Month: November 2023

LETTER TO KELLY-JO BLUEN OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN JEWS FOR FREE PALESTINE

Questioning the selective morality of expressing horror at “the cutting off of water” in Gaza but indifferent at the cutting off of baby’s heads in Israel

By Richard Shavei-Tzion

(Courtesy of The Times of Israel where first published)

Hi Kelly-Jo,
I am writing as a Jew, born in Cape Town, now living in Jerusalem, following your interview of 18.10.23 on SABC TV.
To my mind, the name of your organization is a misnomer. You and your cohorts may have been born Jewish but, with apologies to my Orthodox friends, people with the depth of your hatred of Jews have removed themselves from the Jewish collective. In your six minutes of eloquent rhetoric, you could not find a place in your heart to utter a single syllable of sympathy for the kidnapped, butchered, slaughtered, raped, burnt-alive people who you claim to call brethren.

South African Jews for Free Palestine calls on government to ‘cut ties’ with Israel


The lady in the studio got it wrong, describing your group as “calling for a ceasefire to the Israel-Hamas conflict.” You are calling for much more. By describing Israel as a “settler colonization of Palestine since 1948,” and Zionism as a “fascist project,” you are calling for a Judenrein Middle East. Indeed you state, “The whole entity needs to be unsettled.” You call for the return of “all Palestinians,” but omit calling for the right of return of Jews to the many countries they were forcibly expelled from and you are utterly silent on the ancient and modern history of the people you purport to belong to.

Jo Bluen || South African Jews for a free Palestine

You say that you “refuse to allow anti-Zionism and antisemitism to be conflated.” Yet you well know that your words incite antisemitism, witness the mobs of your associates around the world chanting “Gas the Jews,” “Hitler was right” etc. And what is your proposal for us fascist settlers would your demonic scheme of “from the river to the sea” be fulfilled? Do we stay to be hacked to death by your liberators or do we relocate to be pillaged, tortured, expelled and gassed once again?

South Africa Blind when Victims are Jews. While South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor said nothing about the massacre of Jews by Hamas on 7 October, she did not waste any time following Israel’s defense of its people by holding a phone call with the leader of Hamas offering support. (Photo: Rafael Stedile)

The extent of your violent animosity to us Jews is evident in the pride and joy you display in having Leila Khaled as the guest of honor at your event. You bestow upon her the title, “revolutionary.” I however choose to call her for what she is – terrorist. You know that Leila Khaled was a member of the gang of murderers, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was convicted for hijacking TWA Flight 840 from Rome to Tel Aviv and an attempted hijacking of Flight 219 from Amsterdam to NYC, including rolling a grenade into the passenger section of the plane. Your desire for Jewish annihilation is repeated in a call for an arms embargo against Israel, presumably so that in the next round, like so many times before in our history, the barbaric Gazan rampage, which goes unmentioned in your interview, can more effectively murder masses of Jews.
How selective is your sense of justice when you express horror at “the cutting off of water,” without expressing a smidgen of condemnation at the cutting off of baby’s heads?
You confidently say Israel is spreading fake news. Yet you yourself lie in echoing the blood libel of the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. (Hand on your heart, how many really were killed in that hospital parking lot by the Jihadi failed missile?) You suggest that Israel is strangulating humanitarian corridors when we both know that it is Hamas, at gunpoint, who are not allowing their own people to move to relative safety. “Using propaganda as a precept for genocide,” is exactly what you are doing.

Gaza’s Baby Killers. The children either dead or kidnapped, a teddy bear is seen left on the ground near the bomb shelter of a home on kibbutz Holit attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. (Photo Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines genocide as “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race.” You made the accusation of “genocide” eight times in six minutes. What an insult to Israeli technology and ingenuity! My uneducated guess is that each of the many thousands of bombs that we have been forced to drop on Gaza in the past few weeks, would be capable of killing say a hundred citizens. That would amount to many hundreds of thousands dead. Yet Hamas claims that 7,000 have been killed and the integrity of their reporting is reflected in your own trumpeted claims re the aforementioned hospital.
Yes, a consequence of war, through history and across the globe, is that among the combatant fatalities are babies and elderly. In this battle the number of those casualties are a function of the many used as human shields by your friends, in contrast to us constantly warning civilians to move to safer areas. It is a testament to the humanity of the IDF that despite Hamas’s sadistic use of their own women and children as cannon and TV fodder and the placement of military facilities below schools and hospitals, there are so few non-combatant fatalities. According to the United Nations, in wars, on average, nine civilians are killed for every fallen combatant. Yet over the many decades of conflict, Israel’s enemies have never ever had to endure anything like that shocking ratio. Not so for Israeli casualties in the massacre of October 7th.

Photos the World don’t want to see or Believe. Babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, women raped and young people burned alive, like the charred remains of this baby.

For people suffering genocide, the extent to which the Palestinians have been fruitful and multiplied over the past 75 years is remarkable. And how self-defeating us genocidal Israelis must be, to treat sick Gazan children in our hospitals.
Yet, genocide is indeed a word relevant to this conflict. It is given unequivocal expression in the Hamas charter.
I ask you- if you were supplying the electricity and water which sustained the tunnels and military capability of an enemy that has proven its mass-murderous bona-fides, would you continue to do so? Yes, there are consequences for the civilian population. These consequences are the sole responsibility of Hamas and Jihad who are the direct cause of their people’s suffering.
You mention Apartheid. I grew up in Apartheid South Africa but I just cannot recall Black Supreme Court judges, ministers, members of parliament, captains of national sports teams, doctors (and patients) in the hospitals and the like.
You delightedly spew your hate from the cushy confines of a Hamas cheering South Africa, but you express no desire to travel to Gaza to join the cause. I will take the liberty of guessing why that is so. Perhaps the source of your reticence is the certainty that if your brethren there saw your interview on SABC and discovered your heritage, they would not react in the same way as this fascist-settler-colonial-genocidal Israeli, by writing you a letter.  You see, it is not only Orthodox Jewry that insists that, born a Jew you remain a Jew no-matter-what. It is also the spiritual progeny of the Nazis- ISIS, Hamas, Jihad and the like, who hold this to be true.
So what would transpire is that despite your eloquent and ardent protestations, an enthused mob would form around you, cheering on as their buddies begin the pleasurable, sadistic imperative of raping, torturing, burning and finally beheading you. Then they would proudly and delightedly send the video of their profane ritual to your family. I understand that you would claim that savagery is completely legitimate in what you call resistance and what I call monstrous, genocidal crimes against humanity.

Sign of the Times. The popular sign dominating the pro-Hamas protests around the world aim for a Palestine in all of Israel free of Jews.

