” when those who truly knew and loved the Queen and were genuinely grieving her loss, such as her granddaughters Beatrice and Zara, were barely visible.

By contrast, there was a lot of love for little Prince Louis. His antics at the recent Platinum Jubilee had charmed many and they wanted to see more of him in the future.

Overall, people welcome a slimmed down monarchy.

There was also a lot of love all along the queue for Major Jonny Thompson! For the uninitiated, the dashing Equerry for King Charles, previously worked for the Queen and quite the fan club on the internet. But that, er, admiration is expanding!

Generally there was much light, enjoyable conversation about all sorts of topics. It was like joining a huge picnic where you fear you won’t find anyone to talk to but end up making friends you arrange to meet for drinks in the future. It’s not quite “We’ll always have Paris” but it is close. Paris is eternal. The queue was a once in a lifetime experience, albeit a lengthy one. When we got near Lambeth Bridge we saw what looked like Christmas trees. “We’ve been here longer than I thought” quipped one woman.

MEDIA

There were television crew all along the way at various points. So, if you fancied your moment to wave to your mum, you could dive in and accept their invitation to talk about your queue experience.

LEAVE IT AT HOME!

You couldn’t take liquids or food into Westminster Hall. Ladies had to leave their make-up lotions and potions at home, especially the expensive ones. One journalist had £80 worth of make-up taken off her!

Solid lipsticks were okay but not lipgloss. Creams, foundation, –  all were confiscated. 

SECURITY

The security check was just before you entered the hall. It was like airport security – but tighter. It was very quick and efficient however, unlike at many airports.

THE HARDEST PART

The first few hours passed easily and quickly. My queue got stuck for a while outside County Hall but that was bearable. The hardest part was definitely the zig zag section (snake lines) inside Westminster Gardens. You could see the hall, it looked tantalisingly close –  but the queue is so huge that even though it was still constantly moving, it felt like you would never get there.

By this snake line point, even my lively queue looked tired. Feet and backs were finally complaining. One young boy just lay down on his skateboard and had to be pushed along by his mother. A toddler woke up from his sleep and looked bewildered. A few rows back a man seemed to lose it – and a couple of police officers had to quietly ‘assist’ him.

THE END

Going through security was quick and painless. We were asked to switch off our phones. Suddenly everyone forgot their tiredness. We all stood straighter and dumped our half eaten sandwiches and flapjacks.

A Nation Mourns. Emotions ran high as many tears were shed. (BEN STANSALL/Getty Images)

THE HALL

We all divided into four lanes, two on each side. The girl in front of me started sobbing before we even mounted the set of steps leading to the hall. She was clearly overcome with emotion. I lightly touched her arm as a gesture of comfort. She gave me a small, sad smile.

INTO THE HALL

Total silence. To say the sight before us was majestic is both obvious and true. The man to my side began to cry silently. My throat constricted but I didn’t cry.

I looked at the crown on top of the coffin. I looked at the guards. I looked at the coffin. And I thought of the young Queen taking on a role she was not born for at the age of 25. The image of her at her Coronation came into my head. Many other, more personal thoughts too, came to mind.

It seemed like we were all floating through a dream sequence as we walked closer to the coffin.

I bowed my head. In the queue we had joked about whether we would bow or curtsey. Our attempts to curtsey were not elegant. So a bow.

At the doors I looked back, trying to take it all in. The royal purple, the red and black of the guards uniforms, the vastness of the hall, the magnificent ceiling and most of all that coffin.

Farewell to The Queen. Members of the public file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall. (Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA)

Then we were out. Everyone silent and reflective. The girl who been crying saw me and gently squeezed my arm this time.

Hours earlier, halfway on our queue journey, a passerby had stopped to chat. He said, he had waited 10.5 hours the day before. “Don’t give up,” he said. “I promise you it will be worth it.”

It was.



About the writer:

Rehna is a practicing Barrister in London, specialising in Family Law cases. She is also a freelance writer and commentator who contributes to the national press in the UK, print and magazines and radio.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).






Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 09 October 2022

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

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The Israel Brief

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CHAG SUKKOT SAMEACH

While we build huts to remember the temporary shelters during 40 years of Israelite wandering in their
ancient flight from bondage, the true WONDER today is modern Israel and
Jews “never again” have to WANDER.
L’Chaim



Articles

(1)

‘BLOOD’IMIR PUTIN’S WAR

Ditching imperious ambitions to dodge military conscription – a message from the masses

By David E. Kaplan

Defying Putin. The mass mobilisation of reservists to bolster his failing forces in Ukraine sparks protests across Russia. (AP photo)

Over 120 years separate the writer’s grandfather – Max Kaplan – deserting the Russian army in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War and Russian deserters today who too are unwilling to sacrifice their futures for imperial fantasies. Determined to throw endless more young men into the furnace, the writer reflects on the wider ramifications and the message of those who are defying Vladimir’s vanity!  

