SEEKING SAFETY WHEN THE SIREN SOUNDS

Daily life in Israel when missiles are striking across Israel.

By Peter Bailey

Israel’s many wars, the first of which started before the rebirth of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, has resulted in an extremely efficient and effective system of everything possible being done to ensure the safety of the civilian population at all times. There is a well-worn comment that while Israel’s enemies have spent fortunes on developing armies and weapons with which to attack Israel, Israel has spent the bulk of its defense spend on defensive capabilities and citizen safety. The evolution of how wars are waged has seen the use of offensive weapons such as rockets, missiles and drones becoming the weapons of choice with which to attack Israel. The country has thus been developing increasingly sophisticated anti rocket and missile defenses, while also concentrating on the erection and maintenance of communal and private residential safe areas of various types.

I regularly found myself searching for shelter during the course of my daily travels as a result of the nature of my work for Beth Protea, a South African founded retirement home for seniors situated in Herzliya. I work with the Protea Home Care (PHC) division, which provides services to the elderly who reside independently in their own homes, but require assistance in managing various aspects of their lives. One of the services offered by PHC is the daily (Sunday to Thursday) delivery of well-prepared nutritious meals to clients, who, for various reasons are unable to prepare their own meals. These clients reside in an area which includes the cities of Herzliya, Raanana, Hod Hasharon, Kfar Saba, Tel Aviv, Ramat HaSharon and as far afield as Holon. The reality is that despite the emergency situation and missile attacks, meals have to be delivered and I am on the road four mornings a week. Recalling my experiences, might provide readers outside of Israel an idea of life governed by alerts announced on one’s cell phone, followed by the siren anywhere from one and a half to ten minutes later. Of course, if you are living in the north of the country, there may be no pre-siren alert and you may have less than 15 seconds to find safety before a missile strikes. Seeking safety quickly becomes the name of the game.

There are communal or public bomb shelters available in well-advertised and sign posted areas of almost all civilian population areas, office blocks and many of the older apartment buildings. Referred to in Hebrew as a miklat (plural miklatim), which is a communal or public bomb shelter or safe area, with many underground parking areas beneath malls, other public buildings, railway and bus stations also being used for public safety purposes. The disadvantage of the miklatim is that many of them are situated in basements, with many accidents resulting from people having to rush down stairs to the safe area. Since 1951, Israel has been passing increasingly more effective laws regarding the construction and availability of safe areas. The word miklat comes from the biblically ordained cities of refuge (ערי מקלט), so the word miklat translates as a place of refuge.

Making the most of a dire situation, Israelis do yoga at an underground garage, used as a public shelter, in Tel Aviv during the Israel-US war with Iran. March 17. 2026. (Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

We then have the mamad, acronym for merchav mugan dirati, which means home safe area, with mamadim found in many apartments and free-standing homes. Legislation was passed in 1993, making it mandatory by law for all new homes, free standing or in apartment blocks, to have a mamad (safe room). This legislation was prompted by the 1991 Iraqi Scud missile attacks during the 1st Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm. The threat of chemicals or gas being released into the atmosphere by the exploding missiles resulted in the 1993 legislation, which also made provision for the proper sealing of all safe rooms.

The third category of safe room is the mamak, acronym for merchav mugan komati, which means the safe area on each floor of an apartment or office complex. The building in which I reside has a mamak, which means that it’s a short, safe and convenient walk down the passage to safety. Many older and disabled people residing in older buildings with a basement miklat, rather than a mamak or mamad, often resort to sitting in the lobby area outside their apartments as they are unable to get to the safe area in time and in safety. This is not ideal, but offers a small degree of safety, as long as there are no windows, which can shatter and cause injuries in the event of a nearby blast or explosion.

A chair for an elderly or disabled person in the lift lobby is a common sight . (Photo: Peter Bailey)

Finally, there is the migunit, which is a portable free standing safe area which can be placed in areas where there is no miklat. One of the reasons for this innovation is that business premises such as shops and restaurants are not allowed to be open for business during an emergency period, unless there is a nearby safe area for customers in the event of a missile alert. Necessity being the mother of invention, an answer to the problem was found.

A migunit or portable bomb shelter outside a supermarket. (Photo: Peter Bailey)

The most satisfying feature of my experiences seeking safety during my travels has been the friendly and helpful attitude of people wherever and whenever I have been in need of a safe area. My first experience of this camaraderie and unconditional helpfulness was following a warning alert that the siren would be sounding in the next few minutes was in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bavli. Immediately after receiving the alert, I looked for a safe place to stop my car, and as I did so, a young lady knocked on the window and asked if I was in need of shelter, and if so to follow her, which I did. A few metres down the road was the entrance to a school, and I soon discovered that many schools in Tel Aviv, closed because of the emergency situation, had opened their miklatim to the public. I followed the crowd down into the basement where despite my protestations, somebody insisted I take their chair, which I did with gratitude. Total strangers were chatting with each and with my Hebrew not too wonderful, a few people spoke to me in English and I was really part of a wonderful socialising event. When the all clear sounded, off we all went, going our own way.

Another learning experience was just after leaving a residential building in Herzliya where I had delivered a meal when the alert sounded on my cell phone. I retraced my steps into the building and followed the signs to the basement miklat, where I joined a small group of adults and about 20 young children. I knew that the building had recently been renovated, which meant that each apartment had its own mamad, so I was somewhat taken aback at seeing so many kids and so few adults. I soon had the answer. The war situation meant that children were not at nursery schools or kindergartens as these were all closed, which meant that parents had to take time off work to care for their children. The very practical solution in this building was for two sets of parents to be with the youngsters while other parents were free to go to work, with the ‘duty parents’ changing every two hours.

Duty parents with children in a miklat in an apartment building in Herzliya. (Photo: Peter Bailey)

Later that same day, I found myself in the Ramat Aviv suburb of Tel Aviv, when the alert sounded. It was already the fourth time that day. I saw a curbside parking bay available and parked the delivery van, and as I stood on the pavement looking around, a man standing at the entrance to a school beckoned to me. I went over to him and he invited me to join them in the school miklat, where I saw that there were mattresses along two walls of the safe area, but this time several adults were resting on the mattresses. My curiosity once again got the better of me and I asked the man who had originally beckoned me for more detail. It turned out he was the school principal, but with no pupils, he had opened the miklat to the public. The school was adjacent to a very old quarter of Ramat Aviv, with many of the nearby buildings lacking any form of safety for the residents, so they had been invited to sleep in the school miklat in case there were siren alerts during the night. I was offered coffee and a chair, while I marvelled at the resourcefulness of the school principal and unsolicited care and kindness shown to one and all while the sirens wailed.

SIREN IN THE SUPERMARKET

While shopping with my wife during Pesach (Passover) at the local hypermarket, we had just finished paying for our trolley, when the alert sounded on our cell phones. I pushed the full trolley to the area designated as the safe area, and while somewhat concerned, was instructed to leave the trolley outside, together with many other trolleys. We were shepherded through a door only to discover that this led to a stairwell, which was full of people as the miklat was already overcrowded. So, there we stood for the next 20 minutes, waiting for the ‘all clear’. Probably one of my less enjoyable miklat stays, although I was delighted to find my trolley intact with all our paid for shopping just as we’d left it. So good to experience honesty of the highest degree in adversity.

Not the saftest place nor recommended with an incoming ballistic missile from Iran, nevertheless a packed stairwell of a building following a siren.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

While on a delivery call in an area known as the Old North of Tel Aviv, not far from Hamedina Square (Kikar Hamedina), where there are many older buildings with no protection, the siren sounded. Where would I find safety here? While most residential building entrance doors in this area are usually locked with a code, I found that many doors were wide open with signs in Hebrew advising that a miklat was available. This was once again a wonderful example of the caring and sharing attitude of most Israelis. Although I’ve had many experiences seeking safety during this war, one particular miklat stay stands out. I was travelling on the highway near Hod HaSharon, having heard the alert warning that missiles from Iran were on their way and that the siren would be sounding in the next few minutes. I took the first off ramp and found myself outside the Sokolov Train Station, illegally parked in the no stopping zone right outside the station and jumped out the car as the siren went off. I was cutting it fine. The normally officious barrier guards who usually take no nonsense from anybody, were now holding the barriers open and ushering all and sundry into the station building. I was shepherded into a crowded small miklat behind the ticket office, which looked more like a staff coffee area than a miklat, but it had a proper bomb proof security door. I was touched at the total personality change of the security personnel, but it was nothing more than typical Israeli caring during times of adversity.

People find refuge in the miklat in Sokolov Railway Station. (Photo: Peter Bailey)

The last miklat I want to talk about is really a case of saving the best for last. While doing a delivery in Ra’anana the siren went off and I immediately sought refuge in the miklat of the building I was in. I’d walked into the gold standard of miklatim. What a pleasant surprise to find a carpeted floor, very comfortable chairs including a few armchairs, and to top it all, a ping pong table. That one must take the prize for the best appointed miklat I’ve been in. While living through a war with missiles dropping extremely dangerous cluster munitions on civilian areas, injuring some 8,000 people and killing 20, the residents of this building decided that if they had to spend many hours in the miklat, home comforts were important.

A more ‘up-market’ miklat with carpeted floor, television set, artwork, armchairs and ping pong table in Ra’anana. (Photo: Peter Bailey)

To bring home the danger and how daily life in Israel under fire reminds me of Russian roulette, a friend of mine was on her way to pay a shiva call (condolence visit) in Ramat Gan, an area she was unfamiliar with, when she received an alert on her phone. With the clock ticking until the siren went, she ran into a nearby apartment complex and followed others down into the building’s miklat. She was lucky – some were not. The building she had randomly selected took a direct hit from one from one of the thirty or forty cluster bombs released by an Iranian ballistic missile, and Yaron and Ilana Moshe, a disabled couple in their seventies, were unable to reach safety in time and were killed.

The damage to the building was immense.

A neighbor later recounted how after hearing the powerful blast, he exited his safe room to find his own apartment severely damaged. Rushing to check on his neighbor’s apartment, he discovered their front door destroyed and a large hole in the ceiling with another resident, they tried to clear debris at the entrance, fearing the couple were trapped inside. He later expressed to the media some relief that the victims’ grandchildren were not present at the time.

Such is daily life in Israel during this war with Iran.

Images of apartment hit by Iranian attack in which two Israelis were killed in Ramat Gan and which the writer’s friend took refuge in the building’s underground bomb shelter (miklat).

Feature photo: Packed tight, people take cover as siren warns of incoming missiles fired from Iran, at a public bomb shelter in Jerusalem, June 15, 2025. (Photo: Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

About the writer:

Peter Bailey made Aliyah from South Africa with his wife Jeanne in 2013 in order to join their three sons and families who were already in Israel. He spent 35 years in the glass industry in South Africa while also being active in military veterans affairs, being National Chairman of The South African Jewish Ex Service League prior to making Aliyah. He completed his compulsory military training in South Africa in 1964 and was commissioned as an officer in 1965, retiring with the rank of major, after 19 years service in the SADF Citizen Force. While on active service on the Namibian Angolan border in 1976 he commanded 101 Task Force’s Counter Insurgency Operations Training Centre. He has enjoyed a lifelong interest in military history and has conducted intensive research into the Jewish contribution to South Africa’s military history, writing many papers on the subject and giving relevant lectures across South Africa. He is the author of two published books, Street Names in Israel and Men of Valor, Israel’s Latter Day Heroes.

