Day: March 19, 2024

A RETURN TO THE SOUTH

Revisiting Israel’s devastated south, you want to cry while your soul wants to scream.

By Rolene Marks

To truly understand the magnitude of destruction, devastation and loss on 7/10, you must bear witness. Pictures and footage in the media do not do enough justice. I headed down south with my good friends, the Fisher family who have been collecting the generous donations that people are contributing to give to soldiers.

Air Delivery. While food is being also delivered by land and sea, the writer observes from the Nahal Oz army base in Israel, food being parachuted into Gaza from planes above. (Photo:  Amy Fisher)

Nahal Oz Army Base

 First stop was Nahal Oz army base, mere metres away from the Gaza border, to deliver loads of stuff that wonderful people have donated and organised by Maeghan Fisher, for the HUGELY appreciative soldiers. After a lesson in effective tank combat, we walked around looking at the massive destruction on the base caused by Hamas terrorists on 7/10. Buildings are pockmarked from bullets and grenades; evidence of looting and wholesale destruction is everywhere. The shattered glass, burnt palm trees and the smells tell the story about that darkest day in Israel’s history. Exactly 5 months before, Hamas murdered, raped, mutilated, kidnapped and burnt over 1200 during in their orgy of terror. As we walked around, a Jordanian aid plane airdropped aid into the Gaza strip. Aid is distributed daily by land, air and sea, despite what you may see in the media. I saw it with my own eyes.

In the cheder ochel (dining room) the coppery smell of blood is pervasive, even though it has painstakingly been removed. It is an assault on the senses.

Evidence of Evil. The former command centre on Nahal Oz, where soldiers, including the female “Tatzpitaniot” were murdered, raped, burnt and abducted. (Photo: Rolene Marks)

The most devastating area is the command centre, where soldiers, including the female “Tatzpitaniot” were murdered, raped, burnt and abducted. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. It is a place where evil reigned supreme – and the evidence is everywhere.

I thought about Naama. And Noa. Shiri. Eden. Agam. Roni. All of them. I walked into what was the command room at Nahal Oz and I felt the presence of them saying:

 “Tell our story, don’t let the world forget us“.

Their presence is everywhere – and so are the candles and flowers from heartbroken friends and family. It almost reminded me of the children’s memorial at Yad Vashem – Israel’s National Holocaust Memorial and Museum.

It is impossible not to cry. The soul wants to scream. It was here Hamas shot, raped and burnt our girls. Some were burnt to ash. It was from here the world watched as Naama was dragged, bleeding from her crotch to Gaza. She is still there. It is from here that Noa Marciano was taken hostage, her remains recovered by our soldiers. At least her parents had a body to bury, a place to go. Others were burnt to ash. To ash. It was here where Eden saved her fellow Skyriders – and paid with her life. She fought like a lioness. We will roar in her memory. And the smell. The room reeks of smoke and burnt plastic. Bullet holes are everywhere. My hackles were up. I thought of their last moments here. It was here I saw a female soldier, at this place of devastation, of holiness, tears streaming down her face. We looked at each other. We did not need to say words. We knew what each other felt. March is Women’s History Month. Please speak for Naama, Roni, Agam, Noa, Eden and all of our women. They no longer can. Bear witness and speak.

Illuminating Lives lost. Memorial candles to the fallen at Nahal Oz. (Photo: Rolene Marks)

The Graveyard of Cars

The eye sees cars. The soul feels people. Families were in some of these cars. Young festivalgoers desperately fleeing were in some of these cars. Soldiers, police and rescue personnel who were racing to the scenes of slaughter were in these cars. You can see the level of carnage. Many cars burnt, every car pummeled by bullets, some, including an ambulance, hit by rocket-propelled grenades. Many have stickers indicating ZAKA cleared it of human remains but the truth is not every speck of DNA was cleared, and so this is holy ground. You see the white pickups mounted with machine guns and mangled motorbikes used by the terrorists, who indiscriminately fired on everyone. We know some of the individual stories of occupants. Some have car seats for babies or toddlers. Agony. Then you look inside. A hairbrush here. A toy there. A container. Personal objects. This place will eventually become a museum. People will learn about their owners. People will learn how on a sunny Saturday morning became the darkest day.

