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Lay of the Land’s ‘Pick of the Week’ was the Unexpected
GAZANS PROTEST NOT AGAINST ISRAEL BUT AGAINST HAMAS!WHERE WILL IT LEAD?
“Hamas needs to go away,” said Ahmad al-Masri, 26, a resident of Beit Lahia who helped call for the demonstrations. “If it doesn’t, the bloodshed,the wars and the destruction won’t stop.” Thousands of Palestinians marched in northern Gaza in the second day of anti-war protests, demanding an end to 18 years of Hamas rule.
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OF MARKETS AND MINDSETS
Farewell to Stef Wertheimer – a feisty ‘warrior’ for peace and prosperity who has died at age 98. By David E. Kaplan
Movers & Shakers. Stef Wertheimer showing Warren Buffett (left) around Tefen Industrial Park, his flagship project in northern Israel that served as a model and a symbol of industrial innovation and excellence. Wertheimer championed industrial parks across the Middle East as an alternative to war, advocating for factory floors instead of battlefields!
AFTER A CHILD’S MURDER, A FATHER’S QUEST FOR JUSTICE
A distraught dad strives to bring his daughter’s killer to justice as she boastfully lives like a ‘rock star’ in Jordan. By Jonathan Feldstein
Murder on Main Street. August 9, 2001, Arnold Roth’s life was irrevocably derailed when his 15-year-old daughter, Malki, was murdered in a Terrorist bomb attack on the Sbarro pizzeria (above) in downtown Jerusalem. Spearheaded by Ahlam Tamimi, a journalist living in Jordan, a father’s outrage grew as his daughter’s killer popularity soared, enjoying celebrity status in the Arab world.
Perspectives and insights from writers in the Arab media
A look at the Arab media’s treatment of: Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to Egypt being disinvited from the accreditation ceremony at the Heliopolis Palace in Cairo and the response to Palestinian protests in Gaza against 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).
Perspectives and insights from writers in the Arab media
Wednesday last week marked the 46 years since the Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, DC, between then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin and then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, making Egypt the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. Despite the peace treaty holding – and that it also marked Egypt as the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel – it was unmentioned and most likely, intentionally ignored in the Egyptian press. Clearly, with the peace treaty remaining so unpopular with the Egyptian public, the local Egyptian media avoided it like the ‘plague’ – no inference to upcoming Passover!
Instead, what was reported relating to Egyptian-Israeli relations was that Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to Egypt, Ori Rotman, was disinvited from the accreditation ceremony last week, where he would have presented his credentials to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.
Sisi received the credentials of 23 new ambassadors at the Heliopolis Palace in Cairo. Israel’s ambassador should have made it 24, and in an Al-Araby report, it was made clear that the “disinvite” was due to the “ongoing aggression in the Gaza Strip,” as well as Egypt holding Israel responsible “of breaching the agreement reached with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.”
This should not have come as a surprise. As Yaakov Katz in an opinion piece in The Jerusalem Post explained, that Egypt’s “diplomatic freeze did not occur in a vacuum.” He drew attention to a recent study by the Glazer Foundation Information and Consulting Center at the Jewish People Policy Institute that reviewed thousands of opinion pieces published in two of Egypt’s most influential newspapers: Al-Ahram, the country’s most widely read paper, and Al-Gomhuria, a state-owned publication once edited by none other than Egypt’s late president and signatory of the Camp David peace agreement, Anwar Sadat.
“The findings are sobering,” writes Katz. “Of the articles that mentioned Israel, over 85% were negative, with many veering into outright antisemitism. These weren’t simply political critiques; some employed classic antisemitic tropes: claims about Jews loving money, being disloyal, or Judaism being a “fake” religion founded on myths.”
Up against Egypt’s media mindset, the focus on Israel is expected to be only in the negative.
It was illuminating to read how Arab media covered – if they did at all – the protests in Gaza against Hamas. Hundreds of Palestinians bravely took to the streets in northern Gaza in defiance of Hamas to demand an end to war and the immediate release of Israeli hostages – not as a concern for the hostages – but as a means to put an end to the cause of their misery as a consequence of the war. Noting little to no concern for Israelis by Gazan protesters other than their own suffering, Cookie Schwaeber-Issan asks in ‘Have Gazans finally seen the light? (JP March 18) :
“What about the hostage families who have lost all that was dear to them? Add to that the parents, wives, siblings, and children of the dead Israeli soldiers whose young lives were extinguished in the service of their country. And what about Diaspora Jews who were harassed, threatened, and derided just for having been born into an ethnicity that, overnight, became synonymous with hated members of society?”
While it’s gratifying to see Gazans finally identifying the true villains, it would be encouraging to see that extend to the misery inflicted by these same “villains” on Israelis. It’s unlikely for the foreseeable future.
See below and article by London-based Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Najar who writes that although “Some Arab media… have downplayed the recent protests, calling them isolated incidents or ignoring them altogether,” nevertheless, fails to mentions once the Israeli hostages, the pain, misery inflicted on Israelis by a war started by Gazans. The focus of his narrative is: “The people of Gaza cannot take this genocide anymore.”
With such reportage and accusations in the Arab media, is it ever likely that there will be an honest reckoning, particularly in Palestinian society, of what took place on October 7 and who the real criminals are?
David E. Kaplan Editor, Lay of the Land 30 March, 2025
PALISTINIANS ARE PLEADING FOR AN END TO THE GAZA WAR. NO ONE IS LISTENING By Ahmed Najar
Published on 27 March 2025 in Middle East Eye, a news platform covering the Middle East and North Africa.
Protesters are calling on both Israel and Hamas to relieve their misery, while the media only amplifies whatever angle suits its narrative.
The people of Gaza are revolting against their killing and starvation. In the north, the streets are packed with desperate voices chanting: “We want to live! End the Israeli killing! We are peaceful people! Out, out, out! Hamas, out!”