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).

WHY TUCKER CARLSON DENIES THE HOLOCAUST

If possible, Tucker would happily platform Hitler on his podcast.

By Jonathan Feldstein

April 14, is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. In Israel this will be observed with local memorial ceremonies, and ones broadcast on national TV. Interviews, documentaries, and feature films related to the Holocaust will be aired across all TV and radio channels, with entertainment channels suspending broadcasting. An air raid siren (different from that which we have spent the last several weeks dreading and sending us to our bomb shelters) will be sounded, stopping traffic and bringing people across the nation to stand in silent prayer and reflection.

**Nation Mourns**. People stand still in Jerusalem, as a two-minute siren is sounded across Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

This year, there are an estimated 196,000 Holocaust survivors remaining. It’s a drop of 20-25% from five years ago (240,000-250,000), an even bigger decrease from approximately 300,000 just a decade ago. As many die and the remainder age, their medical and other needs increase. Since 2023, other challenges have also increased, with many suffering poverty and, in Israel, living through the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, and the war that followed. Many are reliving the memory of traumas of their early lives in their final days.

With fewer survivors branded with Nazi concentration camp tattoos among us, it’s jarring to see the increase in the permissiveness of antisemitism on so many levels, all over the world. We’re witnessing an increase in the outright denial that the Holocaust ever happened, or the distortion of the realities.

While there are no outright quotes (yet) of Tucker Carlson overtly denying the Holocaust happened, among the most jarring and public instances of legitimizing antisemitism and Holocaust denial, are his platforming overt antisemites and, in doing so, not only not challenging their evil thoughts, but in fact giving them legitimacy. Tucker himself has also crossed the line many times, mainstreaming antisemitism in a way that would make the Nazis proud.

**Plain and Simple**. No, platforming Holocaust revisionists, neo-Nazis, and other extremists isn’t merely “asking questions”, it is antisemitism.

Over and above the hateful and historically inaccurate ideas of people he has platformed, Tucker has put a big wind in the sail of such deniers and antisemites in a way that’s nuanced and sneaky, deceiving the world by reviving antisemitic tropes that have been historically disproven.

There are more than a few instances where this is the case, showing a deliberate, calculated, and possibly even scripted plot. One example is Tucker referring to “Jews” and following that with the statement/question “whatever that means/is.” Doing so he set up the more recent lies by questioning the historic and biblical reality and lineage of the Jewish people.

Having sown the soil with this toxic fertilizer, he started planting his deadly seeds. Tucker has overtly embraced a fringe and disproven claim that Ashkenazi Jews are not really descendants from Abraham (and therefore not part of God’s covenant and thus foreign occupiers in Israel), known as “Khazar theory.” Through this discredited allegation, today’s Jews of European descent are actually descendants of a tribe of medieval Turkic Khazar converts to Judaism.

Forget that there are ample Biblical examples of gentiles converting and becoming part of the People of Israel (including the “mixed multitudes” who left slavery in Egypt with the Jewish people, Jethro, Ruth, and others), and who are every bit as much part of the Jewish people then as converts are today. Tucker willingly, deliberately distorts historical truth, specifically calling out Prime Minister Netanyahu and making up statements that there’s “no evidence they ever lived” in the Land of Israel.

“Khazar theory” has been as debunked as the notion that the world is flat. Antisemitic flat-earthers like Tucker don’t care about truth. The theory has been rejected by geneticists, historians, and archaeologists. Yet Tucker calls for Jews to do DNA tests, despite evidence showing substantial Biblical ancestry alongside European admixture, consistent with our 2000-year diaspora history.

“Khazar theory” has long been weaponized by antisemites (from Soviet propagandists, white nationalists, Holocaust deniers, Tucker, and other modern pundits) precisely to delegitimize Jewish identity, claims to Israel, or the reality of the Holocaust.

While Tucker hasn’t said it himself (yet), one could see him platforming Adolph Hitler today (as he has with modern tyrants like Russia’s Putin, Iran’s Pezeshkian, and others), defending doing so as his “duty” as a “journalist,” to preserve Americans’ “constitutional right and the God given right to all the information about matters that affect them.”

You can almost hear him saying it:

“Mr. Hitler, many people despise your views but Americans want to know the truth about how you’re really not antisemitic, because the Jews – whatever that means – that you allegedly killed were not really Jews, isn’t that right? I think you even wrote about it in your “Kampf” book, that those people identified as Ashkenazi Jews aren’t really descendants of Abraham, and so all you’ve tried to do is eliminate a foreign occupier from among pure Europeans, setting up a network of transit camps to help them get back to their indigenous land, Turkey.”

By this ‘logic’ if the Nazi’s victims weren’t really Jews, then there was no holocaust against the Jews, and no genocide: Holocaust denial by denying that the victims were not Jews to begin with.

Maybe Tucker’s interview with Hitler would be a debate, with Hitler defending the Nazi definition of Jewishness as racial, classifying people as Jewish based on ancestry, religious practice, or having one Jewish grandparent. Or maybe he’d have hit Tucker’s softball question out of the park, denying he’s an antisemite as Tucker does, saying some of his best friends are Jews. Maybe he’d even praise Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel as his favorite Jewish authors.

Would there be a Hitler-Carlson dispute, or a love-fest? Who knows?! But Hitler and millions of European antisemites sure believed that Ashkenazi Jews murdered in the Holocaust were Jews by every definition: history, self-identification, community, culture, religion, and the Nazis’ own criteria. Their descendants today – me and my family as well as the Prime Minster and his – remain part of the continuous Jewish people with documented ties to ancient Israel and an unbreakable bond to modern Israel.

**Platforming Holocaust Denier**. Tucker Carlson (right) discusses ‘these Zionist Jews’ with avowed antisemite Nick Fuentes on October 28, 2025. Asked who in the conservative movement needed to be taken down, Fuentes replies, “These Zionist Jews.” (Screenshot via JTA)

By full disclosure, I did something lazy starting this article. I asked AI to write it for me. It’s interesting that in this case, artificial intelligence is indeed more intelligent and has more integrity than Tucker Carlson. The response I got was, “I am committed to truth-seeking and will not produce content that revives discredited tropes, or distorts the documented genocide of 6 million Jews to fit a narrative.” If only Tucker were half as honest, or intelligent.

Stand with truth and righteousness. Don’t let Tucker get away with his twisted “logic” that as absurd as it is, can make this exact case I just did.

*Feature photo: Tucker Carlson speaks during AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, US December 18, 2025.(Photo: Cheney Orr/Reuters).

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 Journal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

UCT’S GAZA FALLOUT: DONOR EXODUS, LEGAL FIRESTORM AND A COUNCIL UNDER SIEGE

UCT’s Gaza resolutions have sparked a court battle, donor exodus and fresh scrutiny of council governance, funding losses and reputational damage.

By Marika Sboros

(Courtesy of BizNews where article first appeared)

There was a time not that long ago when becoming a member of the University of Cape Town (UCT) Council was considered a privilege.

The position carried prestige as a pinnacle of civic duty.

These days, membership of UCT’s supreme governing body looks more like a masterclass in incinerating millions, potentially billions, of endowment Rands while whistling a catchy political tune.

That’s after allegations of serious breaches of fiduciary duties and perjury by some Council members in their impugned decision-making – decisions which caused not just major financial loss but a haemorrhage of funding from high-profile, philanthropic foundations and international government agencies.

The litany of allegedly dodgy dealings preceding that haemorrhage is documented in an ongoing lawsuit against UCT Council in the Western Cape High Court.

It was launched in August 2024 by one of UCT’s own – head of historical studies Prof Adam Mendelsohn – after Council voted to adopt the Senate’s proposed “Gaza Resolutions” in June 2024.

**Stakes are High**. When Professor Adam Mendelsohn, then head of UCT’s history department and director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies took the University of Cape Town to court over two resolutions it adopted in June 2024 relating to Gaza, he did so out of a deep concern for the institution, its students, staff, and ordinary South Africans, made clear in the arguments of his legal team led by Advocate Eduard Fagan SC.

The court hearing concluded on October 30, 2025, before a three-judge bench with the promise of a ruling “early in the new year”.

A quarter into 2026, no ruling is in sight.

The resolutions enforce an academic boycott of Israeli academics and reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism in favour of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA).

The JDA lends itself more easily to political boycott.

The IHRA is a gold standard adopted by more than 47 national governments, including the US, Canada, the UK, Switzerland,26 of the 27 EU countries and over 13000 organisations and institutions.

**Future Uncertain**. Supporters for Prof. Adam Mendelsohn outside the court in a case which is important not only for the future of South Africa’s premier university but the future of Jewry in South Africa.

Top global universities that have adopted the IHRA definition include Harvard and Columbia in the US, and Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.

The JDA has been adopted by UCT and a few universities with a dual approach.

In a twist of institutional irony, by adopting the JDA, UCT breached a clause specifying IHRA compliance in a funding agreement with its major philanthropic donor, the Donald Gordon Foundation (DGF) that it had itself drafted.

**Tragic Trajectory**. 2023 herald the exciting news that ‘The Donald Gordon Foundation’ was making a landmark donation of R200 million to UCT’s Neuroscience Institute (see Atrium above), which would later be withdrawn in the largest, single donor loss as a consequent of reckless decision-making by UCT’s management.

That makes Council’s rejection of the IHRA definition look less like a principled stand and more like a messy divorce from its own legal handiwork.

Court documents on public record paint a combustible portrait of some Council members who wouldn’t recognise a conflict of interest if it slapped them in the face with a 150-page answering affidavit.

Leading this modern-day bonfire of the vanities are Adv Norman Arendse SC, Chair of Council’s executive committee (Exco), and Dianna Yach, Exco member in June 2024.

Mendelsohn claims that their governance skills and behaviour were so legally and financially inflammable that he is seeking costs against both personally, and similarly against Exco members Reeza Isaacs (Deputy Chair) and Malcolm Campbell.

The move, known in legal terms as “punitive costs”, is not unusual. After all, if you play revolutionary activist with someone else’s hundreds of millions of Rands, you should be prepared to cover part of the legal fees when the revolution turns out to be an unlawful mess.

Mendelsohn’s lawsuit cites UCT Council as the first of 32 respondents, Arendse as the second, Campbell as the 6th, Isaacs as the 9th, and Yach as the 31st. He claims that all wilfully withheld from Council crucial information signalling clear and present warnings from high-profile donors.

In particular, they appear to have ignored DGF’s loudly “barking dogs” warning of significant financial and reputational damage if the resolutions were adopted.

When Council adopted the resolutions and the financial fallout happened precisely as DGF trustees had predicted, it was devastating.

The largest single, overnight loss was the DGF’s withdrawal of its R200-million gift for UCT’s Neuroscience Institute. This became the “canary” for UCT’s donor gold mine.

The DGF permanently withdrew from negotiations for a future landmark project – a new teaching hospital valued at between R400-million and R500-million. The project is now earmarked for Stellenbosch University.

The DGF also demanded a refund of the first R20-million tranche paid towards the R200-million donation for the Neuroscience Institute.

In November 2024, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation suspended its annual funding of R6.5 to R7 million per annum to UCT. The foundation’s final donation in 2024 was in support of 259 undergraduate and 29 postgraduate disadvantaged UCT students on its Dell Young Leaders Programme.

There are no new Dell Young Leaders at UCT in 2026.