Car Cemetery.The skeletal remains of vehicles that came under surprise attack from the over 3000 terrorists that invaded Southern Israel from Gaza on October 7. (Photo: Rolene Marks)

Nova Festival Memorial Site

They came to dance. They came to celebrate peace – and hopefully, those on the other side of the border would one day feel the same. They were full of life, a vibrant testimony to joy. The Nova memorial site has changed since I visited in January – but the ground still cries out with the blood of the many victims. The trees whisper. Remember what happened here and make sure the world does not forget. This is holy ground.  Next to the memorial site, trees have been lovingly planted for each life taken. Trees are sacred in Israel and it is a fitting memorial. The reminders of beautiful lives brutally ended or taken hostage in Gaza are everywhere. The heart aches. The soul screams. It is impossible not to see the horrific, depraved carnage in your mind’s eye. Each memorial pole has become a shrine, a personal testament to each beautiful soul. We know many of the individual stories but each one is deeply personal.  

Came for Love and Peace. The site of the Nova Music Festival massacre where photos appear of the murdered. (Photo: Rolene Marks)

There is a tent where a constant stream of prayers for the souls of the murdered and the freedom of the captives are intoned. Tiny miguniot (shelters) line the roads in the south. A stark reminder that rockets have pummeled this area for decades and that dark Saturday, hundreds ran for the shelters as rockets rained down and Hamas terrorists murdered innocents. I am always struck by how small they are. Big enough to take 10 people – not 20, 30, terrified individuals that could not be protected against the bullets and grenades. ZAKA stickers placed on the outside are a reminder that these shelters became places of death and devastation. Israelis in our sorrow are determined to honour our murdered. We will dance again. We will!

Tomorrow’s Trees. In honour of all those murdered, an open field where saplings have been planted – one for each person murdered. (Photo: Rolene Marks)

Shova Junction

Light in the darkness. In a place of sorrow, new life starts to grow. Red anemones dot the fields and areas. Citizens are starting to slowly return home and rebuild. While we are a country in deep trauma and pain and at war against a monstrous enemy, we focus on building. Perhaps that is the secret to our success. We are a stubborn people, hoping for peace, looking to the future. It is too soon and we are in too much pain to talk about peace solutions with our neighbours, but the stubborn hope is there, underneath the layers. You can only destroy darkness by shining light. We ended the day in the most hopeful of places. Shova Junction. On 7/10, emergency personnel and the IDF evacuated the wounded to the junction so that helicopters and ambulances could work safely, away from threats of terrorists with RPG’s. The residents of the Shova moshav, organised by the irrepressible Dror and his two brothers, started to bring food and coffee for exhausted first responders. The junction grew and grew and is now a place that is packed with food and everything our soldiers could possibly need, most of it donated by many generous people around the world just wanting an opportunity to say thank you to our warriors. None of them is photographed out of respect for their personal safety. Music plays, hugs and a hot meal and whatever they need is given to them. We owe each one a debt we can never repay but we can take care of them. Under the protective plastic that covers the tables, are letters to soldiers, lovingly written by children in South Africa that they can read. A group of 10 soldiers led by a religious man gathers for evening prayers. A soldier strums a guitar nearby. It is an oasis of joy and peace. I give Dror a hug. He calls me “Shova sister“. We embrace the amazing Racheli who is an embodiment of the spirit and resilience of the area. And hell yes, we can all agree FCK HMS!!! Am Yisrael Chai!


Photo:  J. Zwerling






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).

LETTER FROM ISRAEL AT WAR – WEEK 24

Justifying and whitewashing October 7 serves the interests of those responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Does the world care?

By Harris Zvi Green

March 15, 2024

My dearest friends,

The international community has clearly had enough of Israel. As I wrote in my last letter, the Free World and its freedoms are in decay. Its heads of state and humanitarian organizations, its religious leaders and academic institutions have proved, for the umpteenth time, they don’t have the will or the ability to fight, outlaw or even recognize terror, especially when it’s targeted against Israel.

On October 7, invading Hamas forces perpetrated a genocide against Israel. Around 1,200 people, including women and children, were brutally murdered. An additional 250 Israelis were abducted to Gaza. After 164 days, 134 of them remain in hostage. They haven’t been visited by representatives of any humanitarian organization. Since October 7, more than 9,000 missiles have been randomly fired from Gaza into population centers in Israel. As a result of this violence, around 100,000 people have, for the past 5 months, been displaced from their homes along Israel’s southern border.