My social media has been flooded with videos of these demonstrations by people who have lost everything, who are starving, who just want the killing to end.
Western media, of course, have amplified this, reporting it as a major event. I just wish they had shown the same urgency when thousands of Palestinians were being slaughtered.
Our deaths were barely a footnote. When Israeli bombs reduced homes to rubble, with entire families buried under the debris, there were no breaking news alerts, no in-depth analyses, no panel discussions dissecting the scale of Palestinian suffering.
Our deaths came and went in a single line of text at the bottom of the screen – cold, distant and insignificant.
Some Arab media, meanwhile, have downplayed the recent protests, calling them isolated incidents or ignoring them altogether.
But no one is asking why people are out on the streets. No one is acknowledging their desperation, their unbearable grief. These are not people playing politics; these are people who have lost their families, their homes and their futures. They are starving. They are broken. And they are willing to pay any price just to make it stop.
How much pain must a person endure before they stop fearing bullets in the hands of the powerful? How much hunger must a child feel before their parents are willing to stand in front of guns and demand that something – anything – change?
I have heard from people in Gaza who have lost their parents, children and siblings. Still, through their devastation, they say: “I accept it, just let the war end.”
When my nephew Fouad was killed, I called my mother. Through her pain, she simply said: “May God bless his soul. We accept what has been written for us. But let the killing stop. I hope we lose no more.”
There was a deep, quiet grief in those words – a grief that has learned not to scream, because screaming does nothing. A grief that is tired of waiting for the world to notice.
The people of Gaza cannot take this genocide anymore. They understand now, more than ever, what kind of world they live in. It is a world where they are just numbers; where their lives mean nothing. They know that Israel has been given free rein to kill as many of them as possible, and that they are trapped in a brutal game of regional and political calculations.
They know that their suffering is useful to some, inconvenient to others, and irrelevant to most.
They see Israel carrying out its greed-driven, genocidal agenda.
Palestinian Protests. Palestinians chant slogans during an anti-war protest not against Israel but against Hamas in a rare show of public anger in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
One protester told CNN: “Our message is to the Israeli army to stop the bloodshed and the war that has drained our energy and caused us to lose all our loved ones and friends.”
There is something deeply tragic in these words, in how Palestinians – my people – have been reduced to figures in a brutal equation. And yet, the world only listens when it suits them.
Suffering in silence
No one wants to hear what the people of Gaza actually want. The anti-Hamas voices in the West only amplify their suffering when it serves their agenda. They were silent when Gaza was screaming in agony, in mourning, in starvation.
They want to use our voices when we chant against Hamas, but they mute us when we cry out for our murdered families. They never want to hear us demand an end to Israel’s slaughter.
On the other side, some voices dismiss this suffering. They act as though these protests are nothing; as if people risking their lives to demand an end to this nightmare are somehow irrelevant. Their voices, too, have only ever amplified what suits them.
And in the end, no one cares.
No one has pointed out that not all of Gaza is Hamas, that not all of Gaza is fighting. Israeli politicians once justified their mass killings by claiming otherwise. They have spent years conditioning the world to believe that Gaza is nothing but Hamas, that every Palestinian in Gaza is part of some vast, faceless enemy.
But if that were true, then why are these same civilians now in the streets, demanding peace? Why are they risking their lives to demand an end to this war?
And why is Israel still starving them? Why is Israel still bombing them?
If they are not Hamas, if they are civilians, if they are now standing in the open, asking for nothing but survival – why is the world still watching them die in silence?
The truth is in their slogan, in their plea: “We want to live.”
Ahmed Najar is a Palestinian political analyst and a playwright based in London.
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).
24 March 2025 – Rocket attacks from multiple fronts and more on The Israel Brief.
25 March 2025 – Oscar winner arrested and more on The Israel Brief.
26 March 2025 – Protests against Hamas in Gaza strip and more on The Israel Brief.
27 March 2025 – Who is this week’s mensch and moron? This and your headlines on The Israel Brief.
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).
Farewell to Stef Wertheimer – a feisty ‘warrior’ for peace and prosperity who has died at age 98.
By David E. Kaplan
I was privileged to interview Stef Wertheimer in 2010 as editor then of the Hilton Israel Magazine. As Israel’s leading industrialist and second largest metalworking tool manufacturer in the world, Stef had been under the international spotlight since 2006 when Warren Buffet’s, Berkshire Hathaway acquired 80% of his company ISCAR Metalworking for a staggering four billion US dollars, the largest then ever buy-out of an Israeli company. Not only was it a resounding vote of confidence in the Israeli economy but also a break in the mindset of Israel being mainly a market Mecca for hi-tech investors. Industry was instantly up there in the vanguard of the pack – its stature restored.
Man on a Mission. Stef Wertheimer – a visionary and a warrior for peace and prosperity.
I naturally felt that this should be the main focus of the interview but how radically off base I was. As we began casually chatting, Stef made it clear that he did not want to talk about the Buffet deal, saying dismissively:
“that’sonly about money.”
Seeing my obvious surprise, he explained, “money can cloud what is really important. The real significance of the deal did not happen in 2006 but in 1952.”
What did he mean?
Public fascination, he explained, falsely gravitates to the Buffet deal because of the staggering sum, but “this is not the true barometer of success. To tell you the truth, my first deal operating out of my kitchen in Nahariya was far more significant and therefore more meaningful to me.”
Son of a musician and decorated First World War veteran, Stef Wertheimer was born in Kikenheim, Germany in 1926. In 1936, with the Nazis entrenched in power, the Wertheimer family fled Germany for Palestine. “I was 10 years old, so they did not ask me,” he says, chuckling.
Rearing to Go. Always striving high, the refugee child from southern Baden, Germany, Stef Wertheimer as a teenager in Tel Aviv.