The Harry Crossley Foundation, funder of student bursaries and research projects in 2024 to the value of R9.375-million, has stopped new funding from 2025. Their reasons? Concerns around “cancel culture” and the increase of antisemitism at UCT.

UCT Council appeared oblivious of the fact that ideology does not pay tuition fees, as one critic put it.

Other donors followed suit.

UCT had already alienated the university’s biggest international funding agency even before the resolutions were adopted.

The US State Department had adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism as far back as 2010. It began cooling its financial relationship with South Africa in early 2024.

In a direct counter-move, the UCT Senate proposed, and the Council later adopted the JDA, explicitly rejecting the IHRA standard. This placed UCT’s June 2024 resolutions in direct conflict with US policy guidelines.

The friction culminated in a February 2025 Executive Order that halted federal aid, immediately terminating grants from USAID (US Agency for International Development), amounting to roughly R31 million.

Since the freeze began, R172-million has been explicitly halted via “’stop-work” orders on 22 active projects. An additional R265-million remains stalled due to unissued renewals. That left a R1.67-billion portfolio of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in an indefinite limbo.

In response, in May 2025 the UCT Black Alumni Association urged the university to “prioritise partnerships with Global South nations, BRICS allies and progressive global institutions that share its values.”

By early 2026, the projected risk had solidified into a structural deficit. It has forced UCT into a strategic shift away from American partnerships in favour of survival attempts through European and philanthropic lifelines.

Facing the potential decimation of its landmark research into HIV/AIDs and TB, UCT is now trying to bridge this deficit by petitioning the South African National Treasury for emergency relief and turning toward European donors to secure its clinical trials.

In lengthy responding affidavits, Arendse and Yach have vigorously denied any and all wrongdoing. In his answering affidavits, Arendse continued to downplay the negative impact of the extensive loss of donor funding after adoption of the resolutions.

Yet for an SC who has built his career on the precision of memory and law, Arendse appears to have developed a selective case of legal Alzheimer’s.

Luckily, the information age has an infallible memory.

Court papers in Mendelsohn’s case highlight Arendse’s apparently severe bouts of memory dysfunction. In particular, he claimed to be unaware of any certainty that the DGF would withdraw funding.

He appears not to have understood the contents of a lengthy letter that he and UCT interim VC at the time, Prof “Daya” Reddy, received from a DGF executive trustee on April 30, 2024.

Arendse and Reddy were signatories of UCT’s funding contract with the foundation in September 2023.

The letter makes clear precisely what had provoked the DGF’s “barking dogs”. As the trustee wrote simply: UCT had “not upheld its side of the contractual agreement” to have a “zero tolerance attitude to antisemitism as defined by the IHRA.”

With surgical linguistic precision, the trustee proceeded to eviscerate the Senate’s resolution rejecting the IHRA as “tendentious, mendacious” and riddled with “untruths” about Israel and Jews.

He made the DGF’s position legal clear: UCT was in breach of contract. This was not a vague threat. It did not require legal expertise to understand it.

It was a formal notification that the DGF found itself “impaled on the horns of a dilemma.” It had “lost faith” in UCT, the trustee said, but believed in the Neuroscience Institute’s work and wanted to “find a way forward.” He also said that Arendse and Reddy had “opportunity to remedy” the breach of contract.

The trustee relayed that sentiment to Reddy in a follow-up email requesting an urgent meeting.

In his letter, he even helpfully suggested a way forward for UCT to fulfil its contract with the DGF. That required the university to “actively demonstrate its seriousness in tackling antisemitism head on through the adoption of guidelines, the design and implementation of training programmes and educational campaigns for staff and students and the creation of reporting mechanism and metrics to measure impact.”

All that Arendse had to do in the interim, therefore, was his legal duty: to put all relevant facts, including the DGF trustee’s letter, before Council.

This letter was not put before Council, as Council member and High Court advocate Kessler Perumalsamy confirmed in a remarkably frank “affidavit of candour” in May 2025.

In his legal filing, Perumalsamy bravely broke ranks with the Council’s official leadership to provide what he described as the “correct facts“. These flatly contradicted Arendse’s version of events.

In response to the ensuing exchange of court papers, the DGF trustee addressed a further lengthy letter on May 22, 2025, addressed to UCT’s Vice Chancellor, its Interim Registrar, Arendse and all Council members.

His language was as clear and direct in intent. He carefully rebutted claims Arendse had made under oath. In particular, he rejected Arendse’s allegation of any “uncertainty” about the DGF’s intentions should UCT’s rejection of the IHRA definition become institutional “law”.

The trustee pointed out that the DGF’s contractual agreement with UCT was “deliberately concise,” made “no excessive demands” and did not insist on the “extensive list of conditions typically associated with contracts of this kind.”

Therefore, Arendse’s claim of “uncertainty” about DGF’s position was, to the trustee, demonstrably false.

This precipitated lengthy debate during oral arguments in court during Mendelsohn’s lawsuit. It sparked questions and quizzical reflections from the three-judge Bench, over whether or not the donors actually did warn Council of terminal breaches of funding agreements, and the seriousness of perjury claims against a senior counsel of the High Court.

Yach appears similarly affected by selective memory recall in her responding affidavits. That’s likely the result of the myriad of conflicts of interest below the many different hats she wears.

Yach is one of two representatives elected by donors to Council and Chair of UCT’s HR and Remuneration Committee. She claims to be a donor in her private capacity as Chair of the Mauerberger Foundation Fund (MFF). Her grandfather, Morris Mauerberger, set up the foundation in the late 1930s.

Yach has faced a barrage of criticism over the direction MFF has taken recently. Many see these as straying from the path set by her grandfather’s legacy.

At UCT, her job ostensibly has been to nurture and safeguard relationships that keep its academic lights on. Instead, she presided over a “Great Trek” of philanthropy that ended UCT’s relationship with at least two of the country’s most high-profile donor assets.

That relationship was strained further when Gift of the Givers founder-CEO Dr Imtiaz Sooliman made a public call on a UCT-hosted platform on October 27, 2025, blatantly directed at UCT donors:

“The second most important point is, which worries me, when people withdraw their money from a South African university, being South African, saying that you take a tax benefit to benefit the students of your country, but now you’re withdrawing your money because you’re an agent for a foreign government, that makes it a big problem for me. And to me, if you do that, to threaten your students and your university because you’re acting on the base of Israel, I think you should be stripped of your citizenship and thrown out of the country.”

**In his Own Words**. Dr Imtiaz Sooliman who was conferred with an honorary doctorate at UCT on March 30, 2026, is seen here speaking at UCT in October 2025, calling himself ‘5000% antisemitic.’

Yach was seen cosying up to Sooliman in multiple social media posts between this rhetoric and UCT Council’s consideration of Sooliman for an honorary doctorate in December 2025.

UCT conferred the honorary doctorate on Sooliman on March 30, 2026, marking a definitive rupture in the university’s relationship with its historical benefactors.

For Yach, who serves simultaneously as the UCT Council donor-elected representative, as a member of the UCT Alumni and Development Board and as a major philanthropist, this institutional endorsement creates a paradox.

It signals that her donor representative’s role has transitioned from a fiduciary bridge to a symbolic observer of a Council that now views traditional philanthropy as a form of “ransom” to be broken.

In the face of UCT’s honouring Sooliman’s rhetoric, it would be understandable for all those donors who have withdrawn funding since the June 2024 resolutions to feel ostracised.

UCT presents as loudly celebrating its divorce from legacy patronage in favour of a new, politically aligned identity.

In his lawsuit, Mendelsohn alleges that Yach and Arendse actively disparaged donors to Council colleagues.

Arendse is accused in court papers of effectively calling donors “hostage takers”. He claims he only reflected on what a “sad day” it would be if UCT were “sort of held hostage or to ransom” by donors.

Court papers highlight minutes of Council Exco meetings referencing “donor power”, “donor privilege” and “manipulation by funders (with) a pro-Israel stance”.

Yach is alleged to have used language reminiscent of a mob boss to threaten Mendelsohn and his family to persuade him to drop the lawsuit. She claims she spoke solely out of concern for his professional prospects.

**Conduct outside the Court**. Outside court, anti-Israel protestors hurled abuse at supporters of Mendelsohn’s concern for UCT with Professor Usuf Chikte, the coordinator of the Palestine Solidarity blaring “Look at these disgusting Zios,” and telling the media that “the Zionists are prioritising Jewish supremacy over everybody else”. While Mendelsohn’s supporters held signs saying, “Let ideas compete, not identities,” and “Universities should teach, not preach,” Mendelsohn protestors were yelling “One Zionist, one bullet,” and “There is only one solution: intifada resolution.”

Collectively, UCT Council Exco members have appeared content not just to bite some donor hands that have fed the university, but to gnaw donor arms down to the bones.

Mendelsohn’s argument remains compelling that some Council members held extraordinarily jaundiced views of UCT’s major donors whose perceived ideological views differed from theirs.

He claims that they effectively “tricked” Council colleagues into voting for “symbolic” resolutions to further their own personal political agendas.

More proof may lie in a synchronised move Arendse and Yach made on July 15, 2025. It may have inadvertently revealed their true intention: to rewrite the narrative on the financial fallout long after the canary had stopped singing.

Both tried to access UCT’s private donor lists but were unable to do so due to legal privacy constraints. Undeterred, Arendse later presented letters from donors as retroactive “bouquets of moral approval” of the resolutions, as Mendelsohn described it in court papers.

And when UCT’s Executive instituted an independent investigation into this creative “donor stewarding“, Arendse took to an unusual high road: he declined to “be complicit in or condone an unauthorised/unlawful investigation which is contrary to the UCT statutes.”

In other words, Arendse refused to cooperate with the inquiry into his conduct because he had not authorised it.

Yach claimed that her “sole reason” for requesting the donor lists was to “encourage” donor support. That newfound zeal for outreach contrasted sharply with her response to 290-plus emails of concern from high-profile alumni and donors that she received between April and May 2025.

Yach has reportedly dismissed them as “unsolicited” approaches to her private email.

Since then, the digital world sheds further light on the darkness of UCT’s governance circus at the highest levels.

Critics have noted that Isaacs was appointed CEO of The Spar Group as of March 2026, with the ghost of the David Jones debacle during his decade-long tenure as Woolworths FD by his side. It was a R21-billion Australian misadventure that vaporised shareholder value with the efficiency of a controlled demolition.

Criticism of Woolworths Holdings following its acquisition of David Jones was generally directed at its executive leadership under CEO Ian Moir. Isaacs, as finance director at the time, would have formed part of the broader leadership cohort associated with the transaction.

That can look like a questionable background for someone holding the keys to UCT’s University Finance Committee.

Spar’s Board has declared full confidence in its CEO.

A question hanging in the ether is why Arendse and Yach are still on Council, not even suspended pending the court’s ruling, given the serious allegations against them? After all, UCT found the energy to act swiftly against Mendelsohn and to suspend him on spurious grounds.

**Hostile Environment**. SAJBD National Director Wendy Kahn said the SAJBD joined the case to demonstrate “the hostile environment in which these resolutions were adopted, and their impact on Jewish students and academics at UCT.”

UCT leadership appears impervious to criticism, unburdened by tedious constraints of good governance, financial reality and unimpeachable integrity.

Its standard for Council members appears to be “not yet convicted of anything,” while critics say that it should be “above any suspicion at all.”

