The Israel Brief – 06 March 2023– IAF Commanders write letter. Protests grow. Oil for King Charles coronation from Jerusalem. Hungary to move embassy?
The Israel Brief – 07 March 2023– Day of Disruption planned for Thursday. Ben Gvir speaks to KAN. Alleged IAF strike on Aleppo. Chag Purim Sameach!
The Israel Brief – 08 March 2023– IDF strike targets in Gaza in response to rockets fire. Former police officers call for the PM to fire Ben Gvir. Cornea of murdered brothers transplanted. International Women’s Day.
The Israel Brief – 09 March 2023– Protests around Israel in “Day of Resistance”. Israel slams South Africa for vote to downgrade relations. Smotrich apologises to IDF. Chaim Topol dies.
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).
Reflections during Purim of a latter day heroine, Marzi, a defiant and brave Iranian Christian
By Jonathan Feldstein
Marziyeh “Marzi” Amirizadeh is not a Persian queen.
Unlike the biblical Jewish queen, Esther, an orphan in Persia expelled from Judea following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and exile of the Jewish people, Marzi is a native of Persia. Today that is Iran. She lives in the United States, her adopted country where, like Esther, she has risen to the occasion “for such a time as this.” Like Esther who put her life on the line to approach the King, her husband, and to save her people, Marzi also put her life on the line. She did not go before the modern “King” – the ayatollah – to save her people from imminent death, but rather worked stealthily behind the scenes – against the ayatollahs – to affirm her faith and for the well-being of Iran.
Beauty and the Beasts. Former Iranian prisoners Marziyeh “Marzi” Amirizadeh, (l), and Maryam Rostampour (r) were sentenced to death in 2009 for spreading the message of Christianity but the regime’s punishment backfired when they evangelized hundreds of fellow prisoners – even prison guards – in the 259 days before they were released following intense international pressure. “God had a purpose for being in that dark place,” says Marzi.
Marzi is an Iranian-born Christian who fled the land of her birth, the land in which she found her faith. Just doing so put her life at risk. Christians, like Jews are persecuted, as is pretty much anyone who does not fit into the narrowly defined version of extremist Shia Islam that hijacked Iran in 1979. Sunnis, Kurds, Bahais, and other religious and ethnic minorities are all in the regime’s crosshairs.
Coming to faith as a Christian in Iran is not something to be taken for granted. While there is the morality police enforcing Islamic dress code, such as ensuring women in the country wear hijabs, simply being a Christian and affirming that in any way publicly can be dangerous, if not life threatening. Marzi knows all too well!
Arrested and thrown into one of the most brutal prisons in the world – the notorious Evin Prison outside Teheran – Marzi was subjected to months of physical and mental hardship, including intense interrogation before being brought to trial, where she was sentenced to death by hanging for the ‘crime’ of “apostacy”.
Behind Bars for Beliefs. The notorious Evin Prison in northwestern Tehran has held during its brutal history, hundreds of peaceful activists, journalists, intellectuals, human rights lawyers and Christians like Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour who chose to take the dangerous step of sharing their faith inside the very walls that was meant to silence them.
But like Esther, Marzi is not only brave, she is astute. In her interrogations and even at her trial, when accused of ‘apostacy’ -the renunciation of a religious belief – which she did by converting from Islam to Christianity, Marzi simply said:
“No.”
Although forced to study Islam, Marzi never considering herself a Muslim, despite that under Islamic law a child born of a Muslim man is Muslim, and that children born as such in Iran are registered as Muslims. Marzi never avowed Islam; never embraced it and so she could never disavow it. Baffling her accusers, they were left without much to challenge her, despite that she and everything about her so enraged the Iranian regime.
Living on the Edge. Marzi was arrested and imprisoned in 2009 for converting from Islam to Christianity, an offense which carries the death penalty. Placed in Evin prison’s notorious Ward 2-A, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Marzi was denied a lawyer and contact with her family for three months.
But she didn’t stop there. Marzi shared her faith with her accusers, her captors and her interrogators. If Allah was really God, why could she not have a personal relationship with him? Why could Allah not speak to her directly? There were many “whys” in her search for faith, and then her affirmation of it.
Marzi related that their God is a God who is distant, with whom you cannot have a close relationship, is always ready to punish, even inflict torture for the most minor infractions. She never accepted Allah as the true God. She was always searching for a personal relationship with God, to find the truth. Even something as mundane as only praying to God in Arabic, not in Persian or any other language, challenged her and caused her to challenge their theology. If their God was God, he would surely be multi-lingual and receive prayers in all languages?
She understood her accusers were lying, and her eagerness to find God intensified. Eventually, God spoke to Marzi in a dream, revealing the true face of Islam, and God’s love for her and all people. A God of love was comforting, made sense, and upended her accuser’s God of fear. After this, God made Himself present in her life, and became her rock.
In coming to faith in the land whose Islamic leaders brand Israel “the Zionist entity” and “the little Satan”, Marzi also had a spiritual awakening about Israel and the Jewish people, how important they were to her faith and very existence as a Christian. This alone could have earned her another death sentence. Even in our conversation for the Inspiration from Zion(podcast), she dispassionately notes how that this would assuredly be used by Iranian extremists to demonstrate her “spying” for Israel. She is aware that should the Iranians arrest her in the future, she will be accused as a spy.