I am so grateful for the fact that the vast, vast majority of our magnificent nation which has survived, time and time again, pogrom and self-hatred, is rising united against our would be destroyers. And now we possess the means of self-defense we have lacked for millennia. It’s called the State of Israel.

Am Yisrael Chai.



About the writer:

Richard Shavei-Tzion is a widely published poet and is the author of “Poetry in the Parasha” and the Prayer for the Preservation of the Environment. His articles on social, sustainability and Jewish topics have been published around the Jewish world, principally in The Jerusalem Post and his photographic images have been displayed in solo and group exhibitions. For 26 years, Richard was the director of the Ramatayim Men’s Choir and now directs the Zimrat Efrat Choir. Recently retired from a career in property and medical management, he produces, “Gift of a Lifetime” – videos which preserve the stories and ethos of people for their progeny.





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).

ABOUT THE HOSTAGES

Hamas is using human pawns as their evil currency

By Jonathan Feldstein

During their inhumane assault and massacre of Israelis on October 7, leaving more than 1400 dead, and thousands injured, Hamas also kidnapped an estimated 240 plus people, taking them back to Gaza imprisoned.  Laying bare the lie of their being “freedom fighters”, or being FOR a Palestinian state or anything else, what’s clear – and was well known before – is that they are not for anything other than death and destruction: the death and destruction of Israel and Jews.

They kidnapped hostages – from babies and young children to the elderly – having been offered a bounty of $10,000 for each of the Islamic terrorists who slaughtered so many, imprisoning as many as possible to hold over the heads of Israel.  But the hostages, just like the victims of the October 7 slaughter, are not only Israeli. Some are dual citizens and some and some are foreign workers.  There are hostages from 28 nations.

Bring them Home. Photos of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks displayed in Tel Aviv.

As of this writing, Hamas has released four hostages: two Americans and two elderly women.  They made a propaganda video with three other women hostages, no doubt under duress, saying things against Israel and the prime minister.  As of this writing, Israel is celebrating the rescue of another hostage, Private Ori Megidish, who was found and released during an Israeli military ground operation last week.  The Jewish adage, “He who saves one life saves the world” is true for the family of Ori Megisish who could not be more elated that she is home and safe.  All of Israel is celebrating as well.

But for the families of the remaining 240 hostages, while there may be optimism, they are facing a grim reality of their loved ones’ captivity and in many cases, unknown fate.

The fate of one more hostage was also revealed this week and, sadly, was not as good.  Discovery of part of the skull of 23-year-old Shani Louk, made it clear beyond a doubt that there was no hope she was alive. Shani was a young woman, a German and Israeli citizen, kidnapped from the music festival at which some 260 young adults were gunned down, blown up, burned, and tortured. Shani’s brutalized lifeless body was seen in an early celebratory video by the Hamas terrorists, contorted in such a way in the back of a pick-up truck that it would be impossible to have imagined that she was alive from day one.  When I saw the video of her body in the truck, I prayed that she was not alive because of the unfathomable torture and suffering to which she had been subjected and would continue to suffer.  It was inhuman and unimaginable.

‘From Gaza with Hate’. The haunting final snap of 22-year-old German-IsraeliShani Louk at a music peace festival, who was kidnapped, paraded naked in Gaza, brutally murdered and decapitated by Hamas terrorists.

It is unknown how many hostages are alive. While Israel has come up with a comprehensive list of those believed to be held captive, and the number continues to grow nearly a month later, Hamas has deliberately not published names, videos, or evidence of life in order to extract the greatest psychological terror. They are using human pawns as their evil currency.

Surely with the release of Ori, Hamas terrorists are doubling down to hide and “guard” their human loot, to prevent further Israeli rescue attempts, or at least not allowing them to take place much less succeed without a high price to both Israeli forces and the hostages.  This will make attempts to rescue more hostages that much more difficult.

While the families of the hostages must hold out hope, as I have imagined I would if I were in the unthinkable position in which they are, I am not so hopeful. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s celebratory parade, but I have said since day one that its just a matter of time before Hamas begins the torture and execution of the hostages, mutilation of the bodies of those who are already dead, and that they will gleefully film these, and air them on the social media platforms. These give their evil Islamist terror a free pass to inflict the greatest psychological warfare possible without adherence to any “community standards”, much less morality and decency.

Hamas’ goal is to cause grief to the families, pain, suffering and fear to the hostages, and division and terror among Israelis. By hiding themselves and their entire terrorist infrastructure in, under, and around hospitals, schools, UN facilities, and even mosques, using their own people as human shields, the pain and suffering of Israeli and other hostages is not a second thought. Not only that it’s not a concern for them, but it’s also their raison d’etre.  The more suffering the better, all in the name of “resistance”, “liberation”, and their god, “Allah”.

I hope I am wrong. I pray that I am. I just don’t see a sweeping 1976 Entebbe-like rescue operation happening.  Despite the early military failures, I don’t put anything past the imagination and bravery of the IDF and its incredible soldiers. But “logic” suggests that it’s a longshot.  Then again, despite the suffering, God is on our side so nothing is impossible, even if improbable.

Hostage Homecoming. Hostage Ori Megidish is seen back in the arms of her family after being rescues from Hamas terrorists by the IDF.

Not only does Hamas know better than to keep all the hostages in one place, but it’s been reported in Israel that not all the hostages are in the control of Hamas, but rather under other competing (more extreme) Islamic terror groups. It’s a mockery to even discuss negotiation with Hamas over returning the hostages when they are so flagrantly evil, when everything they have done is an immoral war crime, and that other terrorists over which they have no influence hold an unknown number of human pawns.

When terrorists’ currency is evil, each competing group wants more loot, more influence, and more glee in the suffering of others. All the better if they are Israeli Jews, but clearly, they are not concerned by their hostages’ nationality. The thing is that rather than pandering to and attempted negotiation with these evil terrorists, the leaders of every civilized nation must stand firmly, strongly, together and with Israel.  This is neither a time for moral ambiguity nor for any form of appeasement of the evil Islamic terror that Hamas and others represent.



About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.






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).

THIS WEEK’S LETTER FROM ISRAEL AT WAR

Covering the 4th week of the war: “So many of our young men and women including our children, grandchildren and their spouses are risking their lives to secure our borders and make our lives safer.”

By Harris Zvi Green

November 3, 2023

My dearest friends,

Thanks for your wishes for Ariel’s complete and speedy recovery. Your expressions of care are very much appreciated. I’m delighted to advise that Ariel’s recovery is continuing.

What a roller-coaster week this has been.

