The Israel Brief – 04 December 2023– Israel resumes military campaign in Gaza.
The Israel Brief – 05 December 2023– Updates.
The Israel Brief – 06 December 2023– Appalling testimony from university presidents and updates.
The Israel Brief – 07 December 2023– IDF closes in on Sinwar and updates.
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 wartime poll by Ramallah based Arab research institute, reveals alarming concerns for Israelis
By Jonathan Feldstein
A recent poll by the Arab World for Research and Development(AWRAD), painted a vivid picture of who the innocent Palestinian Arabs are about whom the world is decrying their treatment in Israel’s war with Hamas. The same world that’s been an impotent deaf mute, overlooking decades of abuse and war crimes against the Palestinian Arabs under Hamas, the PLO, and Islamic Jihad. The current situation begs the question, for another conversation, as to whether anyone in the world actually cares about the well being of the Palestinian Arabs, or if this is just a cover for antisemites to find an excuse to blame Israel again and again and again.
Revelations from Ramallah. The poll that found that an overwhelming 75% of Palestinian Arabs support the October massacre against Israel was conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), a pioneering research, consulting and development firm based in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah.
The wartime poll was conducted between October 31 and November 7, among 668 people in the Palestinian Authority including Gaza and the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria).
So, who are the innocent Palestinian Arabs?
Spoiler alert in case you don’t care or have time for the details: the poll shows that Palestinian Arabs roundly support terror against Israel, reject peace with Israel, and deny Israel’s very right to exist.
To its credit, AWRAD actually published these results. They did so with no shame. They should be ashamed, for their society and everything it says about the century-long dehumanization of Jews and delegitimization of Israel. Maybe it depicts their desire to portray this reality in the hope that there will be change. However, as deep as the hostility to Israel is, it’s hard to imagine even a handful of righteous people looking to change their society rather than celebrate its deeply rooted evil.
The AWRAD poll depicts widespread hostility, hatred, and legitimization of terror. It did not start just because of the war, and certainly not as a response to the horrific October 7 massacre against Israel. In fact, it shows that innocent Palestinian Arabs celebrate it. These results are the product of hateful incitement against Israel from long before the advent of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, and since, celebrating terror, honoring the terrorists, and providing generous pensions to the perpetrators and their families.
The results must be a wake-up call for Israel, the broader world (even the antisemites for whom these facts are an inconvenient truth), and anyone in the international community who truly seeks peace in the Middle East. It underscores that the worn-out paradigms of the past are invalid and the world needs to look through the prism of helping to resolve a problem based on reality, not how people want to think the world ought to be.
Staggering Support for Massacre of Jews. Despite scenes like this of blood splattered in a child’s room following the October 7 Hamas massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz, the AWRAD poll reveals that 76% of Palestinian society “believe that Hamas plays a somewhat to very positive role.” (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
The poll’s overall results indicate that an overwhelming percentage of innocent Palestinian Arabs:
overwhelmingly support the October 7 massacre against Israel (75%),
support the genocidal creation of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” in place of Israel (74.7%),
seek the restoration of “historical Palestine” as a final resolution (71.1%), albeit that there was never an independent entity under Arab authority known as Palestine to restore,
and obviously they reject coexistence with Israel (85.9%).
As if in a high school popularity contest for homecoming king and queen among competing terrorist organizations, innocent Palestinian Arabs:
believe that Hamas plays a somewhat to very positive role (76%),
believe that Palestinian Islamic Jihad plays a somewhat to very positive role (84%),
believe that Fatah’s (the PLO) terror wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, plays a somewhat to very positive role (79.8%),
believe that Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Kassam Brigades, plays a somewhat to very positive function (88.6%).
Innocent Palestinian Arabs also harbor unsurprisingly antisemitic, and anti-Western views, and believe that they are victims and not the perpetrators:
91.5% think that support for Israel is the result of the “influence of the Israeli lobby”
85.5% think that support for Israel is the result of “hatred of Arabs”
79.5% agreed with the belief that this support is the result of “hatred of Muslims and Islam”
Biting the hands that feeds them, which have provided untold millions to fund their society, innocent Palestinian Arabs:
see the U.S. role as unfavorable (98.2%)
see the UK role as unfavorable (96.7%)
see the EU role as unfavorable (92.6%)
But innocent Palestinian Arabs disdain is not just for the Western hands that feed them. Within the Arab world, innocent Palestinian Arabs:
see the United Arab Emirates playing the most negative role (96%)
see Saudi Arabia playing the second most negative role (95.5%)
see Egypt playing the third most negative role (84.6%)
see Jordan playing the fourth negative role (75.6%).