Marzi enraged the judge in whose hands her life precariously lay, by recounting how God spoke to her. This was totally at variance with the judge’s and Islam’s belief that God only speaks to prophets and holy people. Some of her captors even admired the strength of her faith for standing up to the many forms of intimidation and threats of consequences of not renouncing her Christianity, even while challenging fundamental principles of Islam.
But Marzi does not do anything in half measures. Though Iran is the land of her birth, and the United States is where she’s now a citizen and where she has even run for elected office, Israel is a dream on her radar. Next month she’ll get to fulfill her dream and visit the Land of the Bible, the Land in which her faith was born, where Jesus lived. She wants to see all of Biblical and modern Israel, and be inspired in her own faith. But she also wants to bring a message of love to Israel that while the Iranian regime hates Israel, average Iranians do not. She knows that just as she was arrested and sentenced to death, and only a miracle saved her, the Iranian threat to Israel is very real, but that God will also protect Israel.
Fate Uncertain. Iranian women prisoners sit at their cell in Tehran’s Evin prison. While allegations of sexual abuse and rape against Iran prison officials have been made by former female political prisoners, information about the alleged number of rapes committed by IRGC officials in Iran’s prisons remains unclear.
2500 years ago, Esther beseeched the Jewish people to pray and fast for her, that she should be able to use her position to save the Jewish people from the death decree forced by Haman. Today, Marzi represents Esther’s bravery and boldness, and is very much a bridge between Jews and Christians.
Purpose in Prison. In ‘Captive in Iran’, cowriters Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour who knew they were putting their lives on the line by sharing their Christian beliefs, recount how God used their 259 days in Evin Prison to shine His light into one of the world’s darkest places, following their arrest in 2009.
We should join her in prayers for Iran, that somehow miraculously the Iranian people can be saved from its evil rulers.
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).
They say, “You can’t choose family,” hence no responsibility or blame. No such excuses in politics. We choose our leaders hence we are responsible for what they do and what they disgustingly say. Normally, citizens wait for the next election to correct bad choices. This time round, Israel does not enjoy that luxury.
We cannot afford to wait as we don’t know what “country” we will very shortly have left with a leadership hellbent on undermining – in record time – the achievements since that iconic First Zionist Conference in August 1897. Who needs enemies to destroy us when our current leadership is doing the job just fine from within. The PM’s concocted coalition is a TROJAN HORSE in that we welcomed them into our home, and once in, they are coming out from the proverbial equine woodwork to destroy and dismantle.
Troubling Times. With ‘mug’ shots of Bibi’s coalition partners, this protestor ‘raises’ a visual alarm of a country in trouble.
First up in their crosshairs is our cherished democracy and esteemed judiciary.
Declining to passively partake in Netanyahu’s “March of Folly”, Israelis in ever increasing numbers are marching instead to city crossroads participating peacefully in massive protests. Let us dispense at once with the myth that this is being led by the Left or that the protestors are “Leftists”. Afterall, have not respected political commentators in recent years all repeatedly expounded on how “There is no Left anymore in Israel”. This observation is evidenced in the sad state of today’s Labour Party – the traditional Left party that built Israel. In the words of one political commentator, Micah Halpern, the Labor Party is “limping along … barely breathing.” The far more left party, Meretz, is now electorally deceased in the sense that it no longer has a seat in the Knesset.
Is it thus credible to believe that the mythical Left have suddenly re-emerged like a ‘rabbit-out-of-a-hat’ apparition and are the cause of the nation-wide opposition?
No, the folk flocking out on the streets are ordinary, unlabeled loyal citizens who love and want to save their country from the terminal trajectory it is now on. They are not, in the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition cohorts, “Anarchists”. My wife and I, our children and grandchildren, our friends and their children and grandchildren are not “anarchists”.
Street Smart. Accidently symbolic, these protestors walk past street signs that could be addressing the political situation.
We are “ZIONISTS”!
If anyone can be called “anarchists”, that is, out to destroy the established order – a delicate balance in a turbulent turf – it is the new Netanyahu 2023 model. Hurriedly off the factory floor having been shoddily assembled with faulty components, it maybe needs to be recalled ASAP before too much harm results. For a Prime Minister who often proudly talks of “Smart Mobility”, Netanyahu’s government so far in two months has proven anything but SMART and as for MOBILITY, we are afraid of where down the road he is driving this country. Stationary or even reverse would be preferable to the dire destination we are speeding towards.
The past two months of this government, apart from the accelerated assault on our esteemed judicial system – the rallying call for the nationwide protests – the performances from government ministers has been nothing less than a litany of lunacy.
Israel at a ‘Crossroad’. Zionists to the core, thousands protest peacefully in central Tel Aviv holding up Israeli flags as well as holding on to their ideals.
The recent remark from the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich to “wipe out” the West Bank Palestinian town of Huwara, sent shivers across the Jewish world as well as raising more than eyebrows from our overseas friends in high places. Is it any wonder that the US has been holding discussions on whether or not to grant Smotrich a visa for an upcoming US trip. We don’t want him either but we are saddled with him interfering in matters beyond his portfolio of finance and all he has to show for it is driving our economy and currency down.