Israel began her ground offensive aimed at destroying the Hamas terror machine and creating the conditions to secure the release of the 240 men, women and children currently being held hostage in Gaza. Missiles fired from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen continue to rain down on population centers in Israel. Most of the missiles are successfully intercepted by Israel’s air defense system, however, we remain exposed to the risk of serious injury from falling debris.

So many of our young men and women including our children, grandchildren and their spouses are risking their lives to secure our borders and make our lives safer. The anxiety and the tension refuse to let up. One of our grandsons serves in an elite combat unit. His unit suffered a significant number of casualties from an anti-tank missile fired at their troop carrier. We have reason to believe our grandson is safe because his name wasn’t included on the list of fatalities issued by the army.

Yes folks. Times are tough. Our neighborhood is rough. But we will prevail. We have no choice.

Over the years, Israel has done her utmost to fulfil its mission of being a light unto the nations. Israel is currently ranked 93rd in the world in terms of population size. Her population is less than 10 million souls – around 0.1% of the world’s population. Her resources are limited. Yet, Israel provides generous aid to countries around the world hit by natural disasters. Israel has shared its water and solar energy technologies with many third world countries and would love to do the same to enhance the quality of life for the people of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority.

During the Syrian Civil War, Israel treated more than 4,000 Syrians in civilian hospitals in Israel at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer. Strange as it may seem, thousands of Gazans are treated at medical centers in Israel. This needs to be seen in the context of Israel being at war with both Syria and the Palestinian Authority including Hamas.

But where has all this got us?

Some years ago, a young woman from Gaza was granted a multi-entry permit to receive care in Israel for burns caused by a home gas explosion. On one of her trips, she was stopped at a Gaza border checkpoint with 10 kilograms of explosives hidden in her underwear. Under interrogation, she admitted her aim was to blow herself up in the hospital and “kill between 20 and 50 Jews.”

In a separate incident, a Red Crescent ambulance was stopped at a checkpoint and searched. The search revealed that explosive materials were hidden under a gurney carrying a sick child. Following this occurrence, the International Red Cross reiterated Israel’s right to examine such vehicles as long as this check did not unduly delay the patient’s passage.

I suppose this makes us indebted to the Red Cross. The same Red Cross hasn’t yet provided the Israeli government with a list of those taken hostage in Gaza, let alone visit them to ensure they are being cared for in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Needless to say, none of this concerns the international media or any of the ivy-league universities.

Isn’t it ironic that 85-year-old peace activist, Oded Lifshitz, who voluntarily drove Gazans from border crossings to hospitals in Israel for life-saving medical treatment, is amongst the hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas?

The eruption of anti-Semitism around the world is horrific. My parents assured me anti-Semitism was history. They thought they’d seen it all. I can’t believe it. Why is it that only Jewish places of worship, schools and institutions around the world require sophisticated security systems to protect their dwindling communities?

Academic freedom is dead. Differences of opinion are not tolerated. Emotive rhetoric – antisemitism, Apartheid, freedom and pluralism – have been rebranded and now mean something else. Greta Thunberg’s anti-Israel and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories make me wonder whether climate change is nothing more than a trendy phrase to milk a huge market opportunity or a Nobel prize.

It’s an insult to the citizens of this world that around 80% of the UN General Assembly target Israel. Does this mean that if Hamas achieves its goal of wiping Israel off the face of the earth, 80% of the world’s problems would be solved?

Who’s accountable for this breakdown in values?

I’m sure you are shocked by the footage from Gaza. But this has to be seen in the context of the carnage and genocide perpetrated by Hamas on October 7.

In the words of the American song-writer, Billy Joel:

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No, we didn’t light it
But we’re trying to fight it

Friends, the fight will continue. It will continue until the light drives out the darkness. Until love and tolerance triumph over hatred and fanaticism. Until the good crushes the forces of evil.

By the way, the next time you see a zombie running through the streets yelling “Free Gaza”, please tell him that’s exactly what Israel’s doing and that we appreciate his support.

My condolences to those mourning their nearest and dearest. My wishes for a complete and speedy recovery to the injured. May God protect our brave soldiers.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and better times ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Harris Zvi Green.



About the writer:

Harris Zvi Green, born in Cape Town / South-Africa. Graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B. Com. degree and immigrated to Israel 53 years ago. He served as the Chief Financial Officer at a number of Israeli hi-tech companies. He is now retired. Married with 3 married children and is the proud grandfather of 13 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.






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)

YOUR TIME HAS COME

An appeal to join in solid solidarity with the people of Israel as they battle the spiritual heirs of Nazism

By Gary Kaplan
International Relations officer at the Histadrut- General Federation of Labor in Israel

What is solidarity? That is a question I have been asking myself these last few weeks in light of international protests against Israel after the catastrophe of October 7th.

It is all very well to say we stand in solidarity with you when nothing is really expected of you; however, it is a different story in times of crisis and emergency.

I recall being asked numerous times about our tremendous effort in nurturing our relationship with the DGB (German Confederation of Trade Unions); why do we work so hard in maintaining this connection?

“Never Again”. Nurturing warm relationships between Germany and Israel, the writer (centre) is seen here with an Israeli-German trade union delegation at Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin.

It is because when you find yourself in your darkest hour, your back against the wall, and the world you thought you were a part of ceases to exist, your true friends need to emerge and stand with you, no matter the costs, no matter the odds. That is solidarity.

The war on Hamas is far from over. Israel at the moment is bleeding and fighting. A country that only a month ago was divided and on the brink of civil war changed dramatically in the early hours of October 7th.  Watching live on television, we witnessed our people being butchered, slaughtered and kidnapped. Our society, despite its disrespected and weakened leadership, has transformed itself into a united front, a unified nation, set to battle mankind’s most evil enemy, and together, we shall fight, and together we shall win.

There are many fronts to this war; however, the important one is, first and foremost destroying Hamas and its ability to attack Israel again. You see, for us, the words “Never again” are not a solidarity slogan for a better world campaign. They are still, 85 years later, a constant reminder of what can happen if we ever let our guard down.

What the world doesn’t yet understand is that Israel and Israelis have changed in the course of the last 3 weeks. We are no longer the same people. As we weren’t the same people on May 9th, 1945, when the Allied world celebrated the collapse and surrender of the Third Reich, and we had faced the murder of six million Jews, we that day had nothing to celebrate; we had to gather what remained of us in the death camps and try to rebuild Jewish life.

Never again, and never forget.