Learning a trade as an apprentice to a refugee, Stef, at age eighteen, joined the newly established Israel Air force flight school. Although he graduated as a pilot, the army was far more interested in “my skills in metal processing.” Given the important task of developing weapons, no one in those days would have imagined that young Stef was well on his way to becoming a global industrialist and ‘warrior’ for peace.
When the state of Israel came into being and the battles ended, he started his cutting-tool factory from his home in Nahariya with a borrowed lathe and a loan from a local butcher.
He tells the story:
“Living in Nahariya, I used to ride my motorbike to kibbutz Hanita where I paid for the use of a machine. I then decided in 1952 to work at home and started with small blade sharpener which cost forty lirot. My ‘factory floor’ was the balcony off our kitchen. I called my business ISCAR. Family and employees shared the same premises and as the business expanded, I ‘invaded’ the bedroom and shifted the beds into the corridor. My baby daughter used to ride her tricycle taking bites of food from my workers. That is how she grew to enjoy spicy cuisine from my Mizrahi (Jews of Middle Eastern ancestry) workers.”
Factory Floor. A young highly motivated Stef Wertheimer (center) in his backyard Iscar workshop in Nahariya in the early 1950s. (Photo: private)
Deflecting any discussion “about money,” Stef steers the interview to that which he is most proud of – his unofficial title as the ‘Father of Israel’s industrial parks’. Promoting nothing less than a new ‘Industrial Revolution’ for the Middle East, Stef’s vision was about transforming the industrial and political landscape of Israel and beyond. “A successful society is a skilled society,” he asserted.
Stef went on to establish seven industrial parks in Israel, with the goal of fostering economic growth and job creation to help “create stability in the region.”
Aiming High. The ISCAR World Headquarters and Central Manufacturing Facilities located in Tefen in the high hills of Israel.
His first, built in 1982, set the tone encompassing everything from transportation to cultural and educational facilities. Establishing them specifically in peripheral areas, these complexes of export-oriented factories generated annual sales of $2.7 billion and provided employment to its surrounding areas. Stef’s attitude was clear:
“There is no unemployed, only people who are unlucky to find a job.”
A visionary for regional peace, he posed the question: “Imagine if there were hundreds of these “Pockets of Peace” all over the Middle East? Who would have the time or the interest for war? People would be too busy creating instead of destroying.”
In response to my question whether he was proposing mass industrialization as a tool for regional harmony, he replied:
“Yes, if people are highly skilled, earning good salaries and enjoying job satisfaction, then there will be no urge for individuals or nation states to resort to violence to achieve their aspirations. Religious fanatics only flourish where poverty and despair rule. However, to achieve an industrial revolution, we need a revolution in our educational system as well. For too long we have been obsessed with professional degrees, steering our children towards becoming bankers, doctors or lawyers. We have been short-sighted with little thought as to how our small country can absorb these professions. When we award too many degrees with no jobs to support them, we create an export market of our finest commodity – our talented youth. The sad result is that Jewish and Arab families, who both cherish close family ties, are reduced to talking to their loved ones overSkype [Before the age of WhatsApp]instead of over the kitchen table. We should train our youth for jobs that will keep them here in Israel.”
And to the question whether this would not require a change of mindset towards technical education, Stef replied:
“Sure; we prefer to pursue the ‘clean’ professions because we are pressured by our parents. This has been embedded into our culture. We have an aversion to rolling up our sleeves and getting our fingers dirty. Jews gravitate to commerce and the professions rather than into industry. This needs to change.”
Questioning how we break from tradition if it’s so imbedded in our culture, he replied:
“One needs to look no further for a shining example than one of our revered Zionist pioneers, A.D. Gordon. Was he suited to work in the fields? Definitely not. He was an elderly intellectual, of no great physical strength and with no experience doing manual labor, but he took up the hoe and worked in the fields. By personal example, he provided the inspiration for generations of Zionist pioneers to create a Jewish economy by physically working the land. He showed how manual labor – so essential to the creation of the state – was honorable and enriching work.
Today, we need the same insight and spirit of A.D. Gordon to move new generations not to the fields but to our factory floors. In the same way that tilling the land in early days was considered honorable, today we need to correct the erroneous notion that manual labor is ‘low’.Nations with the most dynamic economies such as China, India, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark and France have introduced a dual system of technical education that combines classroom learning with on-sight internships in various industries. We need to do the same.”
Book of Revelations. Says Warren Buffett, “There’s no better way to explain the miracle of Israel than to examine the life of Stef Wertheimer.”
Having such bold visions, it was only natural for Stef to try out politics which he did in 1977when he was amongst the founding members of Dash, (Democratic Movement for Change) a new centrist political party. The party was highly successful, winning 15 seats in the 1977 elections, with Wertheimer taking one of the seats. The party was a combination of capitalists and socialists, doves and hawks that aimed to bring about a transformation in Israeli politics, especially by introducing a constitution and changing the voting system. The goal was to break the deadlock induced by ideologically oriented parties and to separate religion and state. The party split in 1978, and Wertheimer joined the liberal, free-market party Shinui. However, by 1982, now exasperated with politics – more faking than making – he resigned and returned to his business ventures.
Did he have any regrets for not persevering longer in politics, I asked.
“No regrets; I found the routine of politics dominated by too many lawyer-types who spend endless amounts of time clashing over budgets and how to spend rather than generate money.
However, the experience was not a waste as it paved the way for me to create the Industrial Parks and what I call, ‘Islands of Peace.’ As a member of the Knesset Economic Committee, I was asked to help several small companies that were experiencing financial problems. How could I prevent them from closing down? I came up with the idea that each company on its own could not survive, but if they were placed together and shared the same facilities, infrastructure, and access to top business guidance, they would have a better chance of survival. To this end, I brought in experts from Harvard University and MIT. A sum of $120 million was allocated for this project and supported by the Minister of Finance, Pinchas Saphir.”