The most telling thing hovering “above” some UCT Council members is the level of arrogance required to burn down the house and then complain about the fire damage.

UCT was approached for comment. Spokesperson Elijah Moholola replied:

“UCT notes that this query relates to litigation concerning the Gaza resolutions. The matter was heard in the Western Cape High Court in October 2025, and UCT is currently awaiting judgment. Given that judgement is pending, it is inappropriate for UCT to comment on the matter.”

About the writer:

Marika Sboros is a South African freelance investigative journalist with decades of experience writing fulltime for the country’s top media titles on a wide range of topics. She started her career as a hard-news reporter in the newsroom of the now defunct Rand Daily Mail, a campaigning anti-government newspaper during the worst excesses of the apartheid era. She commutes between South Africa and the UK.

THE TALMUD OF THE SURVIVORS

“Where was God during the Shoah ?’’ asked soul-searching survivors in DP camps. Three rabbis came together to provide some answers.

By Michel Levine

At the end of the Second World War, the defeat of Nazism was celebrated worldwide with outpourings of joy. At the same time, thousands of Jewish survivors of the Nazi camps were being gathered in Germany, Austria, and Italy in temporary structures known as “Displaced Persons” camps (DP camps). Their material situation there was deeply precarious, as evidenced by the letter that American President Harry Truman sent to General Dwight Eisenhower on August 31, 1945, addressing more specifically the DP camps located in the American occupation zone in Germany. The President expressed outrage at the deplorable living conditions of the Jewish residents — some of whom were even housed in the very places where they had suffered persecution, such as Bergen-Belsen.

While their material situation in these camps gradually improved, many suffered from isolation, a lack of any vision for their future, and ignorance of the fate of their loved ones. They were also burdened by the feeling that their own survival constituted an injustice toward the companions who had died at their side. The belief that God had abandoned them — which had tormented them during their detention — remained powerful. Some asked themselves:

What had God done throughout all these trials? Why had He remained so silent, so distant? And, more desperately: how could one still believe in His existence?

Confronted with this distress, three rabbis began to consider how they might help these troubled souls. Who were these three men of faith? Two were Lithuanian: the first, Samuel Abba Snieg, Chief Rabbi of the American occupation zone, had served as a chaplain during the war. His wife had died at Dachau, where he himself had also been deported.

Appointed by President Truman to work with U.S. Army commanders in post-war Europe to alleviate the conditions of Holocaust survivors, American Reform rabbi Philip Sidney Bernstein played a major role in the “Survivors’Talmud” project leading to its printing in Germany, the very country who had only a few years earlier burned all books relating to Jews.

The second, Samuel Jakob Rose, likewise a survivor of Dachau, held the delicate position of mediator between the Jewish populations of the DP camps and the American administrative authorities. Both men had persuaded a third, an American — Philip Sidney Bernstein — to join their project. This Reform rabbi of the American zone served as adviser to the Military Governor (Militar Gouverneur). During the war, he had overseen the activities of some 300 of his colleagues embedded within the armed forces. The guiding idea behind the three rabbis’ initiative was to invoke emunah — a Hebrew term expressing deep and living trust in God. It is less an abstract or dogmatic assertion than an inner conviction that guides the actions of daily life. And the best means of strengthening Jewish consciences was to reinforce their faith by offering them the reading of holy books (seforim).

Rabbi Samuel Jakob Rose, a survivor of Dachau, examines the galleys of the first postwar edition of the Talmud to be printed in Germany in 1947. (Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum via the National Archives and Records Administration),

But where were such books to be found?

Hundreds of thousands had been dispersed, destroyed, or burned. Contact was made with two organizations active in the camps: the JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), which, in addition to organizing the distribution of food and medicine, was contributing to the creation of Jewish schools; and the Vaad Hatzalah, an Orthodox organization founded in 1939 to assist rabbis and yeshiva students from Poland and Lithuania. One of its innovations had been the creation of “traveling synagogues” circulating through the displaced persons camps. Both organizations were already printing a modest number of prayer books, and their experience would prove valuable. During their meetings, the question arose:

Which work should be printed?

The answer came to them almost immediately: the Talmud.

Jewish displaced persons (DPs) put up signs demanding open immigration into Palestine in a DP camp in Germany after 1945.

Much as the Shoah represented a catastrophe of historic proportions, the Talmud — literally “study” or “learning” in Hebrew — was itself born of a catastrophe: the destruction by the Romans of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE, marking the beginning of nineteen centuries of diaspora. The rabbinic authorities of the time decided, in the interest of the survival of their faith, to commit to writing the various laws and precepts that governed it, which had until then been transmitted orally. Thus, was constituted a “portable temple” in the form of a book, enabling the Jewish people — despite their dispersion and wherever they might find themselves — to continue living according to their religion.

The first complete edition of the Talmud was produced in Venice between 1519 and 1523 by the Antwerp printer Daniel Bomberg. It comprised 63 tractates across 2,711 double-sided folios, and was subsequently enriched by the Vilna edition (1880–1886), which established a universal standard.

Under Nazi rule, possession of such books was forbidden in Germany and in the occupied countries. They fed the bonfires, alongside the works of great thinkers deemed contrary to the dominant ideology — whether or not their authors were Jewish.

But where was a copy of the Vilna edition to be found that could serve as a model? After considerable searching, word came of two volumes printed in that city in the nineteenth century, said to have been hidden in 1945 in the Benedictine monastery of Sankt Ottilien, southwest of Munich. Upon investigation, it emerged that these two copies were now… in New York. Not without difficulty, they were eventually brought back to Germany. The work could now begin.

Paper had first to be found — vast quantities of paper — at a time when this commodity was rationed across Europe and in extremely high demand, particularly by governments seeking to resume the production of schoolbooks to replace those the Nazis had imposed. Special attention had to be paid to the quality of the paper that could be obtained, in order to ensure the quality of the printing. There was also a shortage of the materials required for printing — inks, and especially collodion. The latter was indispensable for the transfer of images onto zinc photographic plates, of which 1,800 were needed for each complete volume. Banned during the war, collodion was available only in the city of Zwickau, in the Soviet occupation zone. Since the Cold War had already begun, Zwickau refused all assistance, and the precious substance ultimately had to be ordered from the United States. At the same time, finding a printing house in Germany proved arduous. Those that had survived the bombing raids were few, closely monitored, and already prioritized — they too — for administrative and educational needs. Eventually, the American military authorities authorized access to a printing establishment — one of the rare facilities, complicating matters further, capable of producing large-format works. There was a certain irony in the outcome: this firm was located in Heidelberg, cradle of German culture but also a cultural stronghold of Nazism. As for the printing itself, it proved far from straightforward. Nearly one million Hebrew characters were required, obliging the typesetters — some of whom had worked on the production of antisemitic books — to undertake extensive searches for surviving old matrices, and in some cases to fabricate new ones. They also had to respect the distinctive layout of the Talmud — a central text surrounded by commentaries. Pagination, justification, spacing, and notes each presented their own set of problems.

At the bottom of the page is a depiction of a Nazi slave labor camp flanked by barbed wire; above are the palm trees and the landscape of the Holy Land. The legend reads: “From bondage to freedom; from deep darkness to a great light” (Hebraic Section, Library of Congress Photo).

The work was carried out under the watchful eye of a rabbinical committee. During the proofreading of the galley proofs, numerous errors were corrected; those that remained would be eliminated in subsequent editions. As for the photogravure reproduction, it too proceeded with difficulty, not least on account of the incessant power cuts. Approximately 500 complete folio sets, each comprising 19 volumes, eventually came off the presses.

This Talmud would henceforth bear the Hebrew name Talmud She’erit ha-Pletah, which might be translated as the “Talmud of the Survivors.” The cover page of each volume depicts a Nazi labor camp surrounded by barbed wire alongside an idyllic Mediterranean landscape evoking the Land of Israel. A few words in Hebrew give meaning to these images: “From slavery to freedom, from darkness to a great light.” The Joint Distribution Committee, bringing together the various organizations that had participated in the endeavor, decided — with the agreement of the German government — to allocate 40 copies to German Jewish libraries and institutions, and to send the remainder to those throughout the world, including in Mandatory Palestine. Paradoxically, those for whom it had originally been intended numbered no more than 10,000 to 15,000 by 1950, as the displaced persons camps had gradually emptied.

The “Survivors’ Talmud” (or U.S. Army Talmud) is a 19-volume edition of the Babylonian Talmud published in Germany (1946–1949) for Holocaust survivors in displaced person (DP) camps. Initiated by survivor rabbis and funded by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), it was printed in Bavaria on presses that formerly produced Nazi propaganda, symbolizing the triumph of Jewish resilience.

Today, the standard reference Talmud (nussach, or authoritative text) remains the Vilna edition of the nineteenth century. It is readily accessible to all, benefiting from the contributions of scholarly research and the most modern techniques, including digital technology. The “Talmud of the Survivors,” by contrast, is now found only in a handful of museums and private collections. And yet the memory of the work accomplished remains vivid. This transmission of knowledge embodies the resilience of the “People of the Book” in the face of the Shoah, and stands as a testament to its rebirth from the very ruins of its suffering.

A DP camp in Vienna with survivors from across Eastern Europe.

About the writer:

Michel Levine is a historian of Human Rights and the author of a work dedicated to the major cases of the League of Human Rights (Unclassified Cases. Unpublished Archives of the League of Human Rights, Paris, Fayard, 1973).
Further publications include a historical investigation on the repression of Algerian demonstrations in Paris in October 1961 (The October Ratonnades. A Collective Murder in Paris in 1961, Paris, Ramsay, 1985; reissue Jean- Claude Gawsewitch Publisher, 2001.)

THE HIDDEN MENTAL HEALTH TOLL OF ANTISEMETISM

How antisemitism Impacts Mental Health Around the World.

By Bev Moss-Reilly

A compassionate, human look at how antisemitism affects mental health worldwide, from fear and grief to trauma, silence, and the struggle to feel safe.

Antisemitism is often discussed in terms of politics, history, religion, conflict, and security. All of those matter. But there is another side to it that is far more personal and often far less visible. It is what antisemitism does to the mind, the body, the nervous system, and the heart.

For many Jewish people around the world, antisemitism is not only about shocking headlines or dramatic public incidents. It is also about what happens in quieter moments. It is the hesitation before walking into a public space wearing something that identifies you as Jewish. It is the quick glance over the shoulder after a hostile comment. It is the sinking feeling when social media fills with rage and blame and you know some of it is aimed not at a government or a policy, but at people like you. It is the exhaustion of having to explain, defend, justify, or prove your humanity repeatedly.

At a time when anti-Jewish incidents continue to be recorded across countries and continents, many Jewish families are carrying a level of fear that is hard to describe to those who have never had their identity turned into a target. The impact on mental health can be profound.

WHEN HATRED ENTERS DAILY LIFE

Mental health is deeply connected to one essential feeling: safety. When a person feels reasonably safe, they can think clearly, rest properly, trust others, and move through life with some degree of ease. When that safety is repeatedly disrupted, something shifts.

Antisemitism chips away at that foundation. It can show up in overt violence, threats, vandalism, harassment, conspiracy theories, exclusion, workplace hostility, school bullying, online abuse, and subtle social rejection. Sometimes it is loud and unmistakable. Sometimes it is disguised as a joke, a stereotype, or a passing remark that leaves a sting long after the words are spoken.