‘BLOOD’IMIR PUTIN’S WAR

(Click on the blue title)



(2)

A ROTTEN PAINT JOB

Poland and Lithuania covering up the complicit cracks of the past

By Stephen Schulman

Poles Apart. While Jews commemorate the massacre of Jews, Polish lawmakers pass bill outlawing implicating Poles.

Truth is a commodity today that has to be fought for and never more so than when it comes to the Holocaust. Where once they killed Jews, now they try kill the identity of the killers. The writer peels away the deceit of the present to reveal the complicity of the past.

A ROTTEN PAINT JOB

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The Arab Voice – September 2022

A selection of opinions and analysis from the Arab media

Broad-based coverage on the Middle East, LOTL provides a platform to what Arab journalists – in their own words – are writing about the region.

The Arab Voice – September 2022

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LOTL Co-founders 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).

 

The Israel Brief- 28 September – 06 October 2022

The Israel Brief – 28 September 2022 – UN speeches: Lapid and Abbas. Clashes in Jenin. Israel stands with the women of Iran. US and Israel sign major tech agreement.



The Israel Brief – 29 September 2022 – Tensions in West Bank. South Africans to pray for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Russia to annex territory in Ukraine – what does this mean for Jews? Arnold Schwarzenegger visits Auschwitz.



The Israel Brief – 04 October 2022 – Meeting with Israel – EU Association Council resumes. Palestinians object to UK possibly moving embassy. Violence in West Bank. Israel prepares for Yom Kippur.



The Israel Brief – 06 October 2022 – Your headlines from Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

A ROTTEN PAINT JOB  

Poland and Lithuania covering up the complicit cracks of the past

By Stephen Schulman

Seventy seven years have passed since the defeat of Nazi Germany. Memories fade, survivors have passed away together with many of the criminals who remained unexposed and unpunished. Poland and Lithuania today, are in the throes of official movements to renovate and refurbish a new national image and recreate the national narrative. As with any refurbishing, there is much discarding, covering up of the old and adopting of the new and this move ties neatly in with a decidedly revisionist history that has been legislated, seeks to create myths, recraft  a sanitized past and muzzle any historical research that may reveal unpleasant truths.

Determined Duo. Historian Jan Grabowski (left) and sociologist Barbara Engelking who wrote a book about the Holocaust in Poland were taken to court for defamation.

In 2018, Poland’s Senate passed a bill that outlaws blaming the country for any crimes committed during the Holocaust. The bill was proposed by the country’s ruling Law and Justice Party and calls for up to three years in prison or a fine for accusing the Polish state or people of involvement in or responsibility for the Nazi occupation during World War II. Tragically, this blatant attempt to whitewash the past rings hollow in the light of historical facts. Nevertheless, the prevailing winds of nationalism are blowing strong and many Polish historians are loath to tack against the gale lest they find themselves on the shoals of criminal prosecution. Consequently, they now take care to modify their researches. There is a powerful movement to discredit and besmirch Jan Gross and last year, in a decision widely condemned by American and European academics, a Polish court found Jan Grabowski and fellow researcher Barbara Engelking guilty of defaming a small town mayor in their book on the Holocaust.

Poles Apart. While Jews from Poland and abroad gather in 2016 for commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of a massacre of Jews in Jedwabne, Poland, on 10 July 1941, Polish lawmakers in 2018 passed a bill outlawing the blaming of Poles for crimes of the Holocaust committed in Poland. The Jedwabne pogrom was a massacre of Polish Jews by ethnic Poles  in the town of Jedwabne of at least 340 men, women and children, some 300 of whom were locked in a barn and burned alive. The Polish ringleaders decided on it beforehand with Germany’s Gestapo, SS security police or SS intelligence and cooperated with German military police. (AP Photo/Michal Kosc)

The Poles were victims of Russian and German invasion and oppression and paid a heavy price. Nevertheless, there are well documented histories of Poles not only collaborating with the Nazis but also taking their own initiative in the murder of Jews. The pogrom at Jedwabne in 1941 was far from being an isolated incident as a recently published book by Mirosław Tryczyk shockingly sheds light on fifteen other locations. Anna Bikont, a courageous journalist, in revisiting that town sixty years after the slaughter, noted the denial, the amnesia, the obfuscation, the intimidation, the fear of witnesses to speak out and the open threats made to those who wished to acknowledge the town’s guilt.