It’s Happening Again. This image of General Dwight D. Eisenhower (third from left) viewing the charred remains of Jewish inmates of the Ohrdruf camp Germany, April 12, 1945 was not lost on Joe Biden, who saw fit to be the first US president to visit Israel during a state of war. The scope of the Hamas massacre demanded a personal visit to show solidarity with the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

How does one expect us to think of peace after hearing live on October 7th our pregnant mothers being butchered?

How does one think of living side by side while watching live our daughters and sisters being paraded in the streets after being raped?

How does one try to debate our morality after we have witnessed our babies once again being burned in ovens?

For many years now, I have experienced walking the paths of death that annihilated a third of our people 82 years ago, with groups of Israeli and German union members in the concentration camps in Germany, France and the Czech Republic. What we have witnessed there together is impossible to contemplate, therefore we pledge on the mass graves of the Jewish people that these atrocities must never happen again.

On the eve of October 7th, we realized that not since the Holocaust, have so many Jews been murdered on one single day. Not since the Holocaust, have we witnessed the sights of Jewish mothers and children, grandparents and Holocaust survivors being pushed into trucks and taken captive after the savage murder of their family members.

Death Squads from Gaza. Burnt beyond recognition, an Israeli rescuer carries what appears to be a small body, possibly a child, wrapped in a cover.

Now one must walk through the gates of Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nachal Oz, Nir Oz and the rest of the kibbutzim and towns of the Western Negev, the once peaceful paths surrounding a communal way of life, to witness once again the strong smell of death that will not go away. The ashes of burned people, destroyed blood-stained homes, the empty chairs in the communal kibbutz dining halls that will remain unseated and silent, the empty playgrounds once animated with noisy children, entire communities – obliterated!

What Greeted Israel’s Warriors. Soldiers on October 11, crying at the sight of a Kfar Aza family dining table on which there is still Challah bread from Friday’s Kiddush.

Once you do, maybe then you will be a little closer to what To those afar, try and grasp what happened here. Imagine the fear of a mother who held the shelter room door tightly from terrorists barging in; a husband who sent a final heartfelt text message to his wife a second before he was shot; see a closet where two siblings hid and kept quiet while their parents were being murdered in their living room.

When you put yourselves in these shoes, in our shoes, then, and maybe only then, will you be a step closer to understanding who we are and who you must be.

Far from us, on different shores and landscapes, we find ourselves fighting as well those who set out to destroy us, those marching down the streets of once great democracies, parading the streets of societies that once fought the battles of Liberté, and fought tyranny no matter the costs, no matter the odds.

I wonder what Churchill would have said today in light of the “surrender” of his dear island to the overwhelming supporters of terrorism and death. And in the light of Europe’s dark past and again the rise of antisemitism in the shadow of only eight decades since the Holocaust, should we not expect more from the leaders of the European Union to be loud and clear in opposing the ugly chanting of hate flooding the streets of their European capitals and cities?

Humanity hangs in the Balance. One can visit the many monuments to the Holocaust like this multilingual “never again” memorial at Treblinka extermination camp but how committed is the world, when once again Jews are butchered and burnt and the world is mostly silent or sides with the perpetrators.

October 7th was a transformative catastrophe that befell not only Israel but the Jewish people across the world. It cannot be overlooked or dismissed with indifference; this is the world’s moral obligation in defending not only Jews but humanity itself.    

Your time is now. Whatever the cost may be, whatever your members think, whatever your neighbour believes in,  whatever political turmoil it may have, your time has come to stand up. Wage battle over evil and darkness that has destroyed the once thriving Jewish communities of the Western Negev, before it strikes upon your shores, your streets, your communities, and your hearts.

It is now or never. “Never again” is now.

What say you?



About the writer:

South Africa-born, Gary Kaplan works in the international relations division at Israel’s national trade union, the Histadrut where inter alia, he manages its youth exchange programme with the German trade union Confederation addressing issues from labour relations to Holocaust remembrance.





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- 05 November 2023

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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What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

THE ISRAEL BRIEF 23-26 October 2023

(Click on the blue title)



DEFINING MOMENT IN JEWISH SURVIVAL

The brave line protecting Israel and the Jewish people

“When will the world care about Jewish babies as they do for the rights of those responsible for their deaths?”

AN APPEAL TO THE WORLD

Before calling first on Israel for a ceasefire, call first on the Gazans to release ALL the hostages that include 33 children
even a 9-month-old baby and to cease firing rockets?
It’s that simple!




Articles

(1)

IF THEY LOVE US NOT, LET THEM FEAR US

I never thought as a liberal I would ever subscribe to the 15th century counsel of Niccolò Machiavelli but then came October 7

By David E. Kaplan

IF THEY LOVE US NOT, LET THEM FEAR US

(Click on the blue title)



(2)

BRING THEM HOME

Thoughts and prayers for those brutally murdered and those held hostage in Gaza

By Rolene Marks

BRING THEM HOME

(Click on the blue title)



(3)

SHERRY, YOUR ANTISEMITISM IS SHOWING

Don’t condone?  How about condemning?

By Jonathan Feldstein

SHERRY, YOUR ANTISEMITISM IS SHOWING

(Click on the blue title)



(4)

SOUTH AFRICA BEYOND THE PALE!

The governing ANC’s public distain for county’s Jews is a disturbing portend for community’s future

By Ben Levitas

SOUTH AFRICA BEYOND THE PALE!

(Click on the blue title)



(5)

ISRAELI POLICE WOMEN

Defenders of the state of Israel, woman heroes in the line of fire

By Rolene Marks and Marc Kahlberg

ISRAELI POLICE WOMEN

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(6)

THIS WEEK’S LETTER FROM ISRAEL AT WAR

UN provides diplomatic, moral and legal umbrella to Hamas to fulfil its goal of eliminating Israel

By Harris Green

THIS WEEK’S LETTER FROM ISRAEL AT WAR

(Click on the blue title)



(7)

HEALTH DURING WAR

How do I prioritize myself and my health when my world is so upside down?

By Justine Friedman

HEALTH DURING WAR

(Click on the blue title)



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

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

IF THEY LOVE US NOT, LET THEM FEAR US

I never thought as a liberal I would ever subscribe to the 15th century counsel of Niccolò Machiavelli but then came October 7

By David E. Kaplan

Times have changed; a threshold has been crossed.

Hamas has exposed its barbarism and much of the world has exposed its antisemitism.