Even when a person is not physically harmed, the emotional toll can be significant. The body does not always wait for direct violence before it reacts. Anticipation alone can be enough. The nervous system begins to scan for danger. Sleep becomes lighter. Concentration is harder. Everyday tasks feel heavier. Trust narrows. Joy is interrupted.

This is one of the cruellest things about prejudice. It does not only wound in the moment. It can change the way someone moves through the world long afterwards.

THE QUIET WEIGHT OF HYERVIGILANCE

Many people who live with persistent prejudice develop a kind of emotional alertness that becomes second nature. They may think carefully about where they go, what they say, how openly they identify, which spaces feel safe, and who can be trusted. They may avoid conflict, avoid visibility, or avoid speaking altogether. To outsiders, this may look like caution or withdrawal. Inside, it often feels like fatigue.

Hypervigilance is exhausting. It asks the mind to stay partly on guard even during ordinary moments. A family dinner, a child’s school event, a university lecture, a synagogue service, a conversation at work, or even scrolling on a phone can become emotionally loaded. Instead of relaxing into life, the person is managing risk.

That ongoing tension can increase anxiety and emotional distress. It can also affect relationships. Loved ones may become more protective, more fearful, or more strained. Parents may worry about what their children are hearing at school. Young adults may struggle with whether to hide or reveal their Jewish identity. Grandparents may feel old historical wounds being reopened by present events.

**Showing your Hand**. Revealing issues in this 2023 Renascenca school, 5th grade, Brazil in Words Can Make a Difference, National Library of Israel (includes a wish for peace in Portuguese).

Mental health is not only shaped by what happens directly to us. It is shaped by what we fear could happen, by what has happened before, and by what we see happening to people like us.

HISTORY NEVER SITS FAR AWAY

Antisemitism carries an unusually heavy historical burden. It is not a new hatred. It is ancient, recurring, and deeply woven into the memory of Jewish communities. That history matters because current hostility is rarely experienced in isolation. It often arrives carrying echoes of older trauma.

For many Jewish people, modern incidents can stir not only present fear but inherited grief. Family stories of expulsion, violence, displacement, persecution, or the Holocaust may sit quietly in the background for years, only to feel suddenly near again when public hatred rises. A slogan, a threat, a desecrated synagogue, or a wave of online abuse can activate something much deeper than a single event.

This is where the mental health impact becomes especially layered. The person is not only reacting to what is happening now. They may also be reacting to what history has taught their family and community to fear. That can intensify feelings of dread, sadness, anger, helplessness, and moral injury.

People sometimes underestimate the emotional force of communal memory. But trauma is not always neatly contained in the past. When prejudice returns in recognisable forms, the past can feel painfully present.

CHILDREN, STUDENTS AND THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE

There is something particularly heartbreaking about antisemitism affecting children and young people. Childhood and youth are meant to be times of formation, curiosity, belonging, and growth. When a Jewish child is teased, stereotyped, excluded, or blamed for world events they do not control, something deeply unfair happens. Their sense of safety is interrupted at an age when it is still being built.

Some children respond by becoming quiet. Others become anxious, angry, clingy, or withdrawn. Some begin complaining of headaches or stomach pain. Some dread school. Some ask their parents difficult questions far earlier than they should have to. Others decide it is easier not to mention being Jewish at all.

University students often face a different but equally painful challenge. They are old enough to understand the hostility around them, but still young enough to be deeply affected by rejection and exclusion. If a campus becomes a place where Jewish students feel judged, isolated, or unsafe, the impact can linger long after graduation. Education cannot flourish where fear is taking up too much space.

WHEN THE ONLINE WORLD NEVER LETS YOU BREATHE

One of the most damaging realities of modern antisemitism is that it no longer stays in one place. It follows people home. It arrives through phones, comment sections, private messages, videos, memes, and posts shared at speed and without reflection. Hatred that once might have been local can now become constant.

This matters for mental health because the mind needs places of refuge. It needs pauses. It needs quiet. But online hostility erodes those natural boundaries. A person can wake up, open their phone, and encounter dehumanising language before the day has even begun. They can see falsehoods repeated so often that they start to feel inescapable. They can watch strangers debate whether Jewish fear is legitimate, whether Jewish grief counts, or whether Jewish people somehow deserve what is happening to them.

That kind of environment creates emotional wear and tear. It can produce fear, rage, numbness, despair, and loneliness all at once. It can also leave people feeling trapped between wanting to stay informed and needing to protect their mental wellbeing.

WHY DOES ANTISEMITISM KEEP RETURNING?

This is one of the most painful questions of all. Why does antisemitism continue, even after everything history has shown us?

There is no single answer, but there are some recurring patterns. Antisemitism often thrives when people are frightened, polarised, or looking for someone to blame. It feeds on scapegoating. It turns complexity into accusation. It offers simple answers for complicated problems. In times of social strain, war, political upheaval, or economic anxiety, some people reach for narratives that tell them their suffering has a neat human target. Jews have been used in that way for centuries.

Antisemitism also survives through ignorance and conspiracy thinking. It grows where people know very little about Jewish life, Jewish diversity, or Jewish history, but feel confident repeating myths and stereotypes anyway. It spreads when anger is allowed to become collective blame. It deepens when public figures, institutions, or communities fail to challenge it clearly. We ask ourselves which “isms” are not based on ignorance.

And sometimes, if we are honest, it returns because human beings can be disturbingly willing to dehumanise others when it suits their politics, identity, or emotional needs.

None of this makes antisemitism logical. Hatred is not logical. But understanding some of its patterns helps explain why it keeps resurfacing in different forms, places, and languages.

EMOTIONAL COST OF BEING BLAMED FOR EVERYTHING

One of the most psychologically damaging aspects of antisemitism is collective blame. Jewish people around the world are often treated as though they are interchangeable, as though they all think the same, represent the same politics, and should answer for events far beyond their control. That is not criticism. That is prejudice.

To be blamed simply for being who you are is a deeply destabilising experience. It tells a person that their individuality does not matter. It strips away complexity and replaces it with suspicion. Over time, that can affect self-esteem, belonging, and emotional resilience. It can create the painful feeling that you are seen not as a person but as a symbol onto which others can project anger.

This can be particularly distressing when the people doing the blaming imagine themselves to be moral. There is a special kind of wound that comes from being dehumanised by those who believe they are standing for justice.

Learned behaviour, indoctrination, and brainwashing often begin quietly in the home, where children absorb what they hear, see, and experience from the adults around them. They may repeat profanities, prejudice, aggression, or harmful beliefs without fully understanding the meaning or impact, simply because these attitudes and behaviours have been normalised for them and never questioned. While this does not excuse the behaviour or make it acceptable, it does highlight the urgent need for ongoing education, emotional guidance, and mental health awareness to help break destructive cycles and teach children to think critically, act compassionately, and choose better.

SILENCE HURTS TOO

Not all mental health damage comes from direct hostility. Some of it comes from silence.

When antisemitic incidents occur and friends say nothing, colleagues say nothing, leaders hesitate, or institutions respond in vague and selective ways, the message received can be devastating. It can feel like Jewish pain is negotiable. It can feel like empathy has conditions. It can feel like some people are protected by moral concern while others are expected to absorb hatred quietly.

That silence can deepen loneliness and grief. It can also make people question their place in communities they once trusted. Being unseen is painful. Being unseen while in pain is worse.

WHAT HELPS?

There is no neat answer to the emotional burden of antisemitism, but some forms of support matter deeply.

Being believed matters. Having fear acknowledged matters. Community matters. Family matters. Faith, culture, friendship, therapy, trauma informed care, and safe spaces all matter. So does the simple human relief of not having to explain why something hurt.

Children need adults who listen. Students need institutions that protect them. Employees need workplaces that do not tolerate hostility disguised as opinion. Communities need leaders who can recognise antisemitism clearly, not only when it is politically convenient.

Compassion is not a luxury here. It is part of the repair.

A HUMAN PROBLEM, NOT A JEWSH PROBLEM ALONE

Antisemitism harms Jewish people directly, but it also tells us something broader about the health of a society. When any group is repeatedly scapegoated, threatened, stereotyped, or stripped of complexity, everyone should be concerned. It means fear is being normalised. It means empathy is becoming selective. It means human dignity is being made conditional.

The mental health impact of antisemitism deserves far more attention than it receives. Every slur, threat, smear, exclusion, attack, or silence lands somewhere real. It lands in a body. In a family. In a memory. In a child’s developing sense of safety. In a student’s confidence. In a parent’s fear. In a grandparent’s history. In the private space where someone is trying, with all their might, to keep going.

Antisemitism is never just an argument. It is never just noise. It is never just politics. It is a human wound. And until we speak about it with honesty, courage, and compassion, that wound will keep deepening in lives that are already carrying far too much.

About the writer:

Bev Moss-Reilly is a Jewish freelance content writer living in South Africa with a deep and heartfelt focus on mental health, emotional wellbeing, trauma, grief, and the unseen struggles people carry every day. Through her writing and her Mental Health Packs, she aims to bring comfort, awareness, compassion, and practical support to individuals, families, workplaces, and communities. Her work is rooted in empathy, dignity, and the belief that nobody should feel alone in their pain, especially in times of crisis.

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN’S ULTIMATE DEGRADATION – HONOURING DR SOOLIMAN

Does South Africa’s premier university share today the same values as a supporter of terrorism against Jews?

By Lawrence Nowosenetz

The University of Cape Town (UCT) a formerly venerable university in South Africa, respected worldwide, has announced that it will be awarding an honorary doctorate to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman at its graduation ceremonies in March/April 2026.

The Doctor of Philosophy (honoris causa) is being bestowed on Dr Sooliman in recognition of his humanitarian work through his organization Gift of the Givers. In a statement by the Vice Chancellor of UCT, Professor Moses Moshabela, he described Dr Sooliman together with another doctoral recipient as a distinguished South African and “advanced values that lie at the heart of our institution.” He further lauded Dr Sooliman for “humanitarian leadership” and having served society with integrity. Qualities which he expounded are central to building a just, creative and humane society.

**Law unto Himself**. Vice Chancellor of UCT, Professor Moses Moshabela describes UCT honoree Dr Imtiaz Sooliman as advancing the “*values that lie at the heart of our institution*.” But does he?

“For more than three decades, he has dedicated his life to humanitarian service without discrimination,” the Vice Chancellor continued. It is indeed so that Gift of the Givers, the organization which Dr Sooliman founded and still heads, has provided health care and supported communities and affected by natural disasters in South Africa, earthquakes in Haiti and Turkey, famine in Somalia and the conflicts in Gaza and Syria. However, the Vice Chancellor went further: “Sooliman’s work gives practical expression to the constitutional values of dignity, equality and freedom.”

The reality points otherwise. Dr Sooliman is an avowed Islamist and disciple of the Muslim Brotherhood. He supports Hamas and is a truculent and vocal inciter of anti-Zionist and Israel hatred. His record is abundantly clear and is well documented in his public utterances. In 2011, he received an award from the US designated terror organization Union of Good which (like Hamas) is a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate.

His thinly veiled antisemitic bigotry and hatred of Zionists leave nothing to the imagination. He publicly stated on 27 October 2025 and significantly at UCT:

“…we had to break the fear we have to break the money, and we had to break the thing antisemitism, and we know antisemitism is used to shut you up. So if we stand up against Zionists and they say you’re antisemitic because they want to cover their faults, then I’m 5000% antisemitic to speak the truth.”