The annual March of the Living when many groups of all ages from Israel and abroad visit the death camps has been compromised due to the Polish government’s demand that now each one be accompanied by an official guide to provide a governmentally approved narrative. It appears that what comes from the mouths of the regular guides paints an unpleasantly discomforting picture.

Staying on Track. Despite, the controversy surrounding Poland’s 2018 Holocaust bill penalizing mentioning involvement in and by the Polish people/nation/state in Nazi crimes followed with calls from Knesset members to stop the trips by young Israelis to Poland, participants attended the annual “March of the Living” in 2019. ( REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo/File Photo)

The attempts made throughout the years by Holocaust survivors and their descendants for restitution of family property have been fruitless, long obstructed by prevarication in the passing of a bill compensating for property seized by the Nazis and the subsequent Communist regime. In September 2021, however, the government stirred itself enough to pass a law which prevents claimants from challenging administrative decisions older than 30 years, including those issued without legal basis or issued in gross violation of the law. In practice, it will become virtually impossible for all former Polish property owners – including Holocaust survivors and their descendants, many of whom have had claims pending for years to seek redress.

How ironic that the Polish government whilst squelching private compensation claims is now demanding 1.23 trillion Euro in compensation from Germany for the damages caused to the country during the Nazi invasion and occupation. It appears that the 30 year limit for claimants’ restitution does not apply to the government itself. When interests dictate, there is seemingly no time limit!

Moreover, in an act of unprecedented callous cynicism, the government has sought to include in its claims for damages, the towns where pogroms of the Jews were carried out by the local inhabitants. They will no doubt also seek restitution for the barn in Jedwabne where the good townspeople herded in, set on fire and burnt 300 of their Jewish neighbours alive. 

Lithuania, 2022

A nation, said John F. Kennedy in October 1963, just a month before he was assassinated, “reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”

Lithuania today refuses to come to grips with its wartime past and honours people who have a dark past of collaboration and murder. The national establishment is determined to repackage the country’s wartime history of the Nazi occupation as one of victimization, non-collaboration with and complete noninvolvement in the murder of its Jews. Those who have tried to dismantle this edifice of distortion, obfuscation and denial have not only come up against a blank wall but have paid a price.

Grant Cochin, a former South African of Lithuanian descent now living in the USA, in researching his family’s past discovered a great number of relatives who perished in the Holocaust and the names of Lithuanians complicit in their murder who have been elevated to the status of national icons. He has recorded that in the decades seeking redress and uncovering the truth, he has filed between 20 and 30 lawsuits against the Lithuanian government, encountering obstruction, denial, delay and threats of criminal charges. Moreover, he asserts that he has “exposed” virtually every corner of the government, courts, Parliament, public prosecutors, the president and prime minister, all of them involved in the cover-up.

In 2021 an exceptional book was published: The Nazi’s Granddaughter. How I Discovered My Grandfather was a War Criminal by Sylvia Foti. The book details a painful twenty year journey of intellectual honesty and raw courage of an American citizen with strong Lithuanian roots searching for and revealing the truth about her grandfather Jonas Noreika who has been enshrined as a national hero.

Truth Exposed.While accused Nazi collaborator Jonas Noreika (centre) was whitewashed by Lithuania’s Genocide and Resistance Research Center, his granddaughter Silvia Foti (right) says he did his best to help Nazis kill Jews. The relatives of Grant Gochin (left) were among Noreika’s victims.

In June 2018, with supporting evidence from Sylvia Foti, Grant Cochin challenged the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Center’s denial of Noreika’s war crimes. In spite of the overwhelming evidence, a Vilnius court threw out the case declaring for the government funded Center’s objectivity and veracity plus ordering Cochin to pay all the costs – a decision that he called:

 “The Jew Tax”

Those who dare to challenge the official sanitized national narrative have borne the brunt of official opprobrium. Evaldas Balciunas who was the first to disclose Noreika’s past to the English speaking world and Dovid Katz who published his findings have been dismissed from their jobs, harassed by the government, interrogated by the police and declared “enemies of the state“.