It is amazing how our government ministers are not running but ruining their ministries!
Smotrich, who also heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, said his “word choice was wrong, but the intention was very clear”. Sadly, he’s right on both counts; his word choice was majorly morally wrong as was his homicidal intentions. However, what is mostly wrong is that this despicable character remains in high office.
Bezalel Smotrich is a menace!
Words of Wipe Out. Far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich, one of the most senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, said that Israel should “wipe out” the Palestinian town of Huwara in the West Bank.
No less menacing is the National Security Ministry’s head, Itamar Ben Gvir who boisterously boasted of bringing order but has mostly brought disorder. Israel has always prouded itself that despite the horrendous terrorism it confronts, it does not impose the death penalty. Only once was it ever exercised – the justifiable execution of the architect of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann in 1962. Along comes Ben Gvir with no evidence in support, that the answer to terrorism is the death penalty. He already expressed his preferred method of execution – the electric chair. “Anyone who murders, harms and slaughters civilians should be sent to the electric chair,” said Ben Gvir to advance his legislation allowing Israel to impose the death penalty for “certain” terror offenses. By “certain” he means Arab on Jew, not Jew on Arab.
Rabble Rouser to Cabinet Minister. Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir spoke to settlers at the illegal outpost of Evyatar as it was being evicted, saying “Our enemies need to hear a message of settlement, but also one of crushing them one by one.”
How do we know this?
Easy, because of Ben Gvir’s absolute adoration of the most notorious terrorist and killer of Arab civilians in recent times – Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994, entered a mosque and opened fire on 800 Palestinian Muslim worshippers killing 29 and wounding 125. Instead of someone whose murderous conduct would qualify him for Ben Gvir’s “electric chair”, no, this mass murderer is instead adored by Ben Gvir so much so that he takes his future wife on their FIRST date to Goldstein’s grave. What is more, until recently, a photograph of Baruch Goldstein hung on the Ben-Gvir’s living-room wall at their home in the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. This minister in Netanyahu’s government would be happy hanging Arab terrorists, but when it comes to Jewish terrorists, he hangs their portraits in his home!.
And this is what we have as a minister in our government! A hypocrite, a bigot and yes – a menace.
Even the people under his authority think so as reflected in a report today in The Jerusalem Post that headlines:
“Netanyahu must sack Itamar Ben-Gvir, former Israel Police officers plead”
According to the report, “Forty retired Israel Police officers, including former police chiefs, criticized Ben-Gvir’s conduct and warned he could ignite another Intifada.”
Seeing Red. Otzma Yehudit MK, Zvika Fogel told Galey Israel Radio that he wants to see “A closed, burnt Huwara.”
The rot that has infected Netanyahu’s governing coalition runs deep. Another senior member and side-kick of Ben Gvir in his Otzma Yehudit party is MKZvika Fogel, who not only approved the Jewish settler rampage of the Palestinian village of Hawara but called thereafter for it to be “burned and closed.” Just so there is no misunderstanding, the “rampage” by Jewish extremists that Fogel approves, resulted in a Palestinian man killed and homes and cars set ablaze. While Jews nationwide – the ones you see protesting across Israel called it a pogrom – Netanyahu’s coalition partners see it differently; some even favourably.
The Face of Settler Revenge. Cars burned by settlers during riots in Hawara, in the West Bank, near Nablus, February 27, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
Said Fogel in an interview with Radio Galey Israel:
“Hawara is closed and burnt.That is what I want to see. Only thus can we obtain deterrence.”
While Israel’s opposition head, Yair Lapid in a tweet called for the removal of MK Fogel from the National Security Committee due to his inflammatory comments, Netanyahu’s coalition members remain belligerent or avoid condemning the violence. Lapid had written:
“If he is not removed immediately from the committee, it is a disgraceful stain and a black flag flying over the head of the government.”
On the contrary, very few in Netanyahu’s coalition saw it as a “disgraceful stain” or “black flag”. For Netanyahu’s National Missions Minister, Orit Struck, she said she understood “the settlers with boiling blood” but felt that it is not up to these good people to take matters into their own hands.
Struck a Blow. The main criticism Netanyahu’s National Missions Minister, Orit Struck, had for the settlers who rampaged through the Palestinian village of Huwara was that they should not take the law into their hands but leave “It … to us as a government,” to do the ‘job’. (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
“It is up to us as a government,” she said.
That said, “It is up to us as a people” to remind this government, while holding aloft Israel’s flag and singing Hatikvah – “the hope” – enough is enough!
At every demonstration, the protestors inevitably shout:
“Bibi habayta” – Bibi go home.
If only he would before we all lose ours!
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 reputation of tough and tenacious, SA Rugby loses its spine
By Lennie Lurie
In an unprecedented vote on the 6th November 1962, uniting nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning South African Apartheid policies and called for the imposition of economic sanctions on South Africa. While nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom were at first reluctant to impose sanctions, by the late 1980s, both countries and 23 other nations had passed laws placing various trade sanctions on South Africa.
An immediate arms embargo was followed by a trade embargo which played havoc with the burgeoning vehicle production factories in the eastern Cape province. Despite the large numbers of black employees who were dismissed as a result of production cut backs, they heartily approved of the economic sanctions even though their income was grievously affected. Anything which would contribute to the removal of the cruel, wicked and humiliating racial policies of Apartheid was encouraged and the black workers were prepared to bear the load of the economic boycott as it affected them as well.
