Hope of a moderate Palestinian state living side by side crashed with the smashed down fence on October 7.

By David E. Kaplan

I stood with my oldest childhood friend visiting from the US at the lookout of the hilltop ruined fortress of Yodfat in Israel’s Lower Galilee. Looking down, Michael and I imagined how terrifying it must have been in 67 A.D. for the defiant Jews being besieged by 60,000 Roman soldiers, their silver plated-armor glistering in the baking sun, the mass of red tunics massing nearer with each passing day alongside their menacing siege machines. Facing the formidable father and son generals of Vespasian and Titus – both future Roman emperors – the Jewish defenders knew they were ultimately facing death or slavery. It took 47 heroic days of fierce fighting for that deadly dawn to arrive.

Another ”deadly dawn” two thousand years later, Israelis have no less illusions of their present enemy or their intentions. October 7 hit Israelis like the proverbial Roman battering ram. When Hamas’ ‘legions’ of supporters abroad brandish banners such as ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, today’s beleaguered Israelis understand it is not fine ideals of freedom these campus cohorts are pursuing but a final end of the Jewish state. Other banners at these global protests only reinforce their true nefarious intent:

• “Red, black, green, and white, we support Hamas’s fight!”
• “Hitler, Hitler, go back home! Palestine is ours alone!”
• “Globalize the intifada!”
• “One, two, three, four, Israel will be no more! Five, six, seven, eight, Israel we’ll eliminate!”
• “Say it loud, say it clear: we do not want Zionists here!”
• “Oh, al-Qassam, you make us proud!  Kill another soldier now!”
• “Resistance by any means necessary!”
• “Palestine is our demand! No peace on stolen land!”
• “We say justice. You say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!”
• “We don’t want no two states. We want all of ’48”

“Israel we’ll eliminate”, “Burn Tel Aviv” and “We want all of ‘48” are precisely the war cries that resonated in the frenzied minds of those Gazans that perpetrated the October 7 massacre. The pretense of a peaceful Palestinian state existing side-by-side with Israel was swept away by the sheer savagery of the massacre and the carrying off of the spoils of war – human hostages, including as young as a 9-month-year-old baby, Kfir Bibas. As I write, Kfir was buried today along his brother Ariel and mother Shiri, who were literally snatched from their beds and brutally taken from their kibbutz, Nir Oz, to Gaza and there murdered – the two red-headed babies strangled. What kind of depravity has taken root in a  people to behave in this monstrous way that deliberately murders babies with no reproach from their community but quite the opposite – approval and celebration? Micah Halperin in his disturbing article ‘Simply put, they hate us”, (The Jerusalem Post, February,25), explains it this way:

“Hamas and the others like them have been indoctrinated to believe that all Israelis and all Jews are sub-human. And as sub-human, Jews should be killed – much like vermin and other irritating animals. We have seen this before – that is how Nazis successfully trained their murderers to participate in the mass murder process.”

At the end of a long day – of the Bibas funerals, where Israel came to a halt as people poured out onto the streets, holding Israeli flags and crying – the bodies of four more hostages were released. Three of them – Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat and Ohad Yahalomi had all been murdered in cold blood, while in captivity. The oldest hostage, Shlomo Mantzur 85, a survivor of the Farhud in Iraq in 1941, was slaughtered on October 7, his body taken captive.

With this embedded mindset and its consequent horror, where is the evidence of Gazans aspiring to a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside a Jewish state? One only has to think back to the proposed plan in 2008 of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who offered PA President Mahmoud Abbas, concessions that would appear today as nothing less than astonishing! Under Olmert’s plan, the Palestinians would have received:

• a state on more than 94% of the territory acquired during the Six Day War
• with an additional 5% of Israeli territory tacked onto their state along the edges of Judea, Sameria (West Bank), and Gaza
• Jerusalem would have been divided, with a Palestinian capital in the eastern section
• the Old City – including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall – would have been come under international administration made up of trustees from Israel, Palestine, the US, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
• a highway link or tunnel would have connected Gaza with the West Bank

One would reasonably expect that those desirous of an independent state would have jumped at acceptance or at least come up with an alternative but Abbas never responded to the offer. Instead, Israelis received Hamas’ uncompromising brutal offer of October 7 – the completion of the job of Vespasian and Titus.