However, all did not proceed according to plan, politics being what it is. Of the $120 million, $100 million found its way to the financially troubled but politically more attractive and larger companies, while Stef was allocated $20 million to focus on the smaller companies.
“Was this not disillusioning?” I asked.
“I was only too happy,” Stef replied. “Let them waste money on decaying behemoths… I will focus on the small companies, with young people who have the passion and the vision to forge ahead.’ History records what was wasted with the $100 million and what was achieved with the $20 million.”
Movers & Shakers. Stef Wertheimer showing Warren Buffett (left) around Tefen in northern Israel. (Photo by FLASH90).
With the seed money, Stef established in 1982 – the year after he left the Knesset – Tefen Industrial Park in the northern Galilee. At the time of the interview in 2010, Stef was currently developing his seventh park, located in Nazareth. “Although it will be managed by Arabs it will be a place where Jews and Arabs will work together. It will be a model for coexistence, where people of different cultures and religions will work with rather than against each other. The battlefield today should only be the market place.”
One can only sigh acknowledging Stef’s farsighted perspective amidst Israel’s current war.
Officially opening the Industrial High-Tech Park in Nazareth is President Shimon Peres with Stef Wertheimer (right) who said, “This industrial park is a model and a real investment in the local economy and Jewish-Arab coexistence. It will create jobs in this area and will help keep the young people of the area, from all sectors of society, here.” (Photo: Government Press Office)
Based on the large-scale economic program for Europe following World War II, Stef had promoted a similar Marshall Plan for the Middle East. His idea was to set up industries on a mass scale to provide training, create jobs, alleviate poverty and raise the per capita income of those living in the region. “People don’t know this,” said Stef, “but the money the government spends on ONE fighter plane could pay for FIVE industrial parks. Think of it – which offers a better return on investment?”
In pursuance of his vision, Stef drew up plans in the 1990s for an industrial park in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian and the Israeli governments both offered support, but one week before the groundbreaking ceremony, the Second Intifada broke out and that plan was indefinitely shelved. Decades later, instead of industrial parks, it’s the city where Israeli hostages were held and where the mastermind of the October 7 massacre Yahya Sinwar was killed on the 17 October, 2024.
As Stef Wertheimer leaves us, he also leaves us with his vision to be still pursued and achieved :
“The battlefield today should be only the market place of tomorrow.”
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 distraught dad strives to bring his daughter’s killer to justice as she boastfully lives like a ‘rock star’ in Jordan.
By Jonathan Feldstein
On August 9, 2001, Arnold Roth’s life was irrevocably derailed. His 15-year-old daughter, Malki, was murdered in a terrorist attack on the Sbarro pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem. A vibrant young woman with a passion for caregiving – and devoted to her special-needs sister – Malki was one of 16 killed and 130 injured in a bombing spearheaded by Ahlam Tamimi, a 21-year-old Hamas operative and journalist from Jordan. Tamimi selected the site because Jewish children would be thronging the eatery during school vacation and later boasted repeatedly of her deeds, repulsively claiming divine approval. For Roth, the tragedy ignited what has become a decades-long and ongoing pursuit of justice marked by resilience, frustration and a determination to hold Tamimi accountable.
Malki Roth with her father Arnold Roth in January 2001 seven months before she was murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack at a Jerusalem pizzeria, along with 15 others including seven children.
Malki’s death turned Roth’s world “upside down.” The Israeli authorities told the family nothing about the arrest, trial, sentencing of Tamimi. A mysterious glimpse into the process came from an anonymous source who handed him the trial transcripts – a bundle of non-public documents that revealed Tamimi’s scornful boastfulness. Sentenced to sixteen life terms after pleading guilty to all charges, she smirked to the judges that her release would come sooner than they thought. She was right: in 2011, Israel traded 1,027 terrorists – including Tamimi – for Gilad Shalit, a soldier held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for five years. Tamimi returned triumphantly to her native Jordan and instant fame. Roth and his wife were devastated by Jordan’s warm embrace of the Sbarro bombing monster.
Israeli security forces at the scene of a suicide-bombing terror attack at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem’s city center on Aug. 9, 2001. (Photo: Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Weeks later, Tamimi began hosting her own weekly TV show from studios in Jordan’s capitol and for the next five years, her platform spread Hamas’ horrifyingly extremist message to Arabic-speaking audiences worldwide, promoting an obscene, sanitized Islamic narrative to terrorist activities while urging support for those doing terror.
Roth’s outrage grew as Tamimi’s popularity soared as she enjoyed celebrity status in the Arab world as an unrepented mass murderer.
Then a glimmer of hope; an opportunity to see the terrorist murderer brought to justice. Learning of an obscure U.S. law targeting terrorism outside the U.S. against Americans and involving weapons of mass destruction, Roth flew to Washington where he secured a Department of Justice undertaking to act. The key to success was that Malki was a U.S. citizen as were two of Tamimi’s victims.
Composite Image: (left) Malki Roth plays the flute; (right) Arnold and Frimet Roth, parents of Malki Roth; (inset) Ahlam Tamimi who was convicted by an Israeli military tribunal and received multiple life sentences but released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and exiled to Jordan
In 2013, federal charges were secretly filed against Tamimi. Unsealed in 2017, she was named an FBI Most Wanted Terrorist. A $5 million State Department reward came soon afterwards. Bound by its bilateral 1995 extradition treaty with the U.S., Jordan refuses to comply, calling the treaty invalid. Officially, the U.S. position is that it is perfectly valid although American officials, according to Roth, only admit so quietly. By suing the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act, the Roths obtained documents that strongly refute Jordan’s claim, but which receive no media attention.