In Israel’s past wars with Gaza, by day three, many of us active in combatting the inevitable international narrative against Israel, particularly the lawyers amongst us,  would have already begin preparing legal arguments to submit to the ICC – International Court of Justice. Our committee, TbT (Truth be Told), established  in 2001 to combat the global media assault on the Jewish state would have been in high gear. Today, we have a different mindset – we just don’t care anymore – and hope that the endless propaganda photos of a devastated Gaza shown all day, notably on Al Jazeera, BBC, Sky and France 24 designed to stir hate against Jews will this time have a sobering impact of deterrence –‘Mess with Israel at your peril’

No doubt the Mullahs of Iran and Nasrallah in Lebanon are looking too at these photos of urban devastation and considering:

 “Is it worth it to push these Jews too far? Do we really want to invite  Israel to transform our landscape as well?”

If these are the cerebral calculations percolating in their evil distorted minds – good.

This time Israel will agree to a cease fire when it deems fit to do so not when the hypocrites at the UN decide.

For far too long, since the time of the exile from Jerusalem by the Romans 2000 years ago, Jews were expected to take it; not fight back; after each beating to pack our bags and with stooped shoulders and heads down, move on to the next temporary home.

The wandering Jew – we were a people constantly culled, always at the mercy of others to be spat on,  segregated into Ghettoes and abused at leisure. The Holocaust was to be the final straw – “Never Again”. Joe Biden is the first world leader to truly  “get it” – his words – and why he repeats it when he tells the story of his first meeting as a young senator in 1973 with Golda Meir who said:

Milestone Meeting. As a young Senator in 1973, President Joe Biden met with then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. “It was the most consequential meeting of my life,” says Biden. It may prove so for Israel as well.

 “We Jews have a secret weapon; we have nowhere else to go!”

We don’t even today; evident by the spike in antisemitism across the world reaching levels of a ‘global pogrom’.

In Russia’s Dagestan , a crazed mob stormed a plane from Tel Aviv chanting antisemitic slogans reminiscent of a dark past under the Tzars and in the USA where it was once believed Jews had found sanctuary, FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that antisemitism in the US is a national crisis. Universities in Europe and the US are not safe but danger zones for Jews as the UK and France are also warning of major upticks in antisemitic incidents. Addressing the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Wray was not being over dramatic when he warned “This is a threat that is reaching, in some way, sort of historic levels.” He added that although Jews make up only about 2.4% of the US public, they account for about 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. If Jews thought “Never Again”, Hamas sent the message, “Forever Again”.

Hunting Jews. Reminiscent of a Tzarist pogrom,  an angry massive mob storms Dagestan airport in search  of Jewish passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel.

It is not only Hamas but the world’s reaction to Hamas’s barbarism that has reminded Jews why Israel needs to fight hard and smash Hamas and send a strong message to Hezbollah and Iran. Hence the resonance of Machiavelli: “It is better to be feared than to be loved”.

Going into Gaza with massive force – land, sea and air –  Israeli officials are constantly grilled on TV networks that even if Hamas is defeated:

 “What about the day after?” 

What Israel does know is that if it allows this governing evil to prevail, there will be “no day after” for Jews, not in Israel not anywhere.  While we should have been wizened by a 2000 years of history, we had a painful refresher course on October 7, 2023.

And the first lesson of instruction is the realisation that the monsters Israel is facing are not fighting for a better future for the Palestinian people but to extinguish the future of the Jewish people. You only have to listen to what Hamas officials are saying.

“Israel is a country that has no place on our land,” Hamas politburo member Ghazi Hamad told Lebanese news outlet LBCI news this week. 

“We must remove that country,” he continued.

And while Israel is struggling to come to terms with the worst horror to inflict the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Hamad says:

“We will repeat October 7 again and again.”

When asked a week earlier on BBC about the massacre perpetrated by his Hamas comrades on the 7 October, Hamad stormed out of the interview.

The Rot that Rules Gaza. “We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again,” Hamas’ Ghazi Hamad said last week following the massacre of Jews including babies being decapitated and young girls raped before their parents before being murdered. (Photo AP)

You cannot reason with such people as the world discovered it couldn’t reason with Hitler and the Nazis.  There are some people you need to defeat not debate.

Today after 10/7, Israel   is not the same country and Israelis are not the same people. Not only because of what horrifically befell Jews on that day but the clear message of the world in its reaction to it.  

Jews brutally murdered, raped, butchered, babies decapitated and taken away as hostages, all under a barrage of thousands of rockets aimed from Gaza at Israel’s civilian areas  – all “war Crimes”  – but it is only Israel’s response that the world hysterically accuses of “War Crimes”. The  manic mouthings on the streets and city squares across the world are clear:

 “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” meaning free of Jews!

Baby Killers. A photo showing where children were found murdered by Hamas, which Queen Rainer of Jordan did not want the world to see or Hamas official, Ghazi Hamad refused to talk about on the BBC.(Photo by Israel / X)

This is not about constructing a Palestinian state but deconstructing the only Jewish state. The barbarity inflicted on the state of Israel by Gazans was celebrated by their fellow Palestinians in Ramallah as a victory.

What hope is there for creating a future Palestinian state with people who celebrate massacres as victories? As I wrote in a previous article (ISRAEL’S “DAY OF INFAMY”), when Hamas killers carried off Israeli hostages, they carried off as well any chance of a Palestinian state for generations to come.

Queen of Deception. Jordan’s Queen Rania (left) speaking to CNN’s Christine Amanpour in an interview aired October 25, 2023, claims that Palestinian atrocities including the beheading of Israeli children were not “Independently verified” despite the confessions of the Hamas terrorists and photographic evidence. (CNN screenshot)

Jews have returned to their ancestral homeland and fulfilled the biblical prophesies  of the “return of the exiles” and the “desert will bloom”. There remains an outstanding prophecy of Isiaah of “Turning swords into ploughshares” to be fulfilled. It will have to wait. Jews have a war to win, and yes, there will be civilian casualties. The difference is that Israel tries to prevent such casualties while Hamas sets out to cause them. This the world chooses not to see as exemplified by Queen Rania of Jordan denying on CNN that such atrocities by Palestinians were perpetrated or by the Secretary General of the UN,  Antonio Guterres saying to the world that the wholesale slaughter by Hamas “Did not happen in a vacuum.”

Can you imagine if Kofi Annan, the UN Chief  in 2001, had reacted to 9/11 in his address to the General Assembly by saying:

 “it did not happen in a vacuum”.

It would have been tantamount to excusing the evil perpetrators of the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil. Would not Americans across the board have demanded his dismissal?

But then, the UN Secretary Geneal in 2001 would not have said that!

Massacring Jews Explained. From science to human activity, nothing happens in a “vacuum” but UN head, Antonio Guterres uses this to explain away Palestinian atrocities against Israeli civilians.

The truth is that Guterres’ “vacuum” comment was also not said “in a vacuum”. It exposed Guterres and the UN’s systemic antisemitism. Guterres’ refusal to apologize or even to sense the danger of his words in the light of his esteemed position only added fuel to the raging fire of global antisemitism. The man and the organization he heads are a disgrace.