Following our visit to Yodfat, it was hard not to escape the comparison of the depraved celebratory Hamas behavior at the humiliating handover ceremonies of the hostages – those dead and alive –  with perhaps the most iconic image in Roman art  – that of the spoils of the Jerusalem panel on the arch of Titus at Rome, memorializing a key moment in Vespasian and Titus’ triumphal parade of 71. Like Hamas in Gaza,  the triumph over the Jews was celebrated in Rome like a gala affair presided over by Vespasian and Titus.  As described, it featured piles of booty, including gold relics taken from the destroyed Jewish Temple, paraded through the streets. Floats depicting key engagements of the war enthralled the cheering crowd. Thousands of hapless prisoners, reduced to slaves, were displayed.

Sound familiar?

So yes, no more illusions of glib political proposals for Israelis and Palestinians suggested by European leaders who are themselves in panic mode in scrambling to get their own crumbling house in order. By redefinition, Israelis are at present facing implacable enemies not prospective peace partners.

When those barbarian hords came crushing through the security barriers on October 7, 2023, they crushed too any viability of the Two State Solution for any foreseeable future.

As we bury our hostages,  we buried too not only a part of ourselves, but little hope for true peace in our time.

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).

What is it about the culture of Gaza that makes its very existence a threat to its neighbors?

By Forest Rain Marcia

Many around the world began to grasp the depth of Gazan depravity when it was revealed that baby Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, and his four-year-old brother Ariel were strangled to death and then mutilated by Gazans (not Hamas) while being held hostage in Gaza sometime in November 2023. The Bibas children were taken alive, along with their mother Shiri, during the “Al Aqsa Flood” invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.

Other children – and even babies – were slaughtered in the attack. Other mothers were taken hostage and forced to watch their children suffer. Other fathers lived through the devastation of being unable to protect their families – but the Bibas family’s horror was caught on camera. We saw it happen—live, in living color.

The depravity Gazans unleashed on Israel was not new. We have witnessed it before: the cold-blooded murder of babies, the rape of women, the beheading of men, people torn apart with bare hands. What set this apart was the magnitude – and the location: Israeli kibbutzim within the pre-1967 borders.

This horror should not have been a surprise. But for many, the kidnapping, murder, and mutilation of the Bibas children was an ice-cold bucket of water, shocking them awake to the evil on Israel’s borders.

And that awareness is a good thing. To address reality, we must first recognize it. For decades, we all pretended that Arabs didn’t really mean what they said when they declared their intent to wipe Israel off the map – but Hamas, Fatah, Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority have always been clear. Their charters, their education systems, their religious institutions – every aspect of their society is not built to uplift themselves but to destroy the Jewish state. Their goal is to turn Israel into “Palestine.”

Now, many of those recently awakened to the depth of this depravity have realized that this threat to Jewish life cannot be allowed to continue. The existential threat to Israel is not just a threat to Jews – it is a threat to Christians, to the Western world, to civilization itself.

And that awareness is a good thing. To address reality, we must first recognize it. This understanding has led many to declare that Gaza – Hamas – is Amalek. That Amalek must be destroyed.

With this, I agree.

But some take it further, arguing that Gaza and Hamas are not human – that they are a mutation, a different species, something we could never be.

With this, I vehemently disagree.

That statement makes me angry. Really angry.

I had to think hard to understand why – and then it hit me: because to address reality, we must recognize it. And getting this wrong put our lives in danger. I have had enough hostage-taking and brutal terrorism for a lifetime. We cannot live like this anymore.

WHO WAS AMALEK? 

Amalek originates from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. According to Genesis 36:12, Amalek was the grandson of Esau through his son Eliphaz and a concubine named Timna. This makes him a direct descendant of Isaac and Abraham, just like Jacob (Israel).

The Amalekites first attacked the Israelites in Exodus 17:8-16, striking the weak and weary as they fled Egypt. Because of this cowardly, unprovoked evil, the Torah commands Israel to remember Amalek and wipe out his memory. Amalek represents the embodiment of pure evil – the enemy that targets the defenseless and seeks the destruction of the Jewish people.