When it was realised that the SA Government was not bending under the economic boycott, a cultural boycott was imposed on the Republic. No foreign entertainers and singers visited SA and no South Africans performers would be welcome overseas. The iconic and celebrated SA singer of authentic African music, Miriam Makeba, who gained international fame with her popular “click” song, wholly supported the cultural boycott, which made a strong impression on South African artists and entertainers.
Miriam Makeba – Click Song (Qongqothwane) (Live)
Here again, the resolute and determined SA government remained steadfast in the maintenance and implementation of the Apartheid system.
Finally, it was decided to impose a sport boycott on all South African sportsmen and women preventing the proud ‘Springbok’ teams – notably in rugby and cricket – from competing abroad as well as officially banning any overseas countries and foreign sports team from touring South Africa. And this, dear friends, was the final straw which broke the back of the Apartheid system!
Economic sanctions against South Africa placed a significant pressure on the SA government. The cultural boycott made SA unwelcome overseas and isolated the country from foreign entertainers and performers. The real fear that the Springboks would no longer compete against the sports teams of other countries proved to be a hardship (particularly on the rugby field!) that even the most fervent white nationalist could bear.
In 1990, President Frederik Willem (F.W.) de Klerk recognized the economic unsustainability of the burden of international sanctions and felt the isolation of his country in all aspects of culture and sport. Reluctantly but finally and unreservedly, he released the nationalist leader Nelson Mandela and unbanned the African National Congress (ANC) that Mandela led. De Klerk and Mandela together guided the country to democratic elections in 1994, with Mandela as president. When Mandela was asked if the sanctions, especially the sports boycott, helped to bring an end to the apartheid system, Mandela replied “Oh, there is no doubt!”
Can’t take the Heat. While players from Israeli rugby team ‘Tel Aviv Heat’ are seen here in London celebrating a victory in November 2022, they will not be seen in South Africa this March after their invitation to compete was withdrawn by the SA Rugby Union following pressure from the BDS coalition.
Who can ever forget the emotional scene when Nelson Mandela congratulated the Springbok rugby captain, Francois Pienaar on winning the 1995 World Rugby Cup in Ellis Park. Rugby was as dear to Mandela as any white South African rugger lover – he never forgot the pressure of the international sports boycott on his country and how it contributed in breaking the vile and contemptible Apartheid system.
True Colours. Disinviting Israeli rugby team to participate in South Africa in 2023 is a far cry from the outreach projected by President Nelson Mandela and Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar at the historic 1995 Rugby World Cup.
In light of the above historical review of the sports boycott on South Africa, it is therefore most surprising and deeply disappointing to read that the South African Rugby Union (SARU), had on the 3rd February, 2023, rescinded its invitation, given in August, 2022, to have the Israeli rugby team Tel Aviv Heat compete in the 2023 Mzansi Challenge tournament – also known as the Currie Cup First Division, which is scheduled to start on the 24th March with teams from Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe and six SA provinces.
The Tel Aviv Heat team includes a number of South Africans and its coach, Kevin Musikanth, was born in South Africa.
Happier Days. Launched as Israel’s first professional rugby team in July 2021, Tel Aviv Heat is seen here celebrating a post-match at Loftus Versfeld at the end of a magical South African Tour hosted by the Blue Bulls in 2022.
The SARU President Mark Alexander stated that it had “listened to the opinions of important stakeholder groups” and took the step “to avoid the likelihood of the competition becoming a source of division.” A more accurate and honest reason being that the SARU bowed under pressure and alleged threats from supporters of the South African BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanction) Coalition.
Shameful Withdrawal. Under pressure, Mark Alexander SA Rugby president rescinds invitation to Israeli team, Tel Aviv Heat.
This cowardly and shameful volte-face decision by the SARU is not only insulting to the Israeli Tel Aviv Heat rugby team but it is a despicable slap-in-the-face to the sporting image of South Africa which knows only too well the historical background of imposing a sports boycott on a fellow sporting nation or team. To comprehend that the all-powerful SARU has cowardly kowtowed to insidious pressures and / or threats of the SA BDS Coalition, an anti-Israeli group of South Africans who are known as talkers, not doers, is all the more pathetic. It is indeed a sad day when South African rugby has lost its independence, objectivity and neutrality in matters relating to sport and becomes a spineless puppet manipulated by an anti-Semitic group, simply pulling on distant strings!
Let SARU bow its head in shame in stooping so low as to callously affront the proud and heroic image of that South African leader, known to all his friends as ‘Madiba’, who had the courage to welcome and support a sport boycott as a means of exerting pressure on a government that oppressed his people under the scourge of Apartheid.
Not long ago, the University of Cape Town, again under pressure from BDS student supporters, decided to impose a boycott on all Israeli universities and colleges. UCT soon realized that it had more to lose than gain by such an ill-advised and self-defeating act and promptly withdrew its boycott threat after it was inundated by letters from former students informing the UCT council that they would discontinue all financial aid should UCT enact the boycott. Frankly, UCT could be in greater need of ground breaking Israeli academic discoveries and inventions than vice versa!