Jordan is regarded as a close ally of the United States and is deeply reliant on its generous aid. Yet King Abdullah II escapes all public pressure about the Kingdom’s thwarting of a Tamimi extradition during his frequent White House visits. Published claims preceded Abdullah’s February 2025 Oval Office meeting with President Trump that Jordan was about to extradite Tamimi. They were denied by Jordan immediately afterwards. Roth sees such claims as “disinformation intended to keep Tamimi safe from U.S. justice.”
Following a decision on March 20, 2017, by an Amman court in Jordan to reject a U.S. request for her extradition, Ahlam Tamimi, a Palestinian terrorist linked to Hamas and living in Jordan, gave an interview on March 22, 2017, to the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece “Al-Sabil.” (Photo:MEMRI)
Roth’s frustration with American officials is understandable. A 2022 letter from Victoria Nuland, then a senior State Department official, writing on behalf of President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken, told the Roths that bringing Tamimi to justice is “a foremost priority” and promised to keep the Roths updated. With some bitterness, Roth reveals that Nuland, Biden, and Blinken then went cold, refraining from mentioning another word about the case. The bitterness grew when, in December 2023, Naftali Gordon, the husband of Malki’s younger sister, fell in combat fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Roth spoke recently on the Inspiration from Zion webinar series and podcast, about efforts see Tamimi tried in Washington. The aggrieved father addressed the issue in the context of the recent deal with Hamas to release dozens of hostages the terrorists kidnapped on October 7, 2023, in return for a ceasefire, and the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli prisons. Seeing terrorists with blood on their hands released from Israeli prisons reopens agonizing wounds. As others see the murderers of their loved ones walking free as he did, he dreads what will come.
Unrepentant terrorists walking free, and the near certainty that more terror and additional deaths will follow, trigger strong emotions for Roth. Joy for the freed hostages and their families of course, but profound concern at the price. He mentions the 900-year-old story of Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg of whom Arnold Roth is a direct descendant: a giant of Jewish scholarship who was taken hostage and who forbade his community to ransom him lest it led to more hostage-taking. That milestone ruling, says Roth, ought to guide us today. If the price of redeeming captives is to encourage more hostage-taking, we have done a terrible thing.
Roth emphasizes that his fight is not for vengeance but justice. His tools are public advocacy – a petition at www.change.org/extraditeTamimi – and relentless storytelling, as shared in a recent conversation with Inspiration from Zion.
Israeli-American Malka Chana (“Malki”) Roth, who was killed at the age of 15 in the Sbarro pizzeria suicide bombing in August 2001. (Photo: Courtesy)
He deplores congressional inaction while singling out Senator Ted Cruz who has challenged designated US ambassadors to Jordan in their confirmation hearings. “Not a single Democrat,” says Roth, “has spoken out about Tamimi. This should never have become a partisan issue.”
Roth’s plea is for others to:
– amplify his story
– to sign the family’s petition
– to pressure representatives in Congress and the media to press the U.S. to act.
The closing prayer during Roth’s recent conversation invoking divine justice for Malki and strength for the Roth family – is evocative and reflective of a father’s resolve. His fight is a testament to a father’s love, a call for accountability, a stark warning of justice betrayed. “Everybody can do something,” he insists, refusing to let Malki’s memory – or Tamimi’s escape from justice – fade into silence.
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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“I called out to my girls: ‘I will be back,’ but that was the last time I ever saw them”. Upon being released from captivity, hostage Eli Sharabi learned the heartbreaking news that his wife and two daughters had been murdered.A survivor of 491 days brutal captivity in Gaza, watch Eli’s full address at the United Nations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALtv6tQb-ss
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STOP THE ROT
Bibi, if you don’t or can’t stop the rot, it will consume all – is this what you want as your legacy?By David E. Kaplan
Bedazzling to Bamboozling Bibi. Blind loyalty from his sycophantic cohorts, where is this once esteemed and accomplished personality leading the country? Packing an arsenal of lies, distortion and manipulation, this increasingly insensitive prime minister is waging war as much on his people as he is on the enemy!
The fast-growing city in central Israel has just opened its first hotel in a bid to attract business and leisure tourism. By Rolene Marks
Maccabean Modi’in. Located in the epicentre of Israel midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Modiin is also the epicentre of the Chanukah story and hometown of its heroes – the Maccabees. A city enriched by an illustrious history from antient times to the present, it is only fitting that Modi’in recently welcomed its first hotel.
This is why liberating the hostages is not enough By Forest RainMarcia
The Writing is on the Wall. The graffiti in Hebrew of “Another wall?! Have you lost your mind?!” is for the writer, a SCREAM for real security, a DEMAND of the government that “it is unacceptable for genocidal monsters to live on our doorstep,” and a WARNING if we keep avoiding the root of the problem, we will face another October 7.
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).
Bibi, if you don’t or can’t stop the rot, it will consume all – is this what you want as your legacy?
By David E. Kaplan
If the ‘reason’ Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu presents for the firing of the country’s Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar is “a lack of trust”, then he should take cognizance that more than half the country feels the same way about him. A majority of Israelis, many of whom who voted for him, feel today of their prime minister – “a lack of trust”
By the same token as the fate befalling the internal security chief, should the prime minister not follow suit and exit office so that another can – not only lead – but restore a trust with the people of Israel, especially during a time of war that requires of its people unity not division and discord. This is not a right or left issue – it is a right and wrong issue!
Facing Off. Instead of fighting the enemy, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar (l) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (r) are now fighting each other with conflicting narratives. (Photos: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Like a lighthouse with its beam of light and loud foghorn warning of the danger to ships, Israel’s former esteemed Supreme Court justice, Aharon Barak, warns of the danger to the ship of state – Israel.
He fears his country is heading “to civil war.”