Since then, genocidal Jew-hatred has been understood as a recurring manifestation of Amalek. Haman, the Nazis, Hamas – all are embodiments of this spirit of Amalek.

At the same time, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor: Abraham. The Jewish people descend from Jacob (Israel), while Arabs trace their lineage to Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. Meanwhile, Amalek comes from Esau, Jacob’s brother. Whether tracing from Esau or Ishmael, both Jews and Arabs ultimately come from the same grandfather.

EVIL IS A CHOICE

The Torah teaches that all people are created in the image of God. It explains our shared ancestry, but it also makes something else very clear: some people choose evil.

Gaza’s culture has created an evil society – one that glorifies death, thrives on violence, and is ruled by fear. This cannot be fixed. Like Amalek, it must be wiped out.

But that is not to say that Gazans are inherently different from birth. They are not a genetic mutation.

If any of us were raised in their society – exposed to their education, media, and religious indoctrination – we would be just like them.

It is comforting to believe otherwise. Comforting to think that we are superior by nature, that we could never fall to such depravity. Comforting to believe that we could never strangle a baby.

Who wants to wrap their mind around that horrible, revolting image? That false comfort blinds us to the true source of danger.

The difference between us and them is not in individual human potential. The difference is in society, values, and culture.

We are not superior as individuals – but we ARE superior.

We are superior because our culture is superior.

They do not believe they are doing evil. They believe they are doing good. That is a hard thought to swallow, isn’t it?

We have a different understanding of good and evil because, even those of us who are not religious live by the laws and values of the Torah.

We choose life – they choose death.

We build – they destroy.

That is what makes us different. That is why we cannot become like them. That is why we couldn’t strangle a baby.

But if we lived in the society of Amalek – we could.

And only if we understand this can we make the changes necessary for survival.

Because the society of Amalek cannot be allowed to live. If it does, we won’t.

Jews are supposed to be a light to the nations. That means providing an example of good and evil. We choose good. We always have.

Now, it is time to point out the evil and stamp it out.

About the writer:

Forest Rain Marcia is an American-born Israeli who lives in northern Israel. She’s a branding expert and storyteller. Her passion is giving voice to the stories of Israel illuminating its profound events, cherished values, and exemplary role models that transcend borders, casting Israel as an eternal wellspring of inspiration and strength for a global audience.

Forest Rain made Aliyah at the age of thirteen. After her IDF service, she co-developed and co-directed a project to aid victims of terrorism and war. These activities gave her extensive first-hand experience with the emotional and psychological processes of civilians, soldiers, and their families, wounded and/or bereaved and traumatized by terrorism and war (grief, guilt, PTSD, etc). Throughout the years, she has continued to voice the stories, pain, and strength of traumatized Israelis to motivate others to provide support and counter the hate that threatens Jews in Israel, around the world, and Western civilization itself through the understanding that what begins with the Jews never ends with Jews.

Inspiration from Zion: https://inspirationfromzion.com/

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

Over Five Hundred Days since that Black Sabbath has passed – What do we feel?

By  Rolene Marks

Five hundred days. Five hundred days have passed since 7 October and despite the passage of time, the changing of days into weeks and into months and then years, we are still stuck on that Black Saturday, the day when time stood still. Time continues to stand still for us – at least emotionally. We cannot take that first step to healing until all of our hostages are home. The living and the dead, all of them.

Five Hundred Days in the hell of Gaza – The stories from the hostages who have returned home are horrific. Accounts of starvation, torture, psychological torment and conditions too awful for words. Every second is critical for survival and we still have hostages in those terror tunnels. We need the living to come home so we can help them start to recover – and the dead laid to eternal rest with dignity. The last 500 days have also seen tremendous activism from Israelis who have fought every day to keep the hostages front and centre in the global conscience.  Jewish communities and allies around the world have joined these efforts, fighting alongside us, making sure that their cities covered in yellow ribbons and posters. Thank you! We know their names, we know their stories and we will make sure the world does as well until the last one returns home.