Erase Israel. The slogan is anything but “free” as it means the destruction of the Jewish state and according to the AWRAD poll, is supported by 74.7% of Palestinians.
It’s noteworthy that these countries have either made peace with Israel, or were close to that before October 7. No doubt innocent Palestinian Arabs must hold in high esteem countries that are rocks of stability and democracy in advocating for their well-being such as Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Looking locally at their own “society”, innocent Palestinian Arabs seek greater control by the most hardline terrorists, in a population where all their leaders come from terrorist organizations. Innocent Palestinian Arabs believe:
the Palestinian Authority plays a negative role (87.3%),
Fatah (the PLO) plays a positive role. (23.2%),
Hamas should continue to play a role in the Palestinian government (85.8%),
support a “national unity” government of Fatah (the PLO) and Hamas. (72.2%),
the war will end with a Palestinian victory that “achieves the liberation of Gaza from the Israeli invasion.” (74.3%)
Innocent Palestinian Arabs’ positive perception of the terror organizations that control their society remains high, despite their role in the October 7 massacre and being used as human shields by the very same terrorist leaders who they hold in high esteem.
To be clear, I don’t want to see the death or suffering of any actual innocent Palestinian Arabs. Nor do the vast majority of Israelis. The truism before October 7 remains, if they were to lay down their weapons today, they could have peace tomorrow. If we were to lay down our weapons (or be unprepared or live in a naïve false reality) they would slaughter us. On October 7 we saw that.
Israelis desperately want peace. But when we look at statistics like these among “innocent Palestinian Arabs”, it makes us question whether there are in fact any actual peace partners on the other side. It’s not only impossible under Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. In the Palestinian Authority controlled “West Bank”, the percentage of people who hold negative and genocidal views of Israel is actually greater. According to the AWRAD poll, innocent Palestinian Arabs in the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria) support the massacre against Israel at a far greater rate (83.1%) than those in Gaza (63.6%).
The AWRAD poll shows that innocent Palestinian are delusional and hold views that are self-defeating. It raises the legitimate question as to whether Israel has, or ever will have, peace partners.
It also raises the question as Israel continues in its combat to eradicate Hamas:
Whether all the ‘innocent’ Palestinian Arabs are really so innocent after all?
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).
From opening ancient Jewish texts, to hotels opening its doors to host evacuees, hospitality in times of distress is imbedded in Jewish tradition
By Motti Verses
One of the most impressive phenomena in Israel after the Hamas atrocities on October 7th is the impressive solidarity shown by the hospitality industry. Around 130,000 Israelis had to leave their homes along the Gaza and Lebanon borders. The first hours and days were crucial as the civil service scheme that had to take charge was completely paralyzed. Owners and managers of hotels, hostels, guest houses and short-term rentals warmly opened their doors to the evacuees offering free accommodation.
Is this unprecedented solidarity of an industry related to the essence of Judaism?
Throughout our history, providing shelter to people is fundamental in the Jewish religion. For thousands of years, the showing of hospitality – “hakhnasat orchim” – is considered a mitzvah (good deed done from religious duty). In fact, it is considered one of the most important of Jewish values. The Talmud even says that welcoming guests is “greater than welcoming the Divine Presence”. When one knows of strangers who are hungry or need a place to relax, it becomes a legal obligation.
Solid Solidarity. Marking a month of the Hamas massacre and the taking of hostages on the 7 October, the Dan Jerusalem releases yellow balloons in support for the hostages and their families. (Photo: courtesy of Dan Jerusalem)
Mutual guarantee is another beacon of responsibility – an obligation of the community towards each of its members, and of each member of the community towards the whole. In Judaism a moral and halachic rule was established by the sages to indicate a mutual guarantee. All of Israel are guarantors to each other. Its original meaning was that each Jew is responsible for the fulfillment of his fellow mitzvot. The most prominent examples of mutual guarantee nowadays, are the various volunteer organizations in which assistance is provided to citizens free of charge.