Thumbs Up to Thumbs Down. Israel’s SA-born rugby coach Kevin Musikanth who helped get together Israel and the UAE to play a historic match for the Sons of Abraham trophy got the thumbs down for his Tel Aviv team the ‘Tel Aviv Heat’ to compete in his native South Africa.
Likewise, SARU has already lost face in the eyes of many Israelis and probably Israeli supporters world-wide. Making excuses about “competition becoming a source of division” when it is well-known that the BDS threat was the real reason, places SARU as a pathetic and weak-willed organization, susceptible to the crudest form of verbal pressure.
Even the image of the proud Springbok emblem has been irrevocably tarnished and sullied by the cowardly collapse of SARU.
One can only exclaim: How the mighty have fallen!
About the writer:
A B.Sc. graduate in Economics and Geology from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Lennie may be the only volunteer from abroad who was granted permission to leave his group on kibbutz during the 1967 Six Day War to rejoin his paratroop brigade that he had served with years before following his matriculation in Cape Town. In Israel, Lennie has worked as an Export Manager for some of the country’s major food manufacturers and chemical companies as well as an independent consultant in Export Marketing guiding many small Israeli businesses to sell their products and services in the world-wide market. As a result of a work accident in 1995, Lennie made a career change and became an independent English teacher working mainly with hi-tech companies and associated with universities and colleges in the north 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).
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Chag Purim Sameach
Lay of the Land wishes all its Jewish readers a joyous Purim’.
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If Palestinians on the West Bank are into their 3rd Intifada are Israelis in 2023 into their 1st?
By David E. Kaplan
They Shalt Not Pass. No way forward until the collective voice of the people on the streets of Israel are heard.
The singular “Day of Outrage” last Wednesday is likely to turn into the plural “Days of Rage” as the nation-wide protests persist into its 9th week with increasing numbers. At major city crossroads, Israel itself stands at a CROSSROAD!
Are our favourite, iconic stories being rewritten for our over-sensitive times?
By Rolene Marks
Talk is Dangerous. Up against verbal assassins,Bond has to think twice today before he opens his mouth.
From the pen of Roald Dahl to Ian Fleming, words of the past are being today subject to scrutiny and censorship. Time honoured classics are no longer safe as we navigate through a verbal minefield.
ANC government repeatedly alienates partners for development in South Africa
By Pamela Ngubane
Back to Africa. Chadian President Idriss meets with Israel’s State President, Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem.
Shaking off the past, Israel and Africa are now shaking on it – literally – as evidenced earlier this month when Chadian President Idriss visited Israel to officially open his country’s embassy. While much of Africa and Israel are exploring partnerships, South Africa plays spoiler to the detriment to its own people!
LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche
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While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
The Israel Brief – 27 February 2023– Terror attack kills 2, vigilantes burn Huwara. Protests grow against overhaul. El Al flight first to use Oman/Saudi corridor. Papua New Guinea to open embassy in Jerusalem.
The Israel Brief – 28 February 2023– American-Israeli killed in terror attack. Maoz quits PMO. Protests expected tomorrow. Israelis raise over NIS 1 million for Palestinians in Huwara.
The Israel Brief – 01 March 2023– Terrorists who killed Elan Ganeles arrested. National Day of Disruption. Smotrich vile comments. PM Netanyahu off to Rome.
The Israel Brief – 02 March 2023– Israel appeals to Brazil to designate Iran a terror entity. Netanyahu and Herzog comment after protests. Smotrich comments condemned by USA. First Azerbaijani ambassador arrives.
27 February 2023 – Rolene Marks gives an update on some of the challenges facing Israel as well as Operation “Olive Branch”.
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).
Are our favourite, iconic stories being rewritten for our over-sensitive times?
By Rolene Marks
Are we too sensitive? I ask this question because in the last couple of years it seems that everything seems to be offensive to some people all of the time. In my opinion if you engage in offence fracking, there is a good chance you will find something offensive. Right now, the fun police seem to be working overtime on some of our favourite iconic fictional characters and their creators.
One of the latest victims of the fun succubus is author, Roald Dahl. Now I am no great fan of Dahl, he being a raging antisemite; but vile comments aside, the man could write a helluva children’s book. Who does not love a visit to WillyWonka’s Chocolate Factory or shuddered at the thought of The Witches? His books have delighted children for decades.
My Word! Hmnn, now which Roald Dahl classics require tinkering to make palatable for today’s sensitive readers?
I do get some kind of perverse satisfaction in knowing how many Jews read his books just as much as I get a kick out of listening to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” because I know it probably irritates the comfortably dumb, Roger Waters.
There is now a profession called “sensitive reading” i.e. people who comb through beloved written works looking for “offensive” language. By “offensive language”, I am not referring to f-bombs and reasonable facsimiles; but rather language that could be seen as racist, fat shaming and more. In the revised “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, for instance, published by Puffin, the gluttonous Augustus Gloop is not “enormously fat” but merely “enormous”. In “The Witches”, a sorceress no longer hides among humankind posing as “a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman”. Instead, she is “working as a top scientist or running a business”. Many, many corrections are more “sensitive”. If I roll my eyes any more, I may detach my corneas!!