Five Hundred Days of war. When Hamas invaded and committed the atrocities they did on 7 October, they knew it would provoke a war. In his declaration that Israel was at war, Prime Minister Netanyahu said clearly – “We are at war, not an operation but war”. I have lived in Israel for almost fifteen years and in this time experienced numerous military operations, waves of terror and escalations. This is very different. War is brutal. War is loss – the loss of our young warriors, our civilians, homes destroyed, non-stop barrages from multiple fronts and a massive impact on our economy and our psyche. It is huddling in our shelters as Iran rained down missiles. It is decisions made based on proximity to shelter. War is funerals and shivot (mourning for the dead) and honour guards. War is falling to your knees in grief as the siren cries on Yom Hazikaron. War is hundreds of thousands of internal refugees forced to flee their homes from the north and the south. War is our children using words like “hostage” or “mamad”(shelter) in their everyday lexicon. War is pain. Some have asked me if I should not be used to the rockets by now. Does one EVER get used to genocidal maniacs firing on our homes with intent to kill?

Five Hundred Days of mobilization and support. On 8 October, every Israeli woke up with a mission. Despite our grief, we mobilized and got to work packing boxes, picking produce, fighting in the media, helping to collect whatever needed for displaced citizens, comforting the bereaved, donating blood, digging graves, visiting the infirm, comforting the grieving, raising money and serving wherever needed. On 7 October, we saw the worst of humanity. The very next day, Israelis showed up for each other and we have not stopped. We have shown the best of humanity. Our efforts may have changed iteration, but we are there, cleaning the kibbutzim, advocating for hostages, feeding our soldiers, comforting the bereaved and getting through each day with our fierce reverence for life. Israelis have demonstrated how it is possible to navigate grief with resilience. We said we would dance again and we intend to make good on that promise.

Five Hundred days of supporting our warriors. Prior to October 7, many wondered if Israel’s young people were also part of the TikTok addicted, safe space searching generation. On 7 October, Israel’s young people were weighed in the balance and they have risen to every challenge magnificently. Without hesitating, many ran into the fire on that painful day and others did not hesitate to get on flights from wherever they were and return to defend their country. On air, land, sea, in the tunnels and on the airwaves, they defend us magnificently but the price has been painful. Over 800 of our sons and daughters have paid the ultimate price and thousands more have been injured, many losing limbs. The internal scars will take much longer to heal. These lions of Zion, these modern-day Maccabees – we owe them a debt we can never repay.

Five hundred days of solidarity. You have stood with us, unwavering and resolute, proudly and loudly. There have been times when you have carried us on your shoulders. We have been watching as antisemitism spreads like wildfire around the world and it has brought us closer. Like all families, we have our differences of opinions but these past 500 days have taught us the meaning of Am Yisrael Chai! To our many allies who stand with us, we know how much this exposes you to the same hatred and intolerance and from the bottom of our hearts, Thank You.

Five hundred days of awakening.  The events of 7 October did not just waken the slumbering beast of Jew hatred that had been bubbling under the surface; but an extraordinary response from the Jew all around the world. Antisemitism is at levels that we have not seen since the Second World War and is rampant on college campuses, on the streets of major cities, on social media and has infiltrated institutions we once thought immune. While there is a minority of vocal anti-Zionist Jews, the vast majority around the world have responded by being more Jewish, more Zionist and more proud of our identity. We have answered the ancient hatred with incredible Jewish pride!

Five Hundred Days – for me. It is the privilege of my life that no matter how painful, my profession affords me the honour of bearing witness, of recording history of telling the stories of our victims and remarkable heroes. It has also been five hundred days of pain, trauma and things I never thought I would see in my lifetime. I have seen the evidence that evil exists and smelt the stench of death. I have cried more tears than I thought the human body could produce – and I know you have too.

This war has been the longest in Israel’s modern history. Some refer to it as the second war of independence as we fight for our survival. We have passed a difficult milestone. Five hundred days.

*Feature picture: Families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip march to the Knesset in Jerusalem, marking 500 days since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, February 17, 2025. (Reuters)

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).

It’s a fair question that the world will not answer the Jewish state.