Irrespective of what Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and much of their supporters across the world think or do, Israel is here to stay – permanently  – and the Jewish state will do what it takes to fortify its future.


In Cold Blood. A baby by murdered by Hamas. (Photo ISRAEL/X)





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)

BRING THEM HOME

Thoughts and prayers for those brutally murdered and those held hostage in Gaza

By Rolene Marks

[Warning: Graphic Content]

I think of Kfir. I see his toothless baby grin, his head of burnished copper hair. He is 9 months old.

I think of Joshua and Clemence, two students from Tanzania who were in Israel on an agricultural programme, learning skills to take back to their country.

I think of Mia Schem. Beautiful Mia, whose blue eyes are haunting. Little Abigail Idan is 3-years- old. Her parents were killed in front of her and her siblings. Her sibling are safe but she was taken. She must be terrified. Is there someone to comfort her? To hold her? To make the monsters go away?

I think of Hersh. His arm was blown off. Is he still alive?  Vivian Silver is in her 70’s. She is a peace activist. A Holocaust survivor taken in her wheelchair. Is her life going to be bookended by the horrors and tragedies the Jewish people know very well?

Ohad celebrated his 9th birthday as a hostage. The horror is unimaginable. They are babies and children, mothers, fathers, foreign workers, tourists, whole families, the elderly, men and women and the disabled.

I think of the young woman, dragged out from a jeep by her hair, hands bound behind her back and blood all over the seat of her pants. The unimaginable is obvious. She has been sexually assaulted, paraded like a prize in Gaza. Who tends to her wounds, who tends to her shattered, traumatized body?

At last count, 242 Israelis and foreign nationals have been taken hostage by Hamas terrorists. Like many, I spend a lot of time thinking about them and their families. I think of the empty spaces at the Shabbat dinner tables. I wonder if they are all being held together or if they have separated men from women, mothers from their babies.

I think of the families in anguish. They do not sleep, they do not eat. They just worry. They are enduring the unimaginable and their courage is staggering.

Watch:

Bring Back My Daughter

Israel is a nation still coming to terms with our shock and grief. The atrocities committed by Hamas happened in our home, to our citizens. We all know somebody who has been murdered, taken hostage of kidnapped.

We are learning more and more on a daily basis about the depths and levels of depravity that Hamas inflicted on our people. This was the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

Whole families exterminated, women and children raped and tortured, babies burnt and beheaded (yes, it HAS been substantiated), the elderly gunned down, revelers at a peace festival hunted like prey  and worse – it was depravity and horror that even our worst nightmares couldn’t conjure. Where once there were family portraits of smiling parents with their children – there are funeral notices. There are barely any traces of some of the victims. They were reduced to ash, like our ancestors at Auschwitz.

On a nearly daily basis the number of hostages increases – this is despite four being released as Hamas play a macabre psychological game by pretending to be “humanitarian” and one female soldier, Uri Megidish being rescued by the IDF during ground operations in Gaza.

Every day I think of the hostages. Every day I think of the victims and their families. I think of Thomas Hand who was relieved to hear his 8-year-old-daughter Emily was dead, rather than face captivity by deranged Hamas. I think of the soldiers slaughtered in their beds or beheaded and left strewn across the floor. I know this happened because I bore witness as many did because massacre denials forced the hand of our government to have to show the barbarity so it can NEVER be denied again. I think of Shany Louk, dancing and twirling before we all saw her body, legs broken, kicked and spat at on the back of a truck. I think of Hamid, a devout Muslim Bedouin from Rahat, his wife was pumped full of bullets. She was wearing a hijab. I think of Awad the paramedic. He was Muslim too. I think of the Thai workers and the tourists. I think of them all.

Those calling for an immediate ceasefire – and there are those like celebrities who mean well but calling them naïve is an understatement – need to understand that all a ceasefire does is give a license to Hamas to commit more murder. Hamas needs to be eradicated for all our sakes. Sorry Angelina Jolie, Drake et al – we will take our military cues from our Generals.

What happened on 7 October was a crime against humanity, of barbarity that would seem so unfathomable but is very, very real.

The blood of the victims cries out from the ground and their voices from the place in heaven reserved only for our martyrs. We will settle the score with the terrorists who committed the crime. We will not rest until all our hostages and remains are returned to us – and we include captive Israelis Avera Mengistu, and Hisham Al-Sayed, held by Hamas for several years and the remains of fallen soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul who fell during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

For Zion’s sake we will not be silent. May the memories of all who were murdered be eternally blessed.


Moment Hamas attack Muslim father’s car – this is his incredible survival story 






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- 30 October – 02 November 2023

The Israel Brief – 30 October 2023 – The Israel Brief 30/10 Updates on Israel’s War with Hamas, ground operations expanded.



The Israel Brief – 31 October 2023 – The Israel Brief 31/10 IDF rescue one hostage and more on Israel’s war against Hamas.



The Israel Brief – 01 November 2023 – The Israel Brief 1/11 13 Fallen soldiers. Updates on Israel’s war with Hamas.



The Israel Brief – 02 November 2023 – The Israel Brief 2/11 Updates on Israel’s war with Hamas.





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)

SHERRY, YOUR ANTISEMITISM IS SHOWING

Don’t condone?  How about condemning?

By Jonathan Feldstein

I run the Genesis 123 Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians and Christians with Israel.  In the last few weeks, since the horrifying and inhuman attack against Israel by Hamas’ Islamist terrorists, countless Christians from all over the world have joined us in prayer, participating in briefings, and donating to our Israel Emergency Campaign.  It’s been uplifting and encouraging beyond words.

Last week, a woman who I’ll call “Sherry” and apparently was on my email list, responded to an appeal for humanitarian aid with a curt: “It’s a genocide. Free Palestine”.

Hamas War Crime. Captured on closed-circuit television footage shows a Hamas militant firing upon a civilian car while the occupants are waiting to enter the Be’eri kibbutz in southern Israel on Oct (Photo: Reuter)

With more than 1 400 Israelis massacred in the most brutal ways, a son and son-in-law in the army, and really not in the mood to deal with the lies of the enemy, I responded bluntly:

“Respectfully that’s absurd. If there was a genocide, the population of Palestinian Arabs would be less than it was in either 1948 or 1967, not hundreds of percent more. I am not sure how you think that Israel’s defensive actions are a genocide, and when Hamas’ Charter and practice is the destruction of Israel and massacre Jews. Have you no sense? Have you no shame?