A vicious tirade of inflammatory hate speech, conspiracy theories and demonization which would have made Dr Goebbels proud. It is hard to reconcile this rhetoric with the constitutional values of dignity and equality. In short, the cherished liberal democracy that UCT purports to uphold.

**Honoring Hamas**. The man UCT will honor has no problem participating at protests in Cape Town under the banner “WE ARE ALL HAMAS” following that terrorist organization’s massacre of Jews on October 7, 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Jaco Marais)

The very notion of constitutional values and rule of law have been rejected by Dr Sooliman who said he follows Koranic law, not man-made laws. In an interview on 7 October 2024, Dr Sooliman said:

“I don’t follow international law or human law. I follow Koranic law. I am a Muslim. I don’t need any permission from anybody in the world to tell me what to do. I break the laws all the time. Breaking the law is laws of the West and people and governments. It’s not Islamic law. I follow Islamic law, and Islamic law overrides any other law. … I don’t have to follow any law. My law is very clear to me. Allah himself has instructed me. I don’t need men to tell me what to do. I don’t follow them.”

This is subversive of the very values UCT should be safeguarding. South Africa prides itself rightly on its long and hard-fought constitutional democracy, the protection of fundamental freedoms, the separation of powers and secularism. The antithesis of Dr Sooliman’s benighted worldview. To honor a person who undermines so completely the raison d’etre of the Republic of South Africa is a travesty and betrayal of the most profundity and severity. An academic institution which is prepared to overlook this inescapable contradiction commits a gross lack of judgment and makes a mockery of not only itself but all South Africans who respect and show fealty to the Constitution. All the NGO’s and human rights lawyers who respect universal human rights should not abide this injustice. Hatred, racism and bigotry have emerged under the guise of the humanitarianism of Dr Sooliman.

The Koran is no repository of human rights and freedom. Among many other major shortfalls, women are suppressed, non-Muslims are not accorded equal citizenship under Islamic law. Christians and Jews historically were regarded as dhimmi or second-class citizens under Islamic rule. The separation of church and state as well as religious freedom are totally contradictory to the theocratic ideology of political Islam. Liberties such as freedom of thought, opinion and expression are suppressed. Nowhere is this more glaringly evident that in the Islamic Republic of Iran which has brutally suppressed dissent and murdered at least thirty thousand of its citizens, now in the throes of a war with Israel and the USA

Another egregious falsehood is crediting Dr Sooliman with providing humanitarian services without discrimination. During October and November 2024, Gift of the Givers posted at least 40 anti-Israel posts on its Facebook page. These posts did not call for peace, never condemned violence by Hamas and never mentioned Israeli victims or suffering. Certainly, no calls for the release of the hostages.

The humanitarian services of Gift of the Givers are partisan and far from neutral. While Gift of the Givers was active in Gaza providing aid to the local population, Dr Sooliman made no effort at all to assist the Israeli hostages held by Hamas over two years under appalling conditions. Such an egregious omission speaks to the lack of universality and integrity of Gift of the Givers as a humanitarian organization. This can be contrasted with the initiative of Gift of the Givers in negotiating successfully to secure the release of Pierre Korkie, the South African hostage held by terrorists in Yemen. He was however tragically killed by Al Qaeda shortly before his release.

**True Colours**. Decked out in green, Imtiaz Sooliman, who has expressed that Jews “… control the world with money,” addresses a protest in Sea Point, Cape Town (above) before demonstrators holding banners that read “Zionism is Racism” and “Boycott Apartheid Israel”. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

The support of the South African ANC led government for Hamas and its backer Iran, indicates the state of capture by radical Islam. DIRCO, (South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation) and its foreign policy leans towards the global South, which includes undemocratic and unconstitutional countries which are not aligned with Western values. It is tragic to see UCT abandon these values and fall prey to the Islamist state capture of foreign policy.

Worth noting are the financial ties between at least two UCT Council members and Dr Sooliman/ Gift of the Givers. Dianna Yach, chair: HR committee donated R1 million to them in September 2025 through the Mauerberger Foundation Fund. Reeza Isaacs chair: Finance Committee and a senior Spar manager, appeared in a photograph on a Gift of the Givers Facebook page in February 2026, building Spar Group corporate partnership ties. These same persons sat on the UCT Council which approved bestowal of the honor. A more blatant conflict of interest and bias would be hard to find.

When a respected academic institution is prepared to bend its values and honor a person who is morally tainted and an outspoken adversary of traditional Western liberal values, there are no longer any standards left for UCT to support or teach. It becomes a broken institution.

*Feature picture: University of Cape Town

About the writer:

Born in Pretoria Lawrence Nowosenetz obtained his BA at University of the Witwatersrand and LLB at the University of South Africa. He has been admitted as an Attorney in South Africa and as an advocate in South Africa. He practiced at the Pretoria and Johannesburg Bar and worked as a human rights and labour lawyer at the Legal Resources Centre a public interest law firm. Lawrence was Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and completed professional internship in the USA. He was a a labour arbitrator and mediator, part time Senior Commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as well as a panelist at Tokiso Dispute Settlement. He was a member of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and Pretoria Chairman. He has also served as an Acting Judge of the Hight Court, South Africa. He now lives in Tel Aviv.

PERCEPTION AND REALITY – WHAT COMES TO MIND IN AUSTRALIA WHEN WE HEAR: “THE MIDDLE EAST”

Reflections and ruminations based on a small survey I conducted last week in Sydney’s CBD.

By Michael Fish

The nature of my work lends to me being exposed to multiple businesses and engaging with people. I wanted to capitalize on this to explore some nagging questions and concerns I had as a Jew in a country that over a short period has transformed from being so easy-going and accepting of others to becoming so frighteningly and publicly intolerant of Jews and their beliefs. How has the media impacted on people’s understandings and mindsets? This question fascinated me.

So, last Thursday, during a regular workday, I conducted a simple but revealing survey. I approached people from different walks of life — varying in age, background, profession and perspective — and asked them one question:

“What is the first word that comes to mind when you hear ‘the Middle East’?”

The responses came quickly and without hesitation.

– Hate
– Death
– Destruction
– Sadness

These were the most common answers. In fact, the very last person I asked, the answer was “sadness” and this in itself I found sad… and revealing. Afterall, had the respondents to my question been better informed of the region, they would have been surprised to learn that despite perennial wars and defying the odds and threats on multiple fronts, Israel is ranked as the 8th happiest country in the world. How would they know this – it’s not in their media – for mostly war and destruction catches each day their ears and their eyes.

Despite threats and challenges, Israel is ranked as the 8th happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report.

If on the other hand they had read on the 19 March, 2026 The Times of Israel, they would have read:

“Despite another year of war on several fronts, prolonged uncertainty and national trauma, Israel once again ranked eighth in the World Happiness Report published on Thursday, for the second year in a row.”

On reflection, the results of my survey were not surprising. For decades, global media coverage of the Middle East has been dominated by images of conflict, war, and political instability. News headlines often focus on violence, crises, and humanitarian disasters. Over time, this consistent framing shapes public perception, creating a narrow and often negative association with an entire region.

However, what makes these responses worth reflecting on is not just their negativity — but their uniformity.

The Middle East is not a single story. It is a vast and diverse region made up of numerous countries, cultures, languages, and histories. It is home to ancient civilizations, rich traditions, vibrant cities, and millions of ordinary people living everyday lives — working, studying, creating, celebrating, and hoping for the future.

**People’s Perceptions**. Crowd of people at the famous shopping mall around Sydney CBD. What is their understanding and perceptions of the Middle East, far removed geographically but not emotionally as its brought each day into their living rooms by the media? (Photo: Mohd Ezairi/Dreamline.com)

Yet, in the minds of many abroad, as in Sydney, Australia, these everyday realities and characteristics are overshadowed.

This raises an important question:

How much of what we believe about a place is shaped by factual knowledge, and how much is shaped by what we are repeatedly shown?

Perception is powerful. When a region becomes synonymous with negativity, it not only influences how outsiders view it, but can also affect global relationships, policies, and even the dignity of the people who come from there.

**Rapid Response**. How was the news processed that only 2 days after the massacre of Jews by Gazans in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, pro-Palestinian protestors burned the Israeli flag and chanted “f..k the Jews” at the Sydney Opera House lit up in solidarity with Israel. (Photo: AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

This small survey, though informal, highlights a broader issue of the gap between perception and reality.

It invites us to pause and reconsider.

To question the narratives that we absorb.

To seek out fuller, more balanced perspectives.

And most importantly, to remember that no place — and no group of people — can be defined by a single set of words.

Perhaps the next time we hear “the Middle East,” we might think beyond the headlines.

Beyond the conflict.

Beyond the stereotypes.

Because every region has more than one story — and every story deserves to be seen and understood in its entirety.

About the writer:

Michael Fish who grew up in Mafeking, a country town in South Africa’s North West province, attended King David School, Linksfield in Johannesburg, and been living in Sydney, Australia for the past 40 years.

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S LEGACY

How Obama misread the aims of Iran

By Neville Berman

In January 2009, the Democratic Party nominee, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44^th President of the United States of America. It was a watershed moment in American history. America finally had a black President that seemed to fulfill the dreams of the Democratic Party and liberals. The Norwegian Nobel Committee immediately bestowed on him the Nobel Peace Prize.

For his first foreign policy statement, Obama chose to speak at a university in Cairo. The choice of venue was a message in itself. Obama was greeted by rapturous applause by an overflowing audience of students. His speech revealed his positive view of Islam.

**Great Expectations**. An Egyptian youth displays a t-shirt designed by his father Gamal Shosha in their souvenir shop on June 3, 2009 in Cairo, which reads “OBAMA NEW TUTANKHAMON OF THE WORLD” , lauding the US President who was due to deliver his key Middle East policy speech at Cairo University. (Photo: David Silverman/Getty Images)

He started off by saying that he had come to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, and that they share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. He blamed the attacks of 9/11 on violent extremists who represented a small but potent minority of Muslims. He stated that “his father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims, but that he was a Christian, who as a boy had spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of Islam at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk.”

Below are some additional quotes from his speech that clearly demonstrated his thinking towards Islam:

“Civilization’s debt to Islam that paved the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment.”
“Since America’s founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States.”
“Let there be no doubt Islam is a part of America.”
“America is not and never will be at war with Islam.”
“Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.”
“I will fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”
“Throughout history Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.”
“America and Iran must work together in mutual respect.”
“I will seek a world in which no nation has nuclear weapons.”
“America would support human rights everywhere.”
“Islam is a nation of tolerance.”
“There is one rule that is common to all religions and that is we do unto others what we want to do to ourselves.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
“The Holy Koran tells us to be conscious of God and speak always the truth.”

Obama’s views of Islam as a tolerant and peaceful religion must have come as news to hundreds of millions of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Hindus around the world. The claim made by Obama that Islam is a peaceful religion is contradicted by centuries of Islamic subjugation and oppression. Obama was obsessed with promoting peace and refused to see the reality of the fact that millions of Muslims around the world cheered on September 11, 2001 when 2,977 people were killed by al-Qaeda on American soil. The attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, makes a total mockery of

“Do unto others what we want to do to ourselves.”

**Symbolic Shift**. In a respectful effort to move beyond the hostility of the post-9/11 era, Obamas addresses the Muslim world at the beginning of his presidency, seeking a “new beginning” between the United States and Muslims in delivering a pivotal speech at Cairo University.