Even the chuppah in marriage symbolizes a shelter and refuge that is created by the bond of love and the goodness Jews selflessly give to one another because of that love.
After centuries of endless antisemitism at the conclusion of World War II, there were millions of refugees in Europe. Holocaust survivors had no homes to return to. These survivors experienced undue hardship as they sought to rebuild their lives. However, in the shadow of the Shoah, there was only one true home that welcomed them with open arms – Israel. Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a home for Jews was eternally assured, and following the atrocities of the Nazis, an oath was taken that resonates for all time – “Never Again”.
Sanctuary at Dead Sea Hotel. Four Sderot men show bracelets identifying them as evacuees, after evening prayers at the Royal Dead Sea Hotel, October 30, 2023. (Photo Mati Wagner/Times of Israel)
No wonder when the Hamas massacre occurred on October 7, it struck deep within the genealogy of the Jewish people in Israel. Hoteliers suddenly found themselves in the frontline. They felt a moral duty as Jews to meet the needs of their people and help provide solutions to the evacuees. It was an industry showing solidarity with pride.
While hospitality institutions are by nature commercial entities, the Jewish people are by nature uniquely remarkable, and in times of a national crisis the true collective character of this impressive little country is revealed. The people galvanize in solidarity and overwhelming generosity and Israel’s hospitality industry is in the forefront of this proud phenomenon.
Releasing the Pain. Away from the horrors inflicted by Hamas on the 7 October, evacuees from destroyed southern communities, relax at a Fattal group hotel in Tel Aviv. (Photo: courtesy of Fattal Hotel Group)
“This is true Zionism. We say yes, make things happen and at the later stage ask questions,” says Itamar Elitzur, Head of the Eilat Hotel Association. This Red Sea resort city with 50,000 residents is host to approximately 60,000 evacuees. “Over the years we have gained experience during previous clashes with Hamas and so with this war following the massacre they perpetrated, we were able to organize very quickly. At first evacuees arrived separately but within a short time, it became more organized with group arrivals and today the hotels are fully booked. Despite being short-staffed because of the situation to cope for such high occupancy, we are nevertheless managing well,” he says proudly.
ALIVE AT THE DEAD SEA
Ein Gedi Kibbutz Hotel at the Dead Sea was crowded with guests – evacuated survivors – from the kibbutzim of Be’eri and Holit that suffered devastating massacres. “They arrived here without luggage and basic personal equipment such as medicines, hearing aids and even dentures,” says kibbutz Chairwoman, Maya Dvir. “Almost 400 people, nearly the same number as the kibbutz members, are being hosted in the hotel and some even in the homes of our kibbutz members. We had an enormous shortage of employees, but all of the kibbutz members rose to the occasion in providing everything that was needed, from appliances and provisions to just sharing time with these devastated people; after all they are like family,” she said.
No Escaping the Horror. At the entrance to the Dead Sea’s David Hotel where Be’eri evacuees are being housed, an onlooker looks at boards displaying the photos of the hostages held in Gaza. (Photo. Courtesy of Mati Wagner/Times of Israel)
MAKING THEM FEEL AT HOME
“Requests to host evacuees from the Gaza border area following the Hamas massacre began immediately. We started hosting them in our hotels without hesitation,” says Leon Avigad, co-founder of the boutique Israeli brand, Brown Hotels, that started out in Tel Aviv in 2010 and now has 27 hotels throughout Israel, 12 in Greece and 1 in Croatia.
Caring for Kids. Seen here at an Atlas hotel in Tel Aviv are fun activities for the children, all evacuees from their destroyed communities in the south. Trying to liven their very unsettled little lives is beloved children’s television star, Yuval Shem-Tov. (photo Dany Vaserman)
“Our response to the dire situation was immediate with overwhelming effort to make them feel at home. Well-known Israeli comedians and entertainers joined in our ‘mission’ to help revive their spirits. Even Kosher food was offered by outside vendors, although it is not part of all our hotel’s philosophy. Helping people in need is what we believe in. We were there also during the summer Greece wildfires providing similar assistance to evacuees. This is who we are. We are brownies with a soul,” he says.
Atlas Hotels is an Israeli brand with 16 urban properties and a family business of the founder Danny Lipman and his sons Yaron and Lior, who nowadays carry the torch. They are also proudly carrying the torch of Jewish humanitarian tradition. “Being active by hosting evacuees sends a message of optimism, unity and togetherness,” says Vice president Yaron Lipman. “We are emphasizing the giving. The majority of our guests are usually travelers from abroad and we felt it was important to convey to them through our social media channels, the message of unity. We see it as making a statement of standing together in times of adversity,” he says.