Ruta Vanagaita too, has discovered the high cost of intellectual honesty and of voicing her thoughts in public when she questioned the past of a nationally revered hero: anti-Soviet resistance fighter. She not only immediately lost her livelihood when her publisher withdrew all her books from the shops and pulped them but fearing for her safety remained in the shelter of her home, eventually leaving the country for some time. Among the insults showered on her in the street was “pro–Putin Jewish whore” – in Lithuanian eyes, being called Jewish, is an insult in itself! A brave and resolute lady, she has remained undeterred in uncovering the truth about Lithuania’s participation in the Holocaust, leading tours to massacre sites and co-authoring a book with the Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff.

Nasty Neighbours. Dr. Efraim Zuroff  (right) coauthored with the granddaughter of perpetrators, Rūta Vanagaitė (left), the book “Our People” that tackles the sensitive issue of the motivation of thousands of ordinary Lithuanians complicit in the murder of Jewish neighbours.

Lest we forget. A friend of mine, formerly from Lithuania, now also living in Israel, told me the following story about his home town.

One of its residents was a Jew who had fought in WW II. He was a loner who kept to himself. On market day he had bought a live goose, put it in a sack, slung it over his shoulder and started walking home. At the same time, there was a woman whose small child had gone astray and was engaged in searching for him/her.  On seeing the man carrying the sack with the goose flapping around in it, she started screaming that the Jew had kidnapped her child. Old prejudices die hard and it did not take much to set the townspeople off on a Jew hunt. Fortunately, until the furor eventually died down, the local police prevented a pogrom by protecting the homes of the few Jewish residents. My friend as a boy remembers sitting at home, the fear they felt, the anti-Semitic insults and threats shouted by passersby and the stones thrown against their closed shutters.

This near-pogrom took place in September 1958!





A PERSONAL FOOTNOTE 

Immersing oneself in the vast literature of the Holocaust is not only a daunting and an interminable task but also a heartbreaking one as you become overwhelmed by the horror and the immense scope of so many human tragedies. In my reading, over the course of time, while trying not to do injustice to so many other excellent and deserving works, I have attempted to focus on, what I consider relevant books. Below – with no pretensions of being comprehensive – is a short list of selected titles.

Anna Bikont: The Crime and the Silence

Miroslaw Tryczyk (Author), Frank Smulowicz (Translator): The Towns of Death: Pogroms against Jews by Their Neighbors

Saul Friedlander: The Years of Extermination

                            Nazi Germany and the Jews

Sylvia Foti: The Nazi’s Granddaughter

Jan Grabowski: Hunt for the Jews

Ruta Vanagaite and Efraim Zuroff: Our People. Discovering Lithuania’s Hidden Holocaust.

Jeffrey Veidlinger: In the Midst of Civilized Europe

Jan T. Gross: Neighbors

Fear

Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen and Volker Reiss (Editors): The Good Old Days. The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders.

Father Patrick Desbois: In Broad Daylight

David I. Kertzer: The Popes against the Jews

                           The Pope at War




About the writer:

Stephen Schulman is a graduate of the South African Jewish socialist youth movement Habonim, who immigrated to Israel in 1969 and retired in 2012 after over 40 years of English teaching. He was for many years a senior examiner for the English matriculation and co-authored two English textbooks for the upper grades in high school. Now happily retired, he spends his time between his family, his hobbies and reading to try to catch up on his ignorance.




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).

‘BLOOD’IMIR PUTIN’S WAR

Ditching imperious ambitions to dodge military conscription – a message from the masses

By David E. Kaplan

“It’s a war about nothing,” said the Russian father supporting his young son on his shoulders to CNN on the Georgian side of the border with Russia.  He was one among the throng of refugees escaping their “Mother Russia” to avoid conscription. As one gleans in interviews with one fleeing eligible Russian soldier after another, they “hate” this war but feel powerless to stop it.

Protests against President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order are spreading across Russia, including to the far east, as many young men are fleeing the country. CNN correspondent Nick Robertson reports. #CNN #News

Evgeny, a 28-year-old photographer from Moscow, who walked the last 20 kilometres to the Georgia-Russia border crossing at Verkhny Lars to avoid the huge traffic jam of vehicles trying to cross, told CBC News that:

 “People are fleeing under very dire circumstances; many are saving their lives. They do not want to fight in this imperialistic, pointless war.”

Russians on the Run. People walk next to their cars queuing to cross the border into Kazakhstan at the Mariinsky border crossing, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Chelyabinsk, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. Officials say about 98,000 Russians crossed into Kazakhstan in the week since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine. (AP Photo)

For George Vatsadze, who crossed with his brother and his dog carrying only a bag with a few clothes, it was personal. It does not get more personal than family. With a Ukrainian grandmother and cousins living in Ukraine, this marketing professional had “no choice,” he said. “I can’t go there to fight.” 