By David E. Kaplan

An interview drama played out earlier this month on a British TV network, exposes the nature and scope of today’s global antisemitism. The varnished veneer removed, a heated clash over the October 7, 2023 massacre proves most instructive and a warning to Jews.

“How should Israel have responded to that massacre? What would have been acceptable to you to get their people [the hostages] back and to protect their country?” asked interviewer Julia Hartley-Brewer of Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist, author and politician  on UK TalkTV, a combative news platform delivering fearless debates and unfiltered opinions.

Trying to deflect the question, the Hamas apologist Yvonne replied:

“The first thing I would do, is [ask] how the hell did this happen when you have the fourth largest army in the …”

Julia would have none of this avoidance and diversion and interrupted Yvonne’s waffle answer with:

“Yeah, Yeah, there will be an [Israeli] inquiry; but answer the question –  What should Israel have done considering you think everything Israel has done is a war crime? Answer the question; what would have been acceptable to you?”

Visibly uneasy under Julia’s unrelenting drilling and groping for words, Yvonne replied with a pathetic:

“What would have been acceptable is to sit back first, ignore the need for knee-jerk reactions and not be impulsive…”

Oh really! Tell that to the 6 million Jews of the previous century who trusted this approach before.

It was getting incredulous and Julia’s facial expressions was a picture of understandable disbelief as she persisted:

“They [IDF] waited 2 WEEKS before they went in, surely that is not impulsive…” nor “Knee-jerk” and then reminding Yvonne that Hamas’ constitution calls “for the destruction of the state of Israel,” she again – now for the third time – asked:

“What could they [Israel] have done that would have been acceptable to you?”

Cornered, Yvonne was still resisting to answer the question and resorted to the time and tested ‘blame the Jews’ response:

“What would have been acceptable to me as a civilized human being that doesn’t believe in striking back, I would sit back and ask, “why did this happen?””

Can you believe this?

Apart from defaming Israelis by insinuating that unlike her, they are not “civilized human beings”, she asserts they, Israelis, should have – following the October 7 massacre – “sat back” and rather than defend themselves from happening again or rescuing the 251 hostages, should instead ask:

 “Why did it happen?”

Are ONLY Jews expected to respond to horrendous violence with introspection?

What was really playing out here was a two-thousand-year-old repeated script of always blaming Jews for being victimized. If Jews are massacred, there is a reason.  They must not “strike back” or defend themselves but ask always why it was happening. Yvonne was only taking her cue from the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, when he publicly characterized to the world the October 7 massacre as ‘something’ that:

“…did not happen in a vacuum.”

If the UN leader can so justify terrorism against Jews, “why can’t I,” Yvonne probably thought.

Backwards and forwards with no direct reply to the most important question of the 21^st century as it pertains to urban warfare, an exasperated Julia reproached Yvonne with a rephrase by specifically relating it to the UK:

“You’re not answering…last chance. What would you do if such attacks, murders and rapes had happened to us in the UK; what would be the acceptable reaction?”

Yvonne’s  agonizing hesitation was met with a bold persistence:

“Why won’t you answer the question?”

After further deflections from Yvonne of “Israeli propaganda,” an exasperated Julia in one final, all-out push, asked:

“What action would Israel be allowed to take in your civilized world view in response to October 7? Answer the question please.”

Yvonne did. Israel should, she said:

“.. go down the legal channel.”

It was an answer defying belief but it was an answer that probably most the world agrees with that the Jewish state, facing an existential threat to its very existence, has no right, like all other states in the UN to physically defend itself. It would appear that Article 51 in Chapter VII of the UN Charter that states that “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations…” does NOT apply to Israel.

It would be easy to dismiss Yvonne Ridley as only one misguided or misinformed journalist that does not represent a global constituency but that would not be true. With antisemitism around the world today characterized as a “pandemic” and  “tsunami” – that no Jew is safe today anywhere in the world following the October 7 massacre – Yvonne Ridley’s perspective on Jews and Israel are far from confined but frighteningly mainstream.