Providing Solutions. Within walking distance from Tel Aviv’s Gordon Beach, the luxury boutique hotel, Debra Brown has turned its basement into a kindergarten for child evacuees. (Photo: courtesy of Debra Brown Hotel).
Even owners of short-term rentals with 7000 units and apartments all across the country offered free accommodation. “Within 48 hours, most of the apartments in Israel were full with approximately 15,000 civilian evacuees. This amounted to a multi-million contribution by the entire sector,” explains Eyal Levanthal, Director of Israel Short Term Rentals Association.
As this human drama unfolds, one reflects as a Jew back to the Torah’s detailed description of the mitzvah of ‘hachnasat orchim’ in Genesis when our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah offered hospitality to three wayfarers who happened to be passing by their tent. Jewish goodwill today has only developed from this earliest fine example of our forefathers that set us on our righteous path.
Biblical Inspiration. A painting recounting the story in Genesis of Abraham and Sarah showing hospitality to three strangers at their home.
Some argue there is a world of difference between doing good deeds according to our own human understanding and doing mitzvahs according to God’s plan as outlined in this mythical biblical story. For my money, there is no difference.
This is the foundation of Judaism.
It also provides many-millennia later, the inspiration for Israel’s hospitality industry, that in the spirit of Abraham and Sarah, have opened its doors welcoming people in need.
*Feature picture: The writer at the Herzliya Daniel hotel standing in front of the slogan “TOGETHER WE WILL WIN”.
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).
Could have been a model of reconciliation but instead the Rainbow Nation embraces terrorists that murder Jews
By Gary Kaplan
I know my paraphrased slogan is less catchy than the heinous one chanted across the globe, including in the city of my birth, Cape Town, South Africa. However, I believe my variation is more reflective of the truth.
South Africa has been robbed. Not at gunpoint for this is about a different type of crime, a different robbery, one that is still in progress and if not stopped, will leave South Africa with its open-ended financial crisis and debt, as well as a moral debt that will never be forgotten nor forgiven.
Sign of the Times. The chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” heard at pro-Palestine marches across the world is an antisemitic slogan calling for the destruction of the Jewish state. Does this sentiment not share similarity with the apartheid of the old South Africa?
The ANC has not only allowed the anti-Israel movement to accuse Israel of Apartheid but has taken it upon itself to spread the new blood libel of our time and be its megaphone. The Apartheid analogy has served less as a realm of analytical inquiry and more as a rhetorical tool. Since the Durban conference of 2001, this analogy has been used by activists of the BDS movement, along with their stalwart allies, which in South Africa are the ANC and the South African government. Their intent is to utilise this analogy as a framework that justifies isolating and ultimately dismantling the State of Israel, drawing parallels to how international pressure significantly contributed to the downfall of the Apartheid state. This modus operandi of exporting false narratives is an insult to black South Africans who suffered under the system of absolute racial segregation. Furthermore, it is a tragic theft of the actual black South African Apartheid narrative because the term has been misappropriated to falsely label Israel when referring to its conflict with Palestine. The truth has been robbed.
Morally Repugnant. In a display of zero partiality, South African President Cyril Ramaposa, on a state visit to Qatar, requested that the International Criminal Court investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in its war with Hamas saying Israel has “turned Gaza into a concentration camp where genocide is taking place.” Ignoring the barbarity and butchery Hamas inflicted upon Jewish civilians, the South African president also posted a video of a speech he delivered at a rally in support of Gaza, whose killer squads had perpetrated a massacre on the 7 October.
Continuing on this misguided path, South Africa’s ANC’s leadership persistently espouses ignorantly on Israel’s war against the terrorist-run state of Gaza. Joining with the outrageous statements by different members of his government, on November 17, President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters during a state visit to Qatar that Gaza:
“Has now turned into a concentration camp where genocide is taking place.”
It took the South African government nine days to condemn the 7th of October massacre by Hamas, and with that, it quickly blamed Israel for the:
“genocide of the people of Gaza.”