Do you not know that dozens of Jewish babies were slaughtered, burned alive, decapitated, just because they were Jews?

Do you not know that nearly 300 young people were slaughtered at a music festival, gunned down in cold blood just because they were Jews?

Do you not know that parents were murdered in front of their children, and children murdered in front of their parents, just because they were Jews?

Do you not know that pregnant women had their wombs cut open leaving the mother and unborn babies to die, just because they were Jews?

Do you not know that women were brutally raped, just because they were Jews”?

Or maybe according to your “logic” it was because they were “occupiers.” Is that it? The brave “freedom fighters” of Hamas, funded by Iran, carrying manuals about how to massacre as many people as possible in the most inhuman ways and taking hundreds of hostages from babies to elderly women were doing so to gain independence.

Do you not know that Hamas terrorists do not seek a two-state solution with a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel but the destruction of Israel and massacre of Jews?

That is the definition of genocide, not anything Israel is doing. Think about this. There have never been so many Jews murdered in any one day since the Holocaust which, in case you missed it, was an actual genocide. One third of the Jewish people murdered.

Stain on Palestinian leadership. Blood stains covering the floor of a house in Israel’s Be’eri kibbutz. (Photo AFP)

Oh, and there have never been so many Palestinian Arabs killed in one day in the alleged “genocide” that you claim, as there were Jews murdered on October 7.  Ever.  Sorry for bursting your antisemitic bubble with the uncomfortable truth.

Your facts are wrong, and you seem to have hatred of Jews in your heart. That’s antisemitism. You are an enabler of their evil Islamic ideology, and of all antisemites in the world, of which it seems you are a proud card-carrying member.

By the way, Hamas will kill you all the same as they kill us. Just ask my friend Kathleen whose twin sister was murdered by terrorists, stabbed in cold blood. An American Christian murdered because of the “occupation”, right? To “free Palestine”.

Why don’t you take your hatred to Gaza to see how they will treat you. And then you will witness the truth of Gaza being occupied, not by Israel but by Hamas. Hamas that uses its own civilians as human shields to increase their suffering and death. Hamas that is preventing Palestinian Arabs from evacuating areas that are embedded with terrorist infrastructure where Hamas has purposefully put innocent civilians in harm’s way. To inflict more death and suffering, of Palestinian Arabs. To blame Israel. To have ignorant people like you believe their lies and blame Israel too.

Everything I have said is documented. Facts. That’s inconvenient, eh? Not the nonsense that you believe wrapped up in lies of “occupation” and “genocide”. Can you be so willfully ignorant? Is your hatred of Jews so deep that you’re so blind? You should be ashamed.

Maybe one day you will understand the truth. Not today clearly.”

Then “Sherry” responded. 

“I am pro-life and for that I should not be ashamed. The death toll in Gaza is over 7000. The lives of innocent kids and civilians are being taken. I don’t condone what Hamas did, but the people are not Hamas; they are in fact innocent bystanders. There is no aid, fresh water or medical supplies being sent to regions that are dire. To kill innocent people not tied to a war is genocide and inhumane. The loss of life in Israel is much smaller due to the America’s help, but even 1400 people is a loss so yes, I feel sorry for both sides and would like to see this war end all together. For this reason, I cannot fund a war that will kill more innocent people.”

“Sherry” is now my paradigm of all the evil, ignorant antisemites in the world, who weep for the “suffering” of Palestinian Arabs, but contort morality to find a way to excuse Hamas’ evil.

“I don’t know if you’re just ignorant, or ignorant and hateful.  First of all, you’re ignorant and foolish to believe the Hamas death count. There are already pictures of how they are faking that. You want to be misled so you are, and you believe a source that at its core is evil. 

How wonderful that you are pro-life and “don’t condone” what Hamas did.  REALLY?  Hamas planned a massacre of civilians, raping, burning alive, beheading, and kidnapping. They carried manuals how to inflict the most pain and death and do so in the most evil gruesome ways possible. They arrived high on amphetamines to have the greatest stamina in committing their crimes. Don’t condone?  How about condemning? How about horrified?  How about any kind of actual emotion that suggests that you are anything other than an evil antisemite yourself who sees no problem in Hamas and its charter to massacre and destroy Jews and the Jewish state. I’m so glad you ‘don’t condone’ such things.  When someone ties you and your child up with metal wire and shoots your husband in front of you, then rapes your daughter, and sets you and your child on fire to be burned beyond being able to extract DNA, I will be sure not to condone that either.

And no, dear ignorant “Sherry,” the people are Hamas.  There’s a recent poll by a reliable Arab pollster that shows 57% of the Gazans support Hamas, and more support even more extremist (if that were even possible) terror groups.  They are responsible for allowing Hamas to rule them, first by elections, then by revolution, fueled with their antisemitic hatred, and active collaboration in Hamas ruling them.  That’s on them, completely.  But you, the one who doesn’t condone what they did to us, don’t care. You just want to find a way to blame Israel. “Sherry,” your antisemitism is showing.

Of course, there are innocent civilians and innocent civilians are dying, of that I have no doubt and regret.  But no, ignorant “Sherri,” this is not a genocide. A genocide does not take place when civilians – whether innocent or complicit with the evil – are warned to leave, repeatedly.  In a genocide, the population of the victims does not increase. 

What’s really killing the victims?  Hamas! Hamas wants more Palestinian Arabs dead to play to the ignorant and hateful people of the world, like you. Thank you for drinking their Kool Aid.

Oh, and you’re lying about supplies being sent in.  They are going in through Egypt, or are you too ignorant and hateful to know that Egypt also shares a land border with Gaza and doesn’t want to help any more than anyone else. Why?  Because they know that the evil of Hamas, which is rooted in the Moslem Brotherhood and Iran, are an existential threat to Egypt as well.  I suspect your ignorance and hatefulness are too far gone to note that Hamas has raped the people in Gaza for decades, building a huge terror network to destroy and kill us, hiding supplies from average Gazans, and are giving ignorant and hateful people of the world like you the reason to think that it’s Israel’s fault. 

Dear ignorant and hateful “Sherry,” the deaths are lower in Israel because Israel invests in protecting its people.  I suppose in your magnanimity you also “don’t condone” Hamas firing tens of thousands of rockets at Israeli communities. We have bomb shelters; we have the Iron Dome. We care about life and protecting life, on both sides.  Hamas doesn’t. You claim that you’re ‘pro-life.’ Does this not horrify you?