Roald Dahl books censored: ‘You should be ASHAMED’ – David Starkey clashes with Rebecca Reid
British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak “we shouldn’t gobblefunk around with words“. Gobblefunk. What a fantastic word. Queen Consort Camilla also waded into the controversy. Speaking at a reception to mark the second anniversary of her popular online book club, The Queen’s Reading Room, Camilla told assembled writers:
“Please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.”
Weighs in over Words. “Don’t gobblefunk around with words,” says British PM Rishi Sunak attacking ‘airbrushing’ of Roald Dahl classics.
She looked up with a mischievous smile as she added: “Enough said.” Indeed.
Dahl is dead and therefore cannot defend his work. He is not the only casualty of the sensitivity police. James Bond seems to have caused offense as well. The martini drinking, womanizing, tuxedo wearing super spy is being edited – and not in a way that would bring a devilish smile to his face. As 007 approaches his 70th anniversary, significant changes have been made.
As reported by The Telegraph, it reads:
“This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set.”
Some contentious phrases include “sweet tang of rape” and the idea that “blithering women” cannot do a “man’s work.” Originally published in 1954, the original version of Live and Let Die, author Ian Fleming describes black people at a nightclub in New York as “panting and grunting like pigs.”
The amended passage now reads: “Bond could sense the electric tension in the room.” A racist word has been replaced with “black person” and “black man.” In the same novel, the secret agent comments on would-be African criminal in the gold and diamond trades, saying they are “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much.”
Now, it simply reads: “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought”. Ian Fleming Publications have said that the changes to Live and Let Die were authorised by Ian Fleming himself, who died in 1964.
The publisher said: “Following Ian’s approach, we looked at the instances of several racial terms across the books and removed a number of individual words or else swapped them for terms that are more accepted today but in keeping with the period in which the books were written. We encourage people to read the books for themselves when the new paperbacks are published in April.”
Nana Akua reacts to James Bond novels rewritten to remove a number of racial references
These writers were products of their times. Maybe some of their terminology does not fit in with today’s standards; but it is censorship and interfering with the works of authors no longer here to speak for themselves. It is also extremely patronizing to the readers to infer that they cannot form opinions for themselves.
It leaves me shaken and stirred and is enough for me to give the goldfinger!
J.K. Rowling has come under fire for comments some see as transphobic. On June 6, 2020, Rowling retweeted an op-ed piece that discussed “people who menstruate,” apparently taking issue with the fact that the story did not use the word women. “‘People who menstruate.’ I am sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she wrote. Many are hell bent on trying to cancel the fiery Rowling who created the Harry Potter phenomenon but she is standing firm in her position as a woman’s rights activist. Some of the messages that Rowling has received would make the most discerning Death Eater cringe.
Verbal Minefield. J.K. Rowling has come under fire for comments some see as transphobic.
Paddington Bear (yes, the beloved marmalade sandwich-eating bear who famously took tea with Her Majesty, the Queen and shared what she kept in her handbag) is offensive to some hypersensitive offence frackers. The fictional bear, created by Michael Bond and largely seen as a symbol of children, who fled to Britain as refugees during World War II, many of them who were Jewish has faced opprobrium for “representing white ideals of assimilationist migrant behaviour, evident in his prior knowledge of English and obsession with respectability. He even abandons his original name because it is too hard for Britons to pronounce”. It does not matter that he delights everyone from wide-eyed children of all races to the late, nonagenarian Monarch.
Talk is Dangerous. Bond has to think twice today before he opens his mouth.
Dr. Seuss, Enid Blyton, John Steinbeck’s classic “Of Mice and Men” , George Orwell’s “1984” (oh the irony!) and so many classics many of us grew up with have all felt the wrath of the permanently offended. The Diary of Anne Frank and Maus, both seminal works that help educate about the Holocaust were also pulled from school libraries in Fort Worth, Texas but were reinstated following a widespread outcry.
If anyone needs me, I will be banging my head against a wall. How long is this going to go on?
The beauty about books is that they open up our creative minds and transport us to different worlds where our imaginations paint vivid pictures of the words on the pages. If we took offence at every author’s personal background or the contents of every book, well, we would be left with nothing to read. That would be the greatest shame.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
If Palestinians on the West Bank are into their 3rd Intifada, have Israelis in 2023 started their 1st ‘Intifada’?
By David E. Kaplan
Today in Israel is ‘National Disruption Day’. People are taking to the streets en mass – it’s all about direction not of cars but the government! Never seen anything like it before. I have just returned from a huge demonstration at the busiest intersection in my hometown of Kfar Saba, 20 kilometres north of Tel Aviv that began at 8.00am. It did not matter the colour of the traffic lights as the cars, busses and trucks were not going anywhere! It seemed like a metaphor for the country not going anywhere either as if rooted at the no less metaphorical ‘CROSSROAD’!
They Shalt Not Pass. Buses are blocked from driving through the street as protesters demonstrate against judicial reform in Tel Aviv, March 1, 2023. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
Posters, flags, blaring over the megaphone and the honking of car horns. At 10.30am the protest in Kfar Saba officially ended with a rousing singing of the national anthem – Hatikva – the hope. It is a commodity that hangs precariously in the air – hope.