Forgotten Footage. Haunting images of Israeli civilians burned alive in their car by Hamas terrorists, is the imagery the world is purposely forgetting. (Photo: South First Responders)

Clearly, this violence must be countered. Failure to do so will further embolden Hamas. The Hamas violence on Israel’s southern border has already emboldened Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border and the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. It’s even emboldened South Africa to weaponize international law to demonize Israel and delegitimize her right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people.

Sadly, the UN Security Council is engaged in a systematic process of denial. The Security Council is doing its utmost to distance itself from the report prepared by its envoy on sex crimes committed during conflict. The Russian representative discounted the report claiming it was based on partial information.

Truth is Irrelevant. Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Maria Zabolotskaya (above), attempts to cast doubt against overwhelming evidence in the Security Council on a UN report confirming sexual violence committed by Hamas-led terrorists on Israelis on and after October 7.(Screen capture)

The Security Council continues to ignore the plight of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. It ignores the indiscriminate firing of missiles at population centers in Israel. It ignores the use of hospitals, schools, mosques and its own buildings as part of the Hamas terror machine against Israel. It ignores the cynical use of Gaza’s civilian population as human shields to protect the Hamas military infrastructure.

Following World War II, the Allies convened a joint tribunal in Nuremberg to establish evidence of the war crimes committed and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Why aren’t they doing so this time around?

The world accuses Israel of over-reacting. I ask myself whether this is reasonable.

Over the years, Israel has done her utmost to avoid charges of over-reacting. Since 2005, Hamas has fired more than 20,000 missiles and mortars at Israel. Imagine the astronomical number of Israeli casualties that would been recorded without Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system. Imagine the air strikes and the artillery required to eliminate this threat. Imagine the even more astronomical number of Palestinian casualties that would have been recorded in the process.

Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system is more worthy of the Nobel Peace prize than are politicians or those heading any of its humanitarian organizations.

How does the world expect Israel to defend herself? Effectively, the world is seeking to neutralize Israel’s right to self-defense. How should Israel demilitarize Gaza? How should Israel secure release of the hostages? How should Israel ensure that the events of October 7 don’t repeat themselves?

Without providing effective and realistic solutions to these questions, the accusations made against Israel are ludicrous to the extreme. Ceasefires won’t achieve any of these fundamental requirements.

The world is stuck with one Holocaust Memorial Day. It shouldn’t be looking for a second one.

Israel conducted major air strikes and ground attacks against military targets in the Gaza Strip. These attacks caused enormous damage and many casualties including women and children serving as human shields for the Hamas leadership. But Israel also put her own soldiers at enormous risk in her attempts to limit the unnecessary loss of civilian life in Gaza. Has any other country in military history gone to such lengths to limit the loss of enemy life? If so, please name them.

To date, more than 12,000 Hamas militants have been killed. Many others have been apprehended. By international standards, the collateral damage has been negligible. The numbers of non-combatants relative to combatants killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine were much greater. Given the extensive use by Hamas of women and children as human shields, this is an even more remarkable achievement.

The discourse surrounding the conflict has become toxic. Protest events around the world calling for the release of the hostages are dispersed by unruly mobs. Law enforcement to protect the right to demonstrate is either ridiculously inadequate or non-existent. Pictures of the hostages are ripped to shreds within minutes of their being posted. That’s what become of our world. No wonder Michelle Obama, Julia Roberts and others who seek popularity audiences, are so quiet on the subject.

As Leonard Cohen wrote:

“First we take Manhattan then we take Berlin”

Cohen described this as a terrorist song. Terrorism, he said, is something that has no alibis or compromises. Judging by what’s becoming increasingly acceptable on the streets of Manhattan and Berlin, both cities have fallen to the whims of terrorism.

Crazy Court. Instead of the leaders of Gaza being charged for the genocide of Israelis having orchestrated a well-planned massacre, Israel finds itself so falsely charged at The Hague thanks to South Africa weaponizing international law. Seen here are South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola (left) and its Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela. (Photo: Remko de Waal/AFP/Getty Images)

Justifying and whitewashing the events of October 7 are an essential part of the strategy. It serves the interests of the perpetrators and the international community.

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. May the hostages soon be reunited with their families. May you all be blessed with good health to see smiles on the faces of your loved ones for many years to come.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and better times ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Harris Zvi Green



About the writer:

Harris Zvi Green was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Aged 77, he made Aliyah 53 years ago. An accountant by profession, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for a number of Israel based hi-tech companies. He is married to Phyllis. They have 3 married children ,13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Harris Zvi Green is a founder member of Truth be Told, an organization engaged in public diplomacy on behalf of Israel.






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