This type of rhetoric backing Islamic terrorists is yet another slap in the face to the real freedom fighters who opposed Apartheid and exposes South Africa’s Jewish community to the danger of mob violence. We saw last month what transpired on Sea Point beach front when one of the organisers of the violence against Jews, Hannie Orrie, said:
“We share one objective: to rid this country of Zionism.” The threat of the EFF, South Africa’s third largest political party to close down the Jewish day school, Herzlia, while ominous, is a symptom of the ANC government’s close associations with those terrorists seeking Israel’s destruction.
Jews not Wanted. A violent counter-protest at a rally that was meant to be in support of Israel in Sea Point where Jews were warned to stay away. It begs the question of how safe are Jews in South Africa today?
The Rainbow Nation and the ANC had a choice; they could have made a significant impact by trying to be a role model of reconciliation and broker a peace but instead, they chose to support Hamas that murderously and mercilessly pursues the destruction of the state of Israel. Instead of governing and rebuilding South Africa, they have spent their energy on siding with terrorists and allowing antisemitism and violence to breed and spread across South Africa.
Close or Else What? Although the Jewish community’s leadership is unbowed and defiant, it is a sign of the times in South Africa when the third largest political party can threaten the Westen Cape Premier, Alan Winde that he has “until the end of the year to close down [Herzlia] school, or the EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] South Africa will have to!”
How can a nation reborn after Apartheid be so intertwined with a brutal terrorist organisation like Hamas? Where did it go so wrong?
In my mind, there is a clear link between the Government’s anti-Israel sentiment and the country’s apparent infrastructure collapse, high crime and economic malaise. I am sure there are many realpolitik reasons for the ANC to be so vocal against Israel, which include anti-western politicians in the ANC, seeking Muslim voters, BRICS, etc. However, they all start from a real ideological point. The ANC admire Hamas, they see them as themselves, and in that obscure way, they have a twisted take on history and reality. The only fundamental similarity between the ANC and the Palestinians is that both are ignoring the chance to govern their people to provide security and prosperity.
I can ensure the South African government that their people would prefer electricity 24 hours a day, clean water and an end to poverty and crime than its shallow forays into ‘foreign policy’.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, it took them 40 years to reach the promised land. Why? Not because they were literally lost but because a generation of slave- mentality needed to die for a new generation to understand the concept of freedom and live freely. It seems the ANC suffer from the same mentality; they too haven’t come to terms with the idea of freedom and its obligations and responsibilities. I find it hard to believe that the rainbow nation was created to align itself with terror and the destruction of the only Jewish state in the world. It seems South Africa today is going through the same evils it once had: racism, antisemitism, bigotry and supremacy. Once again, the Jews of South Africa need to explain to their government their place in society and explain why, even though their skin colour may be white, they are not “colonialists” but Jews. Have the ANC become the people they have fought against decades ago? Their blatant antisemitism would suggest so.
This ANC government supports an organisation responsible for the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust – an organisation whose official policy is to murder Jews and which poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Blind Support. Supporting Hamas, South Africa’s ANC leadership ignores how the current hostilities began with photos like these of a blood-soaked child’s bed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza where children were butchered on October 7.
It seems to me that the South African government today is no better than when white Afrikaner nationalism of the 1930s sided with Nazism, aligning with evil.
Is this what my Jewish parents so strongly opposed in South Africa? Is this the new South Africa?
The South African government’s comments on “genocide” and “concentration camps” regarding the war in Gaza, place it alongside history’s greatest holocaust deniers. I am sure this is not the legacy Mandela would have wanted to be associated with!
The ANC’s more-recent posturing that the narrative of the Palestinian people’s struggle resembles their own history of racial segregation and oppression undermines the true narrative of the struggle against Apartheid. It is diluting their history and dissipating its value. What started off as a just cause of striving for freedom has bizarrely morphed to supporting destruction, rape and brutal massacre. Who after all in their right mind, takes babies and toddlers as hostages and can claim to be “freedom fighters”?
South Africa – From Economic To Moral Decline. In response to the will of the street, the South African parliament has called on the ANC government to close down the Israeli embassy, while having no problem hosting a Hamas delegation to South Africa that is responsible for the massacre of Jews on October 7, the worst since the Holocaust.