Aware he was placing himself at risk by speaking to CNN, he nevertheless continued:

“I think maybe about half of our population think the war is wrong, but they can’t stand up against it because it’s dangerous.”

As the CNN camara left George crossing into Georgia focusing on his disappearing back  – the ever-diminishing image left the viewer of a man leaving his home for good – never to return!

Putin causes Panic. Cars, walkers and cyclists at a border crossing between Russia’s North Ossetia region and Georgia after Moscow announced a partial military mobilization. (AP Photo)

These tragic unfolding human dramas playing out at Russia’s border crossings with Georgia, Finland and other areas, bear testimony to the hundreds of thousands of men  desperately trying to bolt before being dragged into fighting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

This reminded me of the story of my grandfather Menachem Mendel Kaplan from Shadova (Šeduva ) in Lithuania then part of Tzarist Russia who was conscripted into the Russian army in 1904 and sent off on a troop train across Siberia to Vladivostok to fight in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). As a Jew from a small shtetl, Menachem Mendel – later to be known as Max – was hardly interested in risking his life to further Russia’s rival ambitions with the Empire of Japan over Manchuria. So, before the train stopped at Vladivostok, he waited for it to slow, jumped off, ditched his rifle and uniform, walked to the port of Vladivostok and stowed away on an English steamer bound for Southampton. Had he been caught he would have been shot for desertion. For freedom, he was prepared to take the risk. He never reached England. Disembarking instead in Cape Town where he knew he had family, with his first steps in a land foreign in culture and language, began half the story of my family’s journey in South Africa and later in Israel.

Off the Beaten Track. A Trans-Siberian Railway train delivering supplies to Russian troops during the Russo-Japanese war. It would have been such a train that Menachem Mendel (Max) Kaplan jumped from when he deserted the Russian Imperial Army in 1904. (Ullstein Bild/Getty Images)

The Barb was right about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. If ‘something’ is not done to stop Putin’s war of “nothing”, how many more men will ditch imperious ambitions to dodge conscription?

“MOTHER RUSSIA” TO SMOTHER RUSSIA

For the young father with the child on his shoulder, his thinking – not unlike my grandfather 120 years earlier “This is not my war”. It was Putin’s “pointless war”. With a total area of 17,098,242 Km² (6,601,665 mi²) and a land mass of 16,376,870 Km² (6,323,142 mi²), equivalent to 11% of the total world’s landmass of 148,940,000 Km² (57,510,000 square miles), Russia is the largest country in the world. It does not need Ukraine; rather Putin wants Ukraine, and is prepared that people die en mass in pursuit  of his imperial obsession.

Interestingly, one of Russia’s closest friends today is Iran as evidenced by Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Tehran. It was the Russian leader’s first trip outside the former area of the former Soviet Union since his military invaded Ukraine. The Russian president’s first-choice visit reflects the importance he places on improving ties with the Islamic Republic, that itself today is facing civil unrest.

Irate Iranians. Despite Iran’s leadership curbing the internet, protests over the death of Mahsa Amini continued for a fifth day on Wednesday, including in the capital, Tehran.

As Russians protest and flee so too, are there protests taking place across Iran that while triggered by a young woman’s death in custody amid anger over religious rules, reflects as much a rejection of a state’s fossilized leadership that is dragging the country down.

No light at the end of the Tunnel. South Africans protest in November 2017 Eskom’s decision to cut electricity during the day by blocking the N6 highway between Aliwal North and Jamestown, Eastern Cape. 2022 the situation is WORSE!

It is little wonder that my former country South Africa supports Iran unequivocally as well as Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. South Africa too is going through its “Dark Ages”– quite literally as it even struggles  to provide daily electricity to its people.

Battling with the Basics. South Africa’s ANC government is unable to provide its citizens basic services.

What Russia, Iran and South Africa now overwhelmingly share in common is the increasing dissatisfaction of its people. Their leaderships are foremost a menace to their own people.

It’s time for regime change in all three failing states.





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 Arab Voice – September 2022

In this selection, Arab writers on the Middle East opine on the Israeli perspective of why it is escalating the war in Syria and following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a review of the legacy of English colonialism on Egypt.