The truth is that subjugation and domination are part of the pillars of Islam. Obama never mentioned the Islamist division of the world into Dar al-Islam and Dar al-harb. The former is the land where Muslims have sovereignty and where Shariah law is the law of the land. The latter refers to land that still needs to be conquered and subjugated to Shariah law. He also never mentioned the Islamic religious call for jihad against infidels.

Let us now turn our attention to Iran. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Any attempt to enrich uranium to weapons grade levels is a violation of this treaty. By 2013, the UN Security Council had passed 6 resolutions that imposed various levels of sanctions against Iran for refusing to comply with demands to end its nuclear enrichment program. The resolutions included the freezing of Iranian exports of oil and gas. This drastically reduced Iran’s foreign income. Iran was also banned from using the Swift system that dominates international banking and money transfers. Billions of dollars of Iranian money were frozen in Western banks. The sanctions were crippling Iran’s economy. By 2013, the value of the Iranian Rial was in freefall and the Iranian people were out in the streets demanding changes. Despite all the calls of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”, Obama decided that it was time to negotiate a deal with Iran.

In October 2013, representatives of the P5+1 (USA, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) held talks with Iran in Geneva. The main aim of the American negotiating team was to ensure that Iran would never be able to acquire nuclear weapons, and in return, sanctions on Iran would then be lifted. To lead the American team of negotiators, Obama appointed Under Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, who had previously negotiated the deal with North Korea that was supposed to end its nuclear program.

It was a total failure.

**Out to Impress**. Cutting a fine image as he tours the sites of Egypt, where today lies his boast “I will seek a world in which no nation has nuclear weapons?”

An interim agreement with Iran was reached in November 2013. It partially removed some of the sanctions imposed by the United Nations and encouraged Iran to continue with the negotiations. Negotiations continued for twenty months. In 2015, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, took the lead in the negotiations. For 18 days in Vienna, he worked with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javid Zarif, to finalize the deal. The final deal between Iran and the P5+1 delegates, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was officially reached on July 14, 2015. It was subsequently adopted on October 18, 2015.

**Pathway to Armageddon.** In March, 2026, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran possesses enriched uranium in quantities that could theoretically produce more than ten nuclear warheads.

The JCPOA deal achieved the exact opposite of what was originally intended. The sunset clause in the deal simply kicked the can down the road for when Iran could legally acquire nuclear weapons once the deal ends in October 2030. No restrictions or inspections were placed on Iran’s missile program. Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% without any limit as to the amount it could produce at this level. It was also agreed that if Iran enriched uranium above the agreed level, it needed to either destroy the uranium enriched beyond 3.67% level, or send it to another country for safekeeping. In effect the deal allows Iran to acquire the knowledge of how to enrich uranium to weapons grade level, and to then send it to another country for safekeeping. Russia would be the most likely country to receive the enriched uranium. The absurdity of Russia protecting the West by safekeeping weapons grade uranium produced by Iran was what was effectively agreed to. In addition, the deal allows Iran to produce unlimited intercontinental missiles that could threaten the world. After October 2030, these missiles could be legally armed with nuclear warheads.

**Lethal Cocktail**. A newly-upgraded Sayyad-3 air defense missiles on display in 2017 following Iran’s parliament voting to increase funding for its ballistic missile program. (Photo: Ho/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Iran agreed that inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could take place at certain sites. Surprise inspections required 48 hours’ notice. The agreement included a clause that if Iran did not abide by the agreement, Iran could be referred back to the Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Iran. This so-called “snapback sanctions” clause could be exercised at any time during the first 10 years of the agreement. China and Russia would not be permitted to vote if Iran was referred back to the Security Council to reimpose sanctions for non-compliance.

Under the deal, sanctions on Iran were immediately lifted. Iran was given permission to export oil and gas and companies were given permission to invest in the Iranian oil and gas industry. Iran was allowed to rejoin the Swift Banking system. If this was not catastrophic enough, the deal immediately released frozen Iranian money plus interest on the money. Reports vary as to the actual amount released, but all agree that the sum was in the tens of billions of dollars. One report estimated that the final amount released was approximately $100 billion. Obama ordered part of the money to be transferred in cash. The obvious intention of providing cash was to prevent American banking oversight of what the money would be used for. Iran immediately received all the benefits, while America received commitments by Iran to comply with the agreement in the future. It turned out that Iran had no intention to keep to its commitments.

In plain language, Iran lied.

Obama realized that the deal would never be approved by the Senate if it was presented as a treaty. What actually happened was that the negotiators signed the cover page of the agreement in Vienna, and then the parties to the deal, announced that they had agreed to it. There was no ceremony where the deal was signed. Obama was determined to bypass all the rules of approval needed in a treaty. What this meant was that any future American President could withdraw from the agreement. The Iranians were laughing all the way to the bank.

With the windfall of money that Iran received, it immediately increased funding to its proxy terrorist organizations around the world, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran continued to claim that its nuclear program was only for peaceful purposes. This was clearly a blatant lie. There is no peaceful use for uranium that is enriched to weapons grade levels. Its only use is to manufacture nuclear weapons. Iran also denied access to certain sites by the IAEA inspectors. Questions raised by the inspectors were either ignored or non-plausible answers were provided. The inspections would eventually become an absolute farce. In the final analysis, Obama did nothing to rid the world of nuclear weapons. What he did was to sanctify that the world’s leading terrorist state would legally be allowed to have a nuclear arsenal of unlimited magnitude once the sunset date was reached.

***Unable to Inspect***. Obstructed by Iran from inspecting the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center (above), the IAEA disclosed that it was unable to perform its “watchdog” role and therefore could not verify the suspension of enrichment-related activities or the size of Iran’s uranium stockpile. (Photo: via Reuters)

On May 8, 2018, President Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from the JCPOA agreement. He called the agreement “a horrible one -sided deal that should have never, ever been made. ” He added that the deal would never bring peace.

The present war in Iran can be traced back to President’s Obama’s naïve assumption that once Iran was treated with respect, it would become part of liberal based international order, and would live in peace with the world. Without any doubt, the JCPOA deal helped Iran out of a crisis, and empowered the Shiite mullahs of Iran to spread terrorism around the world. The deal provided Iran with frozen money as well as billions of dollars of future profits derived from the sale of Iranian oil on the world market. The money made it possible for Iran to finance its missile program, its nuclear program and to greatly increase funding to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The money transformed Iran into a threat to world peace.

Obama either misunderstood the Islamic goal of subjugating the world, or he had some ulterior motive to conclude a deal with Iran. Whatever the case, Obama set in motion the events that led to the present war with Iran. Obama undoubtedly made the world into a much more dangerous place. The long arm of President Obama’s legacy is the present war with Iran.

About the writer:

Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award. In 1978 he immigrated to the USA to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel. He is married with two children and one granddaughter.

THE 17,000 DAY WAR

Iran’s war with the US and Israel started not in 2026 but in 1979 – and has never stopped.

By Jonathan Feldstein

If you were to think that the current war against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been going on for just the past three weeks, you would be mistaken. The war started in November 1979 when “students” attacked and hijacked the United States embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages for 444 days. This act of war has been reiterated daily for nearly 17,000 days, with Islamic Republic’s war cries against the United States, what they call “the Great Satan” every day since with their chanting of “Death to America”.

**All Fired Up**. The hate and hunger for war against the US has never let up since 1979 as seen here in June 1980 of a group of Iranians setting fire to an American flag on the roof of the occupied United States embassy in Tehran. (Photo: Getty)

One might think they don’t really mean it, that maybe it just rhymes in Farsi like cheerleaders at a high school football game, encouraging their team. One would be wrong.

Their launch last week of a missile that can reach 4000 kilometers is an indication of bigger aims than “just” to eradicate Israel (“the Little Satan”),or infiltrate radical Islam across the world. One would also be mistaken to think of the Iranian threat through the prism or how they want to see the world, rather than how the world – and the Islamic threat – really is.

**From Iran with Hate**. Israel under endless bombardment as seen here in the southern city of Arad where fire breaks out in one of the destroyed buildings following a ballistic missile attack that injured well over 100 people and caused extensive damage. (Photo: MDA)

As I have been stranded in the United States for three weeks, unable to get home to Israel, I have used my time conducting dozens of media interviews and briefings to share a personal perspective and the truth of what’s actually happening and why this war is not only just, but necessary.

One briefing and broad-based conversation was in response to a wide array of countless questions from people all over the world, looking for accurate information.

For the past three weeks Israel and many Gulf Arab states have been under intense, nonstop bombardment from the Islamic Republic and its proxies. Missiles, rockets, drones, cluster bombs — dozens at a time — send millions of Israelis to bomb shelters night after night. Yes, there is fear, and stress. There have been casualties, many injuries, and widespread destruction. Yet even in the midst of this, Israelis remain remarkably resilient. Even hopeful. Marking this, the same week as my conversation, Israel was ranked among the top ten happiest countries in the world—eighth in 2025 — despite years of conflict and war. Happiness is a consequence of the shared purpose among Israelis, unity albeit among times of friction, and an unshakable belief that we are fighting a just and necessary war. Yes, there’s suffering but an awareness that God has our back.

**Feisty and Philosophical**. Despite war, Israel ranks 8th in global happiness survey, the same as last year. A local photographer captures daily life in Tel Aviv during the Israel-US war with Iran on 18 March, 2026. (Photo: Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

I wish all Americans had the same sense of unity and purpose. A sense of community amid widespread differences.

This war is not merely Israel’s fight; it is a war of good versus evil, and it is very much in America’s interest. For nearly half a century, every day that the Islamic Republic has indoctrinated people to chant “Death to America” as they plot toward a nuclear weapon (with enough enriched uranium as of three weeks ago to make 11 nuclear bombs) is a day Americans are threatened. Iran’s proxies — Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas and others — threaten global shipping, target civilians, and seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian values that undermine Western civilization. The current escalation is the bitter fruit of decades of appeasement, including billions funneled to Tehran under previous administrations. Today, fuel prices spike worldwide not only because of the conflict but because the free world allowed, enabled, and even funded this terrorist “superpower” to grow unchecked.

**Combatting Evil**. Apart from the global threat, Iran under the ayatollah rule is “pure evil” as exposed by the popularity of public executions as seen here in this public hanging in 2017.

What we are witnessing, however, is extraordinary. Israel and America, with remarkable intelligence cooperation, military might, and coordination, has systematically dismantled much of Iran’s missile infrastructure and taken out high-ranking IRGC and Basij leaders. Precision strikes have crippled the machinery of oppression that has brutalized 90 million Iranians for decades. I see God’s hand in this — poking the eye of a regime built on vengeance and false gods. I am no prophet, but the destruction of terror infrastructure feels providential, a modern echo of the plagues that humbled Egypt, the superpower of its day, and liberated the Jewish people 3500 years ago. In the prophecy of Jeremiah 49:34–39, it speaks of God breaking the bow of Elam (ancient Iran) and scattering its people yet ultimately establishing His throne there. We may be living the early chapters of that prophecy!