However, in the last week, South Africa’s ANC government has taken its endangerment to Jews to an all-new level by welcoming in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre, a senior Hamas delegation to South Africa to participate in the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine. The delegation included politburo member Bassem Naim, Hamas representative in Iran, Khaled Qaddoumi and Hamas representative in East, Central and Southern Africa Emad Saber.
According to a press release, the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine was jointly organised by the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine and the Royal House of Mandela and would commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Global Campaign’s launch and the death of Nelson Mandela. What would Mandela who so loved children, and as president donated half of his salary to poor children and when he received the Nobel Peace Prize, gave part of the prize money to help street children say about the users and abusers of his legacy cozying up to the likes of Hamas who in the process of perpetrating a massacre of Jews, take babies and toddlers as hostages?
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).
The Israeli Message – We will prevail. We have no choice; we are home and we aren’t going anywhere
By Harris Zvi Green
December 1, 2023
My dearest friends,
After not having seen Omer for eight weeks, he finally made it home for the weekend. We were thrilled to see him and hear about his experiences. Omer is only 21 years old. He has had to shoulder enormous responsibility for achieving his unit’s objectives on the battlefield and ensuring the safety of his soldiers. We are so proud of him and our other serving grandchildren. Indeed, we’re proud of all our soldiers and volunteers.
The week began with a cessation of hostilities to enable a so-called “prisoner exchange”. The release of convicted terrorists plus humanitarian aid to Gaza in return for people who couldn’t harm a fly – elderly ladies, mothers, teenagers and young children. The aid includes fuel which will certainly find its way to re-energizing the Hamas military machine.
Targeting Kids. Kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz, the Bibas family – father Yarden, four-year-old Ariel, mother Shirli and baby Kfir were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. The two redheaded children are the youngest hostages still held in Gaza. (Courtesy)
At the time of writing these lines, Hamas continues to hold 145 hostages in captivity under the most appalling conditions. The hostages include 10-month-old Kfir, his four-year-old brother, Ariel, and their parents, Shiri and Yarden Bibas. Nineteen of the hostages are more than 60 years old. After 55 days, we don’t know who’s alive and who’s no longer with us.
We’ve gone full circle.
Israel is, once again, perceived to be the aggressor. Hamas and Gaza are perceived to be the victims and the underdogs. As expected, the international community has made a conscious decision to forget the events of October 7. These have now been relegated to obscure footnotes in the history books in order to cast the Palestinian narrative in concrete.
But the Israeli people will not forget the events of October 7. We will not move on and wait for yet another round of violence.
Last week a friend sent me a mail with a self-filmed clip of a gang rape by Hamas militants on October 7. He asked for my opinion as to whether he should distribute the clip to his mailing list.
I deliberately refrained from watching the clip. I don’t have the stomach for such animalistic behavior. I can only imagine that the images in the clip are so horrific that they are literally unbelievable.
I suggested to my friend that, out of respect for the victim and her family, he shouldn’t distribute the clip. I will, however, share with you the caption to the clip.
Eyewitness accounts: Palestinian terrorists gang rape Israeli girl, cut off her breasts while she’s still alive, then shoot her in the head and continue to rape her.
My apologies for having violated your sensitivities so invasively by sharing this. Its depravity shocked me to the core. These are the monsters Israel has to deal with. These are the sadists whose crimes are being sanitized by the UN, some Western leaders and much of the media.
My parents and teachers of blessed memory taught me to differentiate between good and evil. They taught me that truth was the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Shame was the painful feeling of humiliation.
Fast forward over my life span.
Good is no longer good. What we deemed good is now considered feeble. It reflects weakness. Evil is much worse than it ever was. As for the truth, it’s no longer relevant. There’s no more shame. Anything can be rationalized. Everything is excusable.
Meaningless words like “decolonization” and “apartheid” have been created or rebranded to whitewash and justify the most heinous acts of terror.
Friends, there’s no colonization and no apartheid in Israel. I know that. You know that. We all know that. So, let’s drop all the buzz-words with their negative connotations. Demonizing Israel and rationalizing anti-Semitism won’t advance peace.
Back Home. After 50 days in frightening captivity, 9-year-old hostage, Emily Hand reunites with her father Tom in Israel following her release.
International leaders, empowered by the media, hear the arguments. They refuse to listen. They see the terror. They choose not to register. They want to move on. They don’t give a damn about Israel’s well-being, her right to security and her government’s duty to protect her citizens.