How do you not see that what Hamas is doing is attempted genocide?  Really?  Are you ignorant and blind?  As I write, dozens more rockets are being fired targeting Israeli civilians, protected by our military.  Not in Gaza.  Hamas hides behind its civilians.  I guess it’s too much to expect that you’ve seen the evidence of Hamas placing its weapons and hiding its leaders in bunkers near and under schools, mosques, UN facilities, and even Gaza’s main hospital.  Did you miss all that?  Would you like proof? 

Let me remind you that your initial response to me was ‘free Palestine.’  You don’t even know what that means and how there are ZERO Palestinian Arab groups in any position of influence that accept Israel as a Jewish state.  They refer to the “occupation” and the “Nakba” of Israel’s birth in 1948. They chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” which means the bloody massacre of Jews and destruction of Israel.  THAT’s a genocide.  That’s evil at its core.  You don’t even know what you’re talking about.  Wait, but I am sure you also ‘don’t condone’ that.  Right? 

Let me ask you, as a pro-life American, how do you feel about the fact that the October 7 Hamas butchery is the third or fourth largest massacre of Americans since 9/11.  All by Hamas. I guess that you ‘don’t condone’ that either, right.  God forbid you should have any moral compass when it comes to Jews being slaughtered. 

Finally, just to be 1000% clear, nobody ever asked for your help to fund a war.  I am involved with an array of humanitarian projects to help people, not fund a war.  Clearly your bias and intellectual limitations prevent you from understanding that either.

If you were alive in the 1930s and 40s, you’d clearly be one of those brave moral people ‘not condoning’ the persecution and mass murder (yes, actual genocide) of Jews.  I hope that you sleep well at night knowing that you’re so morally bankrupt.

Please don’t take my word for it. Here’s the proof.  Maybe that will warm up your naked antisemitism.

Here’s a link to the official statement of the IDF Spokesperson: https://www.idf.il/142243   

Here’s an animated infographic showing the Shifa hospital and Hamas’ use of energy allocated to the civilian population for its own needs:  https://bit.ly/3si5RYB   

Here are related infographics:

https://IDFANC.activetrail.biz/ANC27102023840231

Here’s a 3D illustration of the Shifa hospital under which they are hiding: https://bit.ly/40bWSVA   

Here’s a recording of a call between an IDF officer and a senior official in the energy industry in the Gaza Strip:  https://bit.ly/3FAgNnB   

Here’s a recording of a call confirming the presence of the Hamas headquarters at Shifa Hospital:  https://bit.ly/478YW2G”



About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.





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).

HEALTH DURING WAR

How do I prioritize myself and my health when my world is so upside?

By Justine Friedman

If you are feeling frozen, if your thoughts are focused on safety and living through today, then it is likely that you may well also be thinking, what difference does it make if I eat the chocolate bar right now?

And I get it. There are times during the last 3 weeks (which feels more like an eternity) when I have given into the comfort foods and allowed myself to opt out of the world for a period of time.

I may not be on the front lines of this war, and I may not have a soldier who is risking their life for this fight which will determine whether we as a nation survive, but I feel every last drop of it in my heart and soul and more distinctly in my nervous system.

With every siren and with every boom, some of which are normal sounds in the building where I live, my body reacts with a strong survival instinct. My heart races, my breathing quickens, and a knot forms in my stomach.

And it takes time to calm down again.

There are moments when I am distracted and I realize that I haven’t thought about the war, what a sweet relief these times are, and then the reality returns.

I am living with a sense of intensity and pressure that is so hard and I am sure you are too.

So back to my question, is it even realistic to focus on my health or should I put that on the back burner while there are more important things to deal with right now?

Here is why in whatever capacity you can, I encourage you to value taking care of yourself.

As women, we are the core of our families. How we function has a ripple effect on our husbands, children, and our extended family and friends. We don’t have to have it all figured out, or have it all together but neglecting ourselves right now serves no one, especially ourselves.

Back when corona began, many of us endured the time baking banana bread, lounging in pyjamas, and feeling generally unmotivated and out of sorts. And even though what we are living through right now can’t be compared, there are aspects that feel similar.

It is so normal to push off taking care of ourselves, but when we are running on empty and we have nothing to give, we suffer more and those around us, who rely on us to be an anchor have a harder time.

“It doesn’t matter, nothing matters I don’t care what I eat right now” the inner scared voice may say….

But it does matter! And not only does it matter but taking time to nourish your body right now can make a difference in the most profound way.

We all know how stress can impact the body.

It affects our brain, causing memory loss, inflammation, and brain fog.

It raises our blood pressure leading to extra stress on our kidneys and every cell in our body.

It increases heart rate and risk of heart disease.

Anxiety and depression are intensified by poor food choices.

And as women symptoms of PMS, perimenopause, and menopause are exacerbated.

If you have pre-diabetes, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or autoimmune conditions, taking care of yourself is the difference between suffering from these and dealing with long-term complications versus reversing some of the ill effects.

So how can you take care of yourself without adding extra pressure? Because the last thing I am suggesting is that you eat less, exercise harder, and deprive yourself of foods that you enjoy. 

(Even as I am writing this there are booms close by as the iron dome intercepts rockets being fired from Gaza!)

Here are some tips on what I am currently doing and working together with my clients on to implement in their lives:

Drink water- being hydrated helps your brain and improves your cognitive ability

Limit caffeine if anxiety is worse at this time

Do light exercise and if you are able to do more then go for it- it reduces stress, increases the production of endorphins in the body, and overall improves mindset and mood.

Pay attention to your hunger- if you have lost your appetite- still nourish your body by eating smaller, balanced meals- this helps keep your blood sugar stable and reduces symptoms of anxiety.

If eating chocolate (or your desired comfort food) is what you need, by all means, have some but do so after a meal where you have included vegetables, salad, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and protein.

Take time to breathe and do stress-relieving exercises that work for you.

Limit time on social media and the news- it is important to stay informed but if what you are “consuming” is increasing your worry and stress then pay attention to this.

Connect with friends

Smile at people that you pass on the street

Wave to the soldiers- there is nothing better than getting a smile and acknowledgment back!

We are all in this together, and although it feels like we are living a double life in many respects, let’s find a way to live each day, right now in the best way that we can.

You cannot pour from an empty cup and if you need guidance on how to take care of yourself right now, with compassion and understanding, then let me help you to do that so that you can take care of those who are depending on you too.



About the writer:

Justine Friedman works as a clinical dietician and a mindset mentor. She has over 20 years experience in supporting clients to make sustainable and practical lifestyle adjustments. Her focus is empowering women over 40 to make the necessary changes to feel confident with their food choices and at peace with food, while at the same time managing their weight without restriction or guilt. She works with women both 1:1 as well as in her online signature group program, “The Wellness Upgrade”. For more information visit her website on www.justinefriedman.com





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