**Loud and Clear**. Sending a strong message of intent, the IRGC displays in February 8, 2023 at an exhibition in the central city of Isfahan an Iranian missile with the words ‘Death to Israel’ written in Hebrew. ( Photo: Twitter/X)

As we begin Nisan — the first month in the biblical calendar and the season of Passover — we remember redemption from slavery under an evil superpower that worshiped idols. Egypt’s gods were powerless; Pharaoh’s army drowned. Today, the Islamic Republic’s proxies rain death on civilians, yet Israel endures. Our children sleep in bomb shelters, schools remain closed, reservists are repeatedly called up, and families live under constant stress. Parents juggle work-from-home, childcare, and fear with trying to keep things “normal.” We normalize the abnormal because we have no alternative.

This is a war that must be won decisively — no more kicking the can down the road. Regime change in Iran is essential, for Israel’s security, for the United States as we celebrate 250 years of independence, and for Western civilization, as well as for the liberation of millions of Iranians who deserve freedom. I pray for Reza Pahlavi’s return, for a restoration a free, democratic, productive Iran, and for the birth of “Cyrus Accords” that echo the spirit of the ancient Persian king who enabled the Jewish return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.

**Winds of Change**. Following an estimated 40,000 Iranian protesters murdered during the Iranian protests for a better life in their country, the movement for “change of regime” gains momentum as seen at this protest march to the American Embassy, London UK. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Many ask what they can do. First, pray — unceasingly. Prayer is God’s currency; it costs nothing and multiplies. Second, advocate for truth in a world drowning in lies. Challenge misinformation on social media, in churches, in conversations. Third, support those on the front lines — soldiers, families, at-risk youth. Finally, come to Israel when you can. Meet the people, walk the land, taste its fruit.

As Passover approaches, we recall that redemption rarely arrives overnight. It took forty years in the desert, countless miracles, and unwavering faith. Some lost faith and rebelled. We are human with all the frailties that embodies. Today Israelis stand together — Jews, Christians, Druze, Bedouin Arabs, all targeted alike —united in purpose. America and Israel share these values as well as the threats, and common purpose. We must remain united. And victorious.

About the writer:

SOUTH AFRICA’S ‘SOUNDS OF SILENCE’

While quick to accuse Israel, South Africa’s is silent when close associate, Iran, commits ‘Crimes Against Humanity’.

By Peter Bailey

The current war against Iran is being waged to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons and increasingly powerful ballistic missiles capable of threatening Europe and America, while also manufacturing drones capable of wreaking havoc on geographically closer targets. The U.S. and Israel are thus attacking nuclear facilities, missile storage centres and missile launchers, as well the numerous factories manufacturing these weapons and accessories. Prior to hostilities breaking out, Iran had threatened to retaliate with attacks on U.S. military bases in the Gulf States of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.

**IDF** Spox. BG **Effie Defrin** at a civilian home impacted by an Iranian cluster bomb.

The outbreak of the war saw the U.S. and Israel target leading figures within the political and military leadership of Iran, eliminating many of them, while also attacking numerous strategic military targets. Intensive missile and drone attacks against Israel and the U.S. military bases in the Gulf States were expected and prepared for, and indeed have been taking place ever since the outbreak of hostilities. Iran has treated the Geneva Conventions for the conduct of war with scant disregard by indiscriminately attacking civilian populations in Israel and the Gulf States. Civilian casualties in Iran have in the meanwhile been minimal in view of the intensity of the attacks on the country.

Two elderly innocent civilians were killed in Ramat Gan in an Iranian cluster missile attack.

Israel and the Gulf States have faced a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting civilian population areas with cluster or fragmentation missiles. These missiles release a large number of small bombs which rain down on a wide area, exploding as they land, with the intent of causing maximum property damage and death. Israel’s military installations certainly qualify as legitimate Iranian targets, but civilian population areas most definitely do not fall into that category. Similarly, U.S. military bases in the Gulf States could be considered legitimate Iranian targets, but civilians and infrastructure in those states should definitely not be deliberately targeted as has been the case. While I don’t have proof, it would appear that many, if not all, the cluster bombs are not merely of the explosive variety designed to cause damage, but are in fact incendiary bombs, as spontaneous fires have been breaking out immediately after impact.

A cluster missile as it releases its load of cluster bombs. (Photo credit: Israel Live News)

All this brings me to South Africa, the bombastic self-appointed global defender of human rights, that saw fit, under questionable circumstances, to bring spurious charges of Genocide and other human rights abuse crimes against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. This world’s self-appointed human rights defender has inexplicably consistently remained silent with regard to breaches of the Geneva Conventions by Iran and its proxies.

Following the 7 October 2023 murderous invasion of Israel by Hamas, South Africa had lost no time in expressing its admiration and support for Hamas’ action in a telephone call to the Hamas leadership by Naledi Pandor, International Affairs Minister at the time. On 22 October 2023, Pandor was in Iran on “official business”, with the subsequent press handout following her meeting with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, advising that Pandor had emphasised South Africa’s stance of non interference, while expressing support for Palestinian aspirations. She had further emphasised the importance of the adherence to International Humanitarian and Human Rights laws.

**Iran Intrigue**. Two weeks after Hamas’ massacre of Jews on October 7, 2023, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, visits Hamas sponsor, Iran for one day visit on October 22, 2023. (Photo: Naser Jafari)

Speculation at the time was that she had received instructions and a large donation to the governing African National Congress (ANC) in return for opening a case against Israel at the ICJ. Two months later, on 29 December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel at the ICJ. Israel Defence Force ground forces invaded Gaza on 28 October 2023, with the timeline of South Africa’s submission suggesting that the papers were being prepared before Israel’s invasion of Gaza. This leaves unanswered questions with regard to its motives and also when South Africa decided to advance the charges, in all probability immediately after Pandor’s visit to Iran, before Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The launching of missiles by Iran, most of which are directed at civilian areas causing loss of life, injuries and property damage constitutes a Crime Against Humanity. Adding insult to injury, while committing Crimes Against Humanity, Iran has been firing missiles carrying a payload of cluster munitions, which means that up 30 or more smaller projectiles, each carrying an explosive charge are released in the upper atmosphere, or alternatively released if the missile is intercepted by anti-missile fire. An AI overview advises that cluster munitions are canisters that open in mid-air, dispersing numerous smaller explosive submunitions or “bomblets” over a wide area. This design is intended to destroy dispersed targets such as armored vehicles or airfield runways. The use of these munitions against civilian targets by Iran is considered a Crime Against Humanity, a blatant and flagrant breach of the Geneva Conventions.

**Cluster causing Chaos**. One warhead contains hundreds of bomblets. Intended to harm people, whether soldiers or civilians, cluster munitions often contain metal pellets in addition to explosive material.(Photo: U.S. Army, Public domain)

The opening paragraph of the Convention on Cluster Munitions reads as follows:

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) prohibits under any circumstances the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, as well as the assistance or encouragement of anyone to engage in prohibited activities. The text of the Convention is available for download in the six official UN languages.

Despite the fact that Iran is a signatory to the relevant Geneva Conventions in respect of Crimes Against Humanity, this item in Israel’s YNet Breaking News dated 18/03/2026 02:45, highlights Iran’s open admission of launching cluster munitions directed at civilian populations, in defiance of the Conventions.

Iran: ‘We fired at Tel Aviv in revenge for Larijani’s assassination’

Iran claimed that the heavy fire at the center (of Israel) was carried out in revenge for the assassination of Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. This was reported on Iranian state television, which noted that ‘cluster bombs were fired at Tel Aviv.’

One result of this particular incident was the death of a disabled couple, both in their seventies, who never made it to a safe area in time, and were killed by a direct strike on a residential building by a cluster bomb. The news item below refers to the attack.

**Terror in Tel Aviv**. Interception of a cluster missile over Tel Aviv in central Israel. (Photo: AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israel Live News

“Ramat Gan cluster hit:

Footage from the apartment of the couple killed overnight in Ramat Gan shows the damage from a direct hit by a cluster bomb.

A cluster bomb breaks apart in the air and scatters smaller explosives over a wide area, making it one of the most dangerous weapons for civilians”.

**On Track**. Targeting Israeli civilians such as this Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv’s Savidor Central railway station which caused extensive damage and fortunately no loss of life. (Photo: Lihi Gordon)

South Africa’s inaction in not opening an ICJ case against Iran for this deadly breach speaks volumes, leaving little doubt as to the hypocrisy and double standards of the South African government and which guide its actions. Adding to the gravity and breach of international law, the cluster munitions are possibly also incendiary, causing fires to break out where they strike. The AI Overview on incendiary weapons reads as follows:

The use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL). These weapons, designed to cause burn injuries or set fire to objects through chemical reactions (such as napalm, white phosphorus, and thermite), are considered excessively injurious and often indiscriminate, particularly when used in populated areas.

The magnitude of the breaches of numerous laws governing human rights, as well as the breaches of the Geneva Conventions on prohibited munitions, should gravely concern any country that claims to be the leading global defender of human rights. On the contrary, rather than filing legal papers charging Iran with gross violations of the Geneva Conventions and equally grave breaches of United Nations Human Rights Laws, South Africa expresses support for Iran, as shown by the following excerpt from a statement by South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO):

“South Africa has previously condemned the unlawful attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States, which violate Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibiting the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. These principles are fundamental to the international rules‑based order and must be upheld by all Member States.” Click on the link below to read the full statement:

https://dirco.gov.za/shttps://dirco.gov.za/south-africa-expresses-deep-concern-over-the-escalating-crisis-in-the-gulf/outh-africa-expresses-deep-concern-over-the-escalating-crisis-in-the-gulf/

Noteworthy about this statement is the absence of any reference to the Hamas invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023, which set off the chain of events that have followed since that date.

Readers are reminded that Iran is the country that has for many years provided extensive funding and arming of the terrorists of its so-called axis of resistance, notably:

– Hamas in Gaza

– Hezbollah in Lebanon

-the Houthis in Yemen

– as well as numerous terror groups in Syria and Iraq.

Iran itself has been making threats of annihilation against Israel and the U.S. for the 47 years of the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Readers are also reminded that the current war against Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas began with the Hamas invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023. An invasion that was carried out with indescribable cruelty and lack of regard for human life and dignity, that killed over 1,200 innocent Israelis, Jews and Arabs alike, while others were maimed, raped and tortured, with over 230 taken to Gaza as hostages, all in the space of a few hours. Bearing in mind Iran’s background role in funding and arming these terrorists, it is absolutely disgraceful and impertinent of South Africa to accuse the U.S. and Israel of breaching U.N. laws by commencing military action against Iran. Iran sits at the apex of its self-created axis of resistance, better described as an axis of evil terrorism, while South Africa insults the memories of the untold numbers of victims drawn from all walks of life, all nationalities and all religions, murdered, maimed or tortured by Iran and its proxies.

**Friends who South Africa Flock Together**. Only weeks after Israel suffered on 7 October the gravest act of mass murder since the Holocaust at the hands of Hamas, a Hamas delegation is welcomed in South Africa to participate in the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine. The Hamas delegation included the Hamas representative in Iran Dr Khaled Qaddoumi; Hamas representative in East, Central and Southern Africa, Emad Saber and Hamas member Dr Basem Naim who publicly and consistently denied that Hamas kidnapped innocent women and children, killed civilians, and raped women, putting it all down to “fabricated Israeli propaganda.”

About the writer:

The writer, Peter Bailey, a military history buff, was a Major in the South African Army Reserve before making aliyah in 2013. He has conducted intensive research into the Jewish contribution to South Africa’s military history, writing many papers and lecturing on the subject. He is the author of two published books, Street Names in Israel and Men of Valor, Israel’s Latter Day Heroes.

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