Irish Premier, Leo Varadkar, gleefully announced that Israeli-Irish national, Emily Hand, was “found after having been lost.” He made a conscious decision to ignore the fact that 9-year-old Emily was brutally kidnapped and held hostage in a Hamas prison for 50 days. He deliberately made this gross misrepresentation of the facts to provide credibility for a false narrative.
Ire against Ireland. “Maybe you have lost your moral compass” was Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen’s furious response to Ireland PM Leo Varadkar who he accused of ‘legitimising and normalising terror’ after saying freed child hostage Emily Hand was “lost” and “has now been found” without any reference to her kidnapping and by whom.
In a carefully orchestrated act, the Prime Ministers of Spain and Belgium called for the prisoner release cease-fire to be made permanent. This would achieve stalling Israel’s military offensive, saving the genocidal Hamas leadership and get us back to square one. These guys should stick to football. Conflict resolution and making the Middle East a safer place in which to live are clearly not their forte.
Spain announced its intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. That’s quite a reward for the Hamas October 7 massacre and the public hanging by Hamas militants of two Palestinians suspected of “collaborating with Israel”. It’s so easy for the PMs of Spain and Belgium to propose suicidal scenarios that don’t affect their own security. Does anybody believe such a scenario in the Middle East is a viable option to end the conflict?
Bodies of Evidence. A volunteer with Israel’s military rabbinate who helped prepare remains of women murdered on Oct. 7 stands near refrigerated containers that hold bodies, body parts and ashes at a makeshift morgue for soldiers on the Shura military base near Ramla on Oct. 29. (Heidi Levine for The Washington Post)
What does this say about those who elected these clowns to their positions? We will not allow these people to determine our future.
Kay Burley, Sky television anchor, claims Israel’s agreeing to release 150 Hamas prisoners in exchange for 50 Israeli hostages proves Israel cares less about the value of Palestinian lives than Israeli lives. What gives her the right to draw a moral comparison between normative Israeli citizens and convicted Hamas terrorists? If the numbers bother her so much, why doesn’t Ms. Burley criticize the Hamas leadership for demanding this outrageous rate of exchange?
Israel continues to receive lectures from biased television personalities regarding its obligations under International Law. Yet, these same self-styled “champions of human rights” haven’t got what it takes to read the riot act to the Hamas leadership. BBC’s Middle East correspondent, Jeremy Bowen sounds like a shyster lawyer trying to negotiate a plea bargain with an alcoholic judge on behalf of a small-time pimp cum drug dealer in a one-horse town.
BBC BIAS. Constantly a culprit is BBC’s Middle East chief correspondent Jeremy Bowen in failing to tell the story of the Israel-Palestine conflict accurately.
I can go on and on and on, but, like me, by now, you must be experiencing motion sickness.
In spite of it all, Israel will prevail. We have no choice. We are home and we aren’t going anywhere. We’re between the river and the sea and we are free.
My condolences to those mourning their nearest and dearest. My wishes to the injured for a complete and speedy recovery. 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)
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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COMING HOME An emotional roller-coaster for all Israel
Israelis across the land, shared in the embrace and tears when families were reunited from brutal Hamas captivity in Gaza. Seen here is a mother and her baby daughters kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz – Doron Asher with Raz 4 and Aviv 2 – reuniting with anguished husband and father Yoni at Schneider Children’s Hospital.
Articles
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THE KILLING FIELDS
A visit to south-western Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre revealed a devastated landscape of burnt relics eerily crying for their stories to be told By Rolene Marks, photos Ilan Ossendryver
Death and Destruction. This was a green peaceful kibbutz until killers from Gaza arrived on October 7.
Failure to see the ethical differences between the two clashing cultures in conflict is like losing sight of the Grand Canyon when you are standing right on its edge By Sam Harris, PhD
Face the Facts. Conducting terror operations from schools and hospitals, an antisemitic world is purposely blind on the war in Gaza ignoring the heinous conduct of Hamas.
ISRAEL SHOULD LOOK TO PEARL HARBOR AND 9/11 PRECEDENTS AS IT RESPONDS TO OCT.7
The war against Hamas must achieve its goals By Dr. Efraim Zuroff
Fanatic Foes. From Pearl Harbor (r) to Gaza (l), the message is clear – existential threats from uncompromising fanatics demand neutralizing the enemy totally.
LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.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).