On the way walking home, I receive a text message from my Lay of the Land colleague, Rolene Marks, who was covering the demonstration in her hometown of Modi’in in the centre of the country. A large crowd had assembled outside the residence of the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin – the architect of the judicial overhaul. “Protesters were drumming on tambourines, blowing vuvuzelas, and chanting in Hebrew, “Yariv Levin you bring shame (“Busha”) to Modi’in,” reported Rolene. While the protests were mostly peaceful “It was very sad to see,” continued Rolene, “to see one religious extremist approach the protestors to spit on them. It was ugly.”
People vs Police. This is where Netanyahu’s government has ‘delivered’ his nation.
I am now back at my computer in my apartment in Kfar Saba and I can still hear motorists expressing their sentiment by honking their hooters. It is so loud you can’t fail to hear, but is the government hearing? Is it even bothering to listen?
The nation-wide protests were scheduled to send a collective message by outraged citizens as Benjamin Netanyahu’s legislative committee votes to pass the second part of its ‘judicial reform’, a misnomer for its rather ‘injudicious overhaul’. Yes, it began over this issue but is it only over this issue 8 weeks later? There is a collective revulsion of this government whose priorities appear skewed. If the Arabs on the West Bank are engaged in a 3rd Intifada, are Israelis engaged in their 1st Intifada?
As a former student of politics, the atmosphere in Israel reminds me of the protests of France1968, when in the beginning of May of that fateful and turbulent year, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout the French republic, lasting some seven weeks punctuated by protests, general strikes, and the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of those events, the French economy came to a halt. Attempts to quell those strikes by the de Gaulle administration only inflamed the situation further, leading to street battles with the police. And while de Gaul secretly fled to West Germany, it appears our Israeli leadership choses to play the proverbial fiddle, carrying on regardless with its hated legislation, while the country – now literally – burns! The images of revenge settler violence in the Palestinian village of Huwara of burning cars and homes adds to the visual image of a country whose leadership has lost the plot but worse, lost its soul!
Torch of Vengeance. This is what the scrapyard in the Palestinian town of Huwara looked like after the settlers had torched it. (AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt)
Adding fuel to the fire, after the riot, chairman of the Knesset’s National Security Committee MK Zvika Fogel of the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party was unequivocal in his backing for the settler rioters when he said:
“A closed, burnt Huwara – that’s what I want to see. That’s the only way to achieve deterrence.…… we need burning villages when the IDF doesn’t act.”
Anger Erupts. People rise up on the streets against government going down the wrong road.
We, who know about pogroms, should know better. Just how far low this country’s leadership has sunk, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich -who is also the head of the far-right Religious Zionism party and a minister with responsibility for civil affairs in the West Bank within the Defense Ministry – concurred with his equally disgusting coalition collogues at a financial conference that the Palestinian village of Huwara should be “wiped out’, but with one condition.
And what is that condition?
“I think the State of Israel should be the one to wipe it out, not, God forbid, private people.” So that is the only transgression the rioters settlers did on their murderous spree – they should instead have left it for the government’s ordered henchmen to do the hit!
Call in the Cavalry. Police deploy horses and stun grenades to disperse Israelis blocking a main road to protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
This man should be in prison not parliament.
While at the demonstrations the common collective chant is ”Bibi Habayta” – “Bibi go home”, there is an increasing belief, that if in the past people believed Bib always had the solution, now his persona personifies the opposite – dissolution. As the former Minister of Defence Benny Ganz said:
“The problem isn’t Smotrich, and it’s not Ben Gvir and it’s not Fogel. The problem is Netanyahu. He’s letting the system fall apart. This is all Netanyahu’s responsibility and not his emissaries.”
Crossing Barriers. Ordered to take off the kid gloves, police clash with protestors in Tel Aviv, 1 March, 2023.
The people’s revulsion for the Prime Minister was graphically reflected when only last week, when there are so many existential issues facing a nation of national crisis, the Knesset held a special session to approve state funding on both of Netanyahu’s private residences – one in the seaside luxurious town of Caesarea and the other in Jerusalem. Shouting matches broke out almost immediately as opposition MKs charged the committee for caring more of preserving Netanyahu’s millions than caring about the cost of living crisis faced by millions of Israelis.
The way things are going, today’s Day of Outrage are set to lead to Days of Outrage. Sadly, we’re in for the duration as we have leaders not running but ruining our country.
Worried about Their Future. Despite Prime Minister referring to the protestors as anarchists here are children accompanied by their parents and guardians waving Israeli flags during the demonstration in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2023. (Jack GUEZ / AFP).
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).
ANC government repeatedly alienates partners for development in South Africa
By Pamela Ngubane
In a heart-warming series of events, Israel has repeatedly displayed its commitment to continue growing its ties in Africa. This follows the announcement by Chadian President, Mahamat Deby, that his country would open an embassy in Israel.
The Chadian leader travelled to Israel to officiate the inauguration of the embassy in Ramat Gan in early February. Deby cited that Chad and Israel were at a decisive turning point in their relationship, during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem that week. This followed waves of peace talks in the Middle East and Northern Africa, which have resulted in a remarkable increase in economic cooperation between Israel and other states.