Who cannot fail to see and understand what is happening. The issues behind the groundswell of people out on the streets protesting during an existential war is being ignored by this government with a dismissive Marie-Antonette arrogance.
‘Lighthouse’ Barak asserts that “…the rift in the people is immense, with no effort made to heal it,” adding that if he were still chief justice, he would block the PM’s moves to fire the Shin Bet chief and attorney general which are pushing the country “toward civil war.”
The move by the prime minister by the way, marks the first time in Israeli history that the government has fired the head of the domestic security agency. His reasons for doing so are immersed not in the nation’s security but in this government’s insecurity. They are trying to avert an embarrassing enquiry called “Qatargate”, where it is alleged that close political advisors of the PM and a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, were involved in paid jobs for promoting the interests of the government of Qatar, an ally and financial supporter of Hamas. Irking the PM is that the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, is investigating the affair, which he described as “complex and multi-faceted.” No doubt; and what is also ‘no doubt’ is that these allegations – if proven to be true – reflects on the porous nature of the country’s national security. Have ‘fences’ of a different kind been breached, not the variety on the Gaza border but from within the very inner sanctums of Israel’s highest political echelon?
No less irksome to Bibi has been Bar pushing for a state commission of inquiry into October 7, a powerhouse probe to be led by a retired Supreme Court justice. This Bibi, unsurprisingly, has rejected. The urgent national need for such an investigation, “cannot be subordinated,” says Bar “to the personal considerations of those involved in the matter, as it is the only way to ensure that such a multi-system failure will not occur again.”
Again, this is not a right or left issue – it is a right and wrong issue!
Speaking to Ynet news shortly before Netanyahu convened the cabinet to vote on firing Bar, Aharon Barak, who served as a Supreme Court justice from 1978 to 1995 and then elected as the court’s president retiring in 2006, said:
“…the main problem in Israeli society is… the severe rift between Israelis.”
This rift now has momentum and is accelerating “and in the end,” said Barak, “I fear, it will be like a train that goes off the tracks and plunges into a chasm, causing a civil war.”
Anxious Aharon. Former Chief Justice of Israel’s Supreme Court, Aharon Barak warns of deepening internal divisions, criticizing government’s moves on judiciary and opposes dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar – urging compromise to prevent further democratic erosion. (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
Instead of toning down the temperature, the PM and his cabinet ministers – notably the high-profilers and moral defilers of the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – are by their conduct and rhetoric, inflaming tensions. Not only do they ignore the most respected and revered justice in Israel’s history but they dismiss him with such comments like from fellow MK and coalition partner, Almog Cohen of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party who said that Barak is “a reckless and irresponsible man,” who was “sent to issue a Sicilian mafia-style threat of blood in the streets and civil war.”
With mounting protests, who are in the words of Almog Cohen being “reckless” and “irresponsible”?
With the constant concern and trauma of our remaining hostages in captivity, where is the responsible leadership to stop this downward spiral into the abyss?
Even President Trump’s Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, says Netanyahu’s methods in Gaza are against Israeli public opinion:
“I think Bibi believes that he’s doing the right thing. [However],I think he goes up against public opinion ’cause the public opinion [in Israel] wants those hostages home.”
Bibi looks for false support of the “will of the People” though the last election in 2022. Hardly persuasive when this supposed “will” is a result of a deviously concocted coalition, where his religious coalition partners that so enable him with vital votes, do not believe in the state of Israel nor serve in its defense and extort sizable chunks of the national budget for their causes that are at odds with the country’s national interest. Some “will of the People” the PM relies on to support his increasingly unpopular positions! Clutching at straws, he usurps Trump rhetoric of a “deep state” but there is no “deep state” only deep trouble this government is finding itself emersed in. As the former chief justice says:
“We’re not the United States; we don’t have a deep state here. We have loyal public servants here, and they do things according to the law.”
Nation on the Edge. “I think he goes up against public opinion,” says US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff (l) of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu(r). (Photo collage: Lior Segev, Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein,Reuters/Nathan Howard)
According to a Channel 12 opinion poll, 51% of Israelis oppose the firing of Bar, compared to 32% who back his dismissal, while 46% say they trust Bar more than they trust the prime minister.
These polls are hardly surprising and may explain why “Today there are demonstrations,” continues Barak, who warns of the societal fragility in the current climate and unforeseen incidents that can spark matters out of control. He refers to the car that drove into an anti-Netanyahu protest in Jerusalem when a driver rammed into a protester, injuring him. If this trajectory continues, Barak cautions:
“… tomorrow there will be shootings, and the day after that there will be bloodshed… ”
If warnings about October 7 were ignored, what is the excuse of this government to warnings of a people’s growing discontent to bulldozing policies that are anathema to this country’s DNA? With turmoil on our streets amidst an existential war on multiple fronts, editor Zvika Klein of The Jerusalem Post writes:
“With a war on seven fronts that appears to have no end in sight, a growing social split of historic proportions, and a rising cost of living, it can feel now as if it will never get any better, that we will never get past this point.”
It must and it will.
Israel needs now – more than ever – is a responsible leadership that is ready to run and not ruin the country!
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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20 March 2025 – Hamas fires rockets at Tel Aviv and more on The Israel Brief.
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 new wall has appeared along the highway near Israel’s southern town of Sderot.
Since the war began, the train has been forced to take a long detour to reach Sderot because this stretch of track is visible from Gaza—leaving it vulnerable to anti-tank missiles. Now, a wall stands to block the view, ensuring that terrorists in Gaza can no longer take aim at the train—or at least not as easily. Walls don’t erase reality. The terrorists know where the tracks are. They can check the schedule online, just like any commuter.
With enough determination, any wall can be breached.