ISRAEL HAS NO ALTERNATIVE TO ESCALATION

By Kheir Allah Kheir Allah

Al Rai, Kuwait, September 9

Israel recently conducted two airstrikes against the Aleppo airport within a single week. Air traffic was disrupted for two or three days because of the first strike and more damage was caused to the airport runway the second time. It is still unknown when the airport will resume its normal operation in light of these attacks. Israel’s actions reveal an atmosphere of tension in the region, especially considering Tel Aviv’s insistence on preventing the flow of Iranian weapons into Syria and, from there, into Lebanon.

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a bulldozer working on a damaged runway of the Damascus International Airport, after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Damascus, Syria, June 12, 2022.

While we don’t know how things will evolve, it is clear that the government of Yair Lapid, which is on the brink of a general election that will determine its fate in less than two months, is willing to go far to prevent Iran from establishing its foothold on Israel’s borders. Lebanon and southern Syria have joined other regions like the Gaza Strip, Iraq, and Yemen, in the long list of places where Iranian missiles can reach deep into Israeli territory. There is nothing funny about the Israeli insistence on launching strikes inside Syria. The only funny thing about the matter is the Syrian regime’s response to the two recent Aleppo raids, which it considered “war crimes”. Prior to the raids, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad claimed that “Israel is playing with fire and pushing the region into a war.” In an interview with Russian TV, Mekdad was asked about his country’s lax response to Israeli raids on Syrian territory. The minister responded by warning Israel that Syria maintains the right to respond “whenever it wants using whatever means it has” and that “Syria’s patience must not be tested.” Mekdad didn’t clarify the meaning of the phrase “whatever means” and what he meant by it. Given recent geopolitical developments, including the potential of signing a new nuclear agreement with Iran, Israel has no choice but to escalate the situation. The Israeli escalation comes at a time when the entire region is dealing with the repercussions of four simultaneous crises. The first is the crisis of the Syrian regime itself. The second is the crisis of the American inability to play a constructive and clear role in the Middle East and the Gulf. The third is the energy crisis, which has become a global problem following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The fourth is the crisis of the Iranian regime. At the basis of the Iranian regime’s crisis is an expansionist project based on spreading sectarian militias in the region so that the Islamic Republic emerges as the dominant regional power. Israel’s strikes in Syria take place where the four crises converge. What will Israel do as it finds itself increasingly encircled by Iran and its proxies with each passing day? The answer is very simple: It has no choice but to escalate. The option of escalation has become clear and has even received a degree of American blessing. Even if the Biden Administration signs a new deal with the Islamic Republic, the White House will not play a role in restraining Israel and preventing it from escalation. Interestingly, the Israeli strikes on Syrian territory come in the wake of a Turkish-Israeli rapprochement, which was most recently expressed by the visit of a Turkish military frigate to Haifa Port. This is something that happened for the first time since 2010. Is it a coincidence that this rapprochement comes at this particular time and in light of Israel’s expansion of its military operations in Aleppo, located not far from Turkey?

Only time will tell. 

-Kheir Allah Kheir Allah


THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND

By Osama Al-Ghazali Harb

Al-Ahram, Egypt, September 10

At the age of nearly 96, the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II died last week. She ruled for more than seven decades, marking the longest period of a living head of state in the world.

I will refrain from using this column to summarize the reactions and comments broadcast around the world about the late queen. However, on this occasion, I would like to note some of my own impressions about the British Crown, especially since Egypt was under British occupation until 1954, when the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser succeeded in driving British troops out of the country.

The then Prince of Wales, (today King Charles lll) and then Duchess of Cornwall visiting Egypt in November 2021.

When I heard of the queen’s death, I immediately recalled a book that I had read at an early age – about 16 years old – in my father’s library. The book’s title was The Secret of the Progress of the Anglo-Saxons. The book immediately caught my eye! Among many other things, the book taught me that the natural and understandable rejection of the English occupation of Egypt shouldn’t prevent us from recognizing the great advantages and developments brought about by the British nation.

The funny thing is that this book is nothing but a translation of a French book first published in 1897, in which its author tries to crack the secret behind the advantage held by the English over the French.

In keeping with the saying “with everything bad comes something good as well,” while Britain looted India it also left a positive legacy.

As for me, the book prompted me to ask myself: Did we, the Egyptian people and government, learn anything from the English? Indeed, many of Egypt’s brilliant students traveled to study in Britain and returned home with their degrees to benefit our people and our country. But have we learned and benefited from the institutions left behind by the Brits in Egypt?

I don’t think so! I know that the Indians, who were also subjected to British occupation, learned three important things from the English: the English language, administration, and democracy.

So what have we learned?

– Osama Al-Ghazali Harb


(*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).