Back to Africa. “We believe that our co-operation can help not only advance our relations and our co-operation, but it is also part of Israel’s coming back to Africa and Africa coming back to Israel,” said Chadian President Mahamat Idriss who is seen here meeting with Israel’s State President, Isaac Herzog following the opening of the Chadian Embassy in Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv.
Deby was welcomed in Israel with great diplomatic fanfare by President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen for the opening of the Chadian embassy. At the time, Prime Minister Netanyahu reported that this would form part of a tremendously important relationship with a major country in the heart of Africa.
The news of Chad formalising its diplomatic ties to Israel were followed closely by reports that Israel and Sudan would sign a “historic peace agreement” in Washington in a few months’ time, indicating an irrefutable move to promote peace, dialogue and increase economic cooperation between Africa and Israel in 2023.
The Sudanese agreement is particularly noteworthy because it overturns the Khartoum Resolution of 1967, which was issued at the conclusion of the 1967 Arab League summit, convened in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in the wake of the Six-Day War. The resolution is infamous for containing what became known as the “Three Nos”:
“no peace with Israel”
“no recognition of Israel”
“no negotiations with it”
This has been comprehensively shattered this year and replaced with three Yes’s for peace.
‘Power’ to the People. Children in Iringa, Uganda, where the Israeli nonprofit organization, Innovation Africa connected a clinic to electricity via solar power, December 21, 2019. (Sue Surke/Times of Israel)
Countries in Africa and the Middle East continue to welcome Israeli technology and innovation through these historical peace agreements and talks. This is an unsurprising fact, given that Israeli solar technology now provides a stable water supply to over 3.5 million people in Africa, and to over half a million people in South Africa as well.
One would be forgiven for imagining that these developments would encourage South Africa’s national government to adopt foreign policies which would aim to promote Israel in our country as a partner for our continued development and basic service infrastructure. And yet, here we are, completely disengaged from reality. Our Minister of International Relations, Naledi Pandor, won’t pick sides when it comes to Russia and the war it has waged on innocent civilians in Ukraine! However, when it comes to Israel, it’s always been a hard no. Why? Because Israel offers the ANC government (currently polling below 50%) with the only straw of relevance they have left to the South African electorate. And even then, it is entirely misguided and based on a narrative that has never served Palestinians or Israelis at all.
Impacting Millions. Since its inception in 2008, Israeli company ‘Innovation Africa’ with its solar and water installations, impacts millions across 10 African countries Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, South Africa, eSwatini, Ethiopia and Senegal.
South Africans have been called to categorically reject the appropriation of the suffering of black people under colonisation; and Apartheid by the enemies of Israel as a tool to de-legitimise the Jewish state. This has been communicated on a number of occasions by several stakeholders, including the South African Zionist Federation and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, as well as Stand With Us.
The Holy Land of Israel remains the ancestral and indigenous homeland of the Jewish people. The return en masse of Jews throughout the world to re-establish their state two thousand years of exile and statelessness, is the legitimate and legal expression of the Jewish people’s struggle for national self-determination.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and is home to a multicultural society where the rights of all religions, minorities, ethnicities and beliefs are protected and promoted. It is the only country in the Middle East where the population of Christians is growing and has a number of holy sites which are critically relevant to Christians and their faith.
Skewed Foreign Policy. While quick to condemn Israel at every opportunity, Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that is claiming thousands of innocent lives. Reinforcing the two country’s friendship, Pandor is seen here welcoming her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for talks in Pretoria. This February 2023, joint “war games” military exercises with Russia and China were held in South Africa.
And yet – the ANC continues to feel threatened by Israel’s growing ties in Africa. So much so, that our national government shamelessly allows the narrative of an “Apartheid state” to consume all conversations about Israel in our country.
South Africa’s foreign policy between Israel and the Palestinians should take a de-hyphenated approach if we are to contribute meaningfully to securing peace for the people living in both territories during our lifetime. This will ensure that South Africans continue to access the best that Israel has to offer, while creating a safe space for the difficult conversations that need to take place to address the senseless violence and suffering that has destroyed families across both borders to date.
At this rate, we need to start asking ourselves, as South Africans, some hard questions. Has the ANC government been captured by the BDS movement? And is BDS dictating our foreign policy to our public representatives?
About the writer:
A Social Science Honours graduate, Pamela Ngubane is a history teacher who was appointed as the Spokesperson of SAFI(South African Friends 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).
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Creating schisms within Israel and Jewish communities abroad, a government on a warpath with its people
By David E. Kaplan
On the Soles of their feet for the Soul of the Nation. Israelis defining who they are and who they do not want to be.
When history critically looks back, does this government want to be tarred for the transition of Israel’s image from ‘Start-up Nation’ to Wind-down Nation? With a hike in interest rates and money taking a hike out the country, how in 74 years did we go from smart to stupid in less than a month?
The bumpy path of building relations between Africa and Israel
By Jonathan Feldstein
Continent of Contrasts. While Israeli is removed at AU conference, in Congo Israeli is welcomed with love.
It’s no easy task to build bridges when the mission of some is to demolish them. The writer found himself in this situation while visiting the Congo trying to build bridges between Africa and Israel, when days later – under pressure from South Africa and Algeria – an Israeli observer at the African Union’s annual summit in Ethiopia was FORCIBLY ejected.
LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche
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While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