This wall gives the train something to hide behind. It offers the illusion of security, not real safety. True security doesn’t come from barriers. It comes from eliminating the threat—the people who wake up one morning and decide they want to blow up a train full of Israelis.
If you get close enough, you’ll see frustration and deep anguish scrawled across the wall in spray paint: “Another wall?! Have you lost your mind?!”
Hiding behind walls didn’t stop the Gazan invasion. In many cases, the bomb shelters families were hiding in became death traps.
The Purpose of the War
When the full horror of the October 7 invasion became clear—the torture, rape, burning, slaughtering, and kidnapping of men, women, children, and the elderly—most Israelis awoke from the Oslo dream of peace with our neighbors. We could no longer afford illusions.
When people declare their intent to kill us, meticulously plan to do so, and seize every opportunity to act on those plans—we must take them at their word.
Most Israelis saw the massacre and burned with rage that became ice-cold clarity: When we said NEVER AGAIN, this is what we meant. Never again would we allow Jews to be slaughtered, tortured, or used as playthings for sadistic monsters who revel in human suffering.
On October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear: “We are at war—not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but war.” Since then, he has repeatedly outlined three war objectives—none of which can be compromised:
Return the hostages—both the living and the dead.
Ensure Israelis can safely return to their homes near Gaza (later expanded to include those displaced from the northern border).
Ensure that Gaza can never again be a threat to Israel.
The Hostages—and the True Measure of Victory
The plight of our hostages has rightfully consumed much of our attention. Everyone—without exception—agrees: we must bring them home. All of them, both the living and the dead. We, the nation and our government, owe this to those we failed to protect on that terrible day.
The Israeli government has gone to extreme—and dangerous—lengths to secure the release of the hostages. Hundreds of terrorists have been freed from our prisons, giving them the opportunity to strike again. For Hamas (in Gaza and Judea & Samaria), this is a victory that gives them enormous prestige, the ability to restructure their chain of command and recruit new fighters (who believe that if caught by Israel, they will be released in future ransom deals. The temporary ceasefire has also given Hamas time to prepare for the next battle. The more time that goes by, the more dangerous it will be for IDF troops.
The government made a calculated choice: to risk the future security of every Israeli to rescue as many hostages as possible now. Truthfully, the supposed future risk is not in the future. It is already here.
And with all that, somewhere along the way, many lost sight of the bigger picture. Rescuing the hostages is our moral duty, but it is not the measure of victory.
Israeli media is flooded with voices—self-proclaimed experts, analysts with impressive titles, and understandably distraught family members—arguing that returning the hostages will be our triumph. that bringing the hostages home is the sole objective. That there is no need for revenge. That the war must end.
These ideas are unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.
The Writing on the Wall
That graffiti—“Another wall?! Have you lost your mind?!”—is a scream for real security.
It declares that it is unacceptable for genocidal monsters to live on our doorstep.
Unacceptable to keep hiding behind walls.
Unacceptable and deadly dangerous to mistake the illusion of safety for real security—when in reality, the enemy is always trying to breach our defenses, to invade and slaughter.
That graffiti is a warning. A warning that if we keep pretending, if we keep avoiding the root of the problem, we will face another October 7.
The story of the Idan family makes this painfully clear.
The Idan Family
The Hamas invaders filmed their atrocities, broadcasting their glee as they tortured, burned, and slaughtered.
The footage from the Idan home is something I will carry with me forever. Watching Gali Idan, in the worst moment of her life, gave me an awe-inspiring lesson in what courage looks like.
When I first saw the video, I didn’t yet know that Tzachi Idan had been taken hostage to Gaza—his hands still soaked in his daughter’s blood.
On February 27, 2025, Hamas returned his body as part of a ceasefire deal, along with the remains of three other Israeli hostages: Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur. Tzachi was laid to rest in Kibbutz Einat, next to his daughter, Maayan.
The video from their home needs to be seen. You do not see any of the violence or bloodshed on screen. What you see is terrible enough – what the family experienced and their response. There are abbreviated versions of this video online because, supposedly, people cannot pay attention longer than a few minutes.
Pay attention we should. Imagine being in their place – because it is only by the grace of God that we were not.
18 year old Maayan was shot in the head, in front of her parents, her then 11 year old sister Yael and 19 year old brother Shahar. Terrorists are in their home and none of them know what will happen next. The Red Alert siren blares repeatedly, warning of incoming rockets.
Gali, a ferocious lioness, trying to protect the lives of her children. Tzachi, his hands soaked with Maayan’s blood, trying to be a stalwart backbone for his family. The children, trying to understand what they are seeing. Shahar quietly asking his mother: Is it over? Is it over?
Watch and put yourself in their place.
The invaders took Tzachi to Gaza. His wife and surviving children received intermittent signs of life, a flicker of hope that he could be rescued—until they learned that he was murdered in captivity.
After 510 days, Tzachi’s body was brought home but that is not enough to make it safe for Gali and her children to return home.
How can they?
They know the truth: that their safe room became a death trap. That their sister was murdered. Their father was taken and tortured by the same people who still live just across the border. That those monsters are still there, still dreaming of the next October 7.
How can any Israeli parent bring their children back to live next to Gaza—if Gaza is still full of Gazans?
The war cannot end until it is safe for the Idan family to go home. Until it is safe for all of us to go home. And safety will only come when Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel.
Another wall is insanity. Another wall is an invitation for another invasion, another massacre.
Liberating the hostages is crucial—but it is not the measure of victory. Real safety for every Israeli, ensuring our future, is.
About the writer:
Forest Rain Marcia is an American-born Israeli who lives in northern Israel. She’s a branding expert and storyteller. Her passion is giving voice to the stories of Israel illuminating its profound events, cherished values, and exemplary role models that transcend borders, casting Israel as an eternal wellspring of inspiration and strength for a global audience. Forest Rain made Aliyah at the age of thirteen. After her IDF service, she co-developed and co-directed a project to aid victims of terrorism and war. These activities gave her extensive first-hand experience with the emotional and psychological processes of civilians, soldiers, and their families, wounded and/or bereaved and traumatized by terrorism and war (grief, guilt, PTSD, etc). Throughout the years, she has continued to voice the stories, pain, and strength of traumatized Israelis to motivate others to provide support and counter the hate that threatens Jews in Israel, around the world, and Western civilization itself through the understanding that what begins with the Jews never ends with Jews.
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).
Modi’in, situated halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is considered a quiet city that is more sleepy suburbia than fast-paced metropolis. But that may be changing rapidly, symbolized by the recent opening of its first hotel.
The city is an attractive destination for many immigrant families. It boasts a diverse community composed of olim from English-speaking countries as well as from France, South America and elsewhere. They enjoy the “soft landing” provided by the municipality, which seeks to ensure that all the bureaucracy associated with immigration is made as easy as possible.
View of Modi’in
Like many Israeli towns and cities, Modi’in straddles its ancient roots and the modern day. Often dubbed “The Chanukah city” in a nod to the Maccabees who lived and are buried there, Modi’in is also Israel’s only “learning city” and is regarded as the first and most modern “green city” in the world.
Orna Mager is the director of the municipal Multidisciplinary Center (MDCM) and is responsible for growing small businesses and tourism in the city. Mager, who represents Israel at the UNESCO Global Forum of Learning Cities, explained what this meant in an interview with JNS.
“A learning city is a model that the global forum is running that focuses on understanding that the world is changing so quickly and [that] people need to learn how to adapt to these changes,” she said. “There are a lot of crises in the world. It’s about learning how to adapt and learn to live with all the changes,” she added.
“Learning cities means that the municipalities take responsibility for the lifelong learning of its citizens. We also deal with other issues like climate change, sustainability, gender equality and social cohesion. The policy of the mayor [Haim Bibas] is to promote learning for every citizen.”
Modi’in’s municipality is hoping that the city will soon become a popular tourist destination, and Mager stressed that growing tourism is a top priority for the city.
Modi’in’s municipality
“Even during these difficult times, we have taken a huge leap forward with tourism,” she said. “We have mapped out the tourist attractions in the city in order to map our story. There are archaeology, culinary courses, nature parks, the museum, businesses that cater to tourism. We have found a treasure in human resources.
Nature walks around Modi’in
“The city has invested a lot in courses to help people who have stories to tell or something unique about their homes to share their stories. For example, we have unique collections in some of the homes. Someone has a collection of cactuses and another ancient menorahs; some have art and many more. We are preparing routes that tourists can follow.”
On Feb. 15, the city received a major boost in its endeavor to brand itself as a tourist and business hub—the opening of the Jacob Modi’in. The luxury hotel is part of the Jacob Hotels chain and has 85 rooms and suites, high-quality facilities for conferences and events and public areas for relaxation.
A tastefully furnished suite in Modi’in’s first hotel Jacobs Modi’in.
The hotel is a short distance from the city’s entertainment area, with restaurants, bars and stores, and is next to the Azrieli Center and train station. Because it is conveniently close to Ben-Gurion International Airport, its owners hope to attract both business and leisure tourism.
The hotel is located in the new West complex of the Azrieli Group, which combines commerce, offices and rental housing. The Jacobs Hotel chain has invested approximately 7 million shekels [$1.9 million] in the hotel’s design. There are rooms of various sizes, spread over two floors, in an area of approximately 5,200 square meters (56,000 square feet). These include rooms for couples and families, as well as suites.
All rooms are equipped with a smart system for operating the electrical and air conditioning systems. The public areas are large and include a luxurious lobby. Future amenities will include a spa with five treatment rooms, a bar and restaurant open to outside guests, and two large play areas for children.
Einat Ganon, the hotel manager and CEO of the Jacobs Hotel chain, said this was a milestone event.
Set midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Modi’in’s first hotel Jacobs Modi’in, has opened for business.
“We are very excited to be the cornerstone of the hotel industry in the city of Modi’in,” she said. “The Jacob Hotel Modi’in is great news for the city and for the hotel industry in Israel.”
The owners are confident that the Jacob Modi’in, which has five meeting rooms, an event hall and a large garden, will attract companies wanting to hold seminars and conferences. The hotel caters for Shabbat and family events and has a large synagogue. It can accommodate events of up to 150 people and has been fitted with state-of-the-art technology to facilitate both professional and family gatherings at a high level.
Let there be light. Windows from floor to ceiling invite the sun’s rays, illuminating the lobby.
Modi’in has plenty to offer. Among the attractions is the Hashmonean Heritage Museum in the center of the city, which connects the modern with the ancient. Many archaeological finds in the city and surrounding area that testify to its rich, historical past are featured in the museum’s exhibitions. The museum presents the story of Modi’in from the time of the Hasmonean dynasty until the establishment of the modern city.
The Hasmonean Heritage Museum presents a fascinating saga of the city of Modiin from the days of the ancient Hasmoneans until the present day.
The modern city of Modi’in was built in the 1990s and later merged with the nearby towns of Maccabim and Re’ut to create the unified municipality of Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut. Now home to more than 100,000 residents, Modi’in is on the way to becoming a desirable tourist spot with all the essential amenities, including shopping malls, a variety of good restaurants, entertainment facilities and sports fields.
On March 14, Modi’in is scheduled to officially open The Wall—the largest climbing wall in Israel that includes a variety of walls for all levels, from children to adults.
“The Wall” – climbing walls
Other attractions include a popular water park and Givat HaBroshim, where people from around the country visit to see the blooming flowers and enjoy local cuisine from food trucks. In April, an exhibition of sustainable art called Land Art will open to the public.
The water park
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).