As I am writing, it is now 10.00a.m. on Thursday February 20, 2025 and I am also watching the painful coverage on TV of the return of the remains of four hostages including the Bibas family – the mother Shiri, and her two ginger-haired children, Ariel and Kfir – who had come to symbolize the hostage plight of the Jewish people. Why am I not surprised that Hamas, even during its cruel handover ‘ceremony’ of the remains in Gaza, which was prohibited under the cease-fire and hostage-release agreement is trying to spin it that “WE, Israel, caused” their deaths. The message is clear, Jews are always responsible for their own misfortune. Instead of being an outrageous exception, Yvonne Ridley is the norm. Why else would Jews across the world feel increasingly the need to ‘disguise’ their identity by removing skullcaps or replacing them with baseball caps or removing mezuzahs from the front doors of their homes? The mezuzah, a mark of Jewishness that instead of protecting the occupants of a home has become an invitation to antisemitic attacks such as the one that took place in 2024 in Paris at the home of an elderly Jewish couple whose door, with its mezuzah, was set on fire.

Why are Jews around the world warned not to speak Hebrew in public or display any significant signs that might expose their identity. The world, since October 7, has become hostile territory for Jews.

Any of this familiar?

‘

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).

Directing blame at Israel instead of the murdering thugs that govern Gaza, the accuser unintentionally exposes the true nature of global moral decline – antisemitism!

By Lawrence Nowosenetz

“A world without rules is one in which the strong prey upon the weak,” is the core theme of an article by Natale Labia in South Africa’s online news publication, (Daily Maverick 28 Jan 2025).

The writer confidently asserts that Israel is responsible for the collapse of the ‘international world order’ in the “killing fields” of Gaza. What a brazen perversion of fact and morality.

The so-called ‘international world order’ was designed to prevent the injustice of tyranny. A noble idea which assumed wrongly as it has turned out, that evils are perpetrated by the strong against the weak. Conventional wisdom foolishly accepts the notion that the weak and oppressed are noble and good.  In this grotesque distortion of reality, powerful Israel is collapsing the world order in Gaza against the weak and oppressed Gazans.  

Let us rewind. The idea of a rule-based world order emerged from the ravages of World War II.  The founding members of the United Nations, mainly the victors of that war, wished to establish an era of international peace and co-operation based on liberal humanitarian values, human rights rule of law and conflict resolution.  The UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Rights were foundational documents.  International conventions and treaties were enacted to create a framework of humanitarian law. International tribunals were established such as the International Court of Justice (an organ of the UN) and the International Criminal Court under the Rome Statute dealing with international war crimes.   

This edifice for peace, international co-operation and conflict resolution was premised on a world in which nation states would be internationally accountable for both domestic and international humanitarian violations against weak and vulnerable minorities.  From the start, authoritarian states and totalitarian dictatorships undermined this world order with impunity.  With the fall of the eastern Communist Bloc, it was hoped that a better and free era would dawn but history proved this optimism wrong. Gross human rights violations and genuine genocides, particularly in Africa have characterised the past decades.

A devastating setback to the world order was the emergence of non-state militias and the emergence of radical terrorism. Some are motivated by purely criminal ambitions, such as drug cartels and some have national liberation aspirations or political agendas. All these perpetrators whether they are called terrorists or not, have one thing in common. They are not signatories to any humanitarian international conventions such as the Convention on Genocide and have no respect for human rights or the laws of armed conflict. They ignore the Geneva Conventions which outlaw hostage taking, ill, treatment of prisoners, and promotes protection of civilians in war. Unlike warfare by conventional armies of sovereign countries, armed and terrorist groups prey on the vulnerability of unarmed  civilians,  operating covertly to randomly attack civilian targets using surprise, violence and extreme cruelty. In the 1970’s, the era of hijacking airlines began, followed by the murder of Israeli Olympic athletes in the Munich Olympics perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists. To this day, bombings of civilian buildings, abductions, random aggression and murder of innocent men women and children are perpetrated against or within the very countries that founded the world order.  International treaties and domestic measures have attempted to outlaw and prevent terrorism, but this threat persists.  

The most egregious failure of the world order has been the impunity of armed groups and terrorists under international law.  Combating these groups militarily has brought moral and operational risks of asymmetrical and unconventional urban warfare to the forefront. Ignoring the rules of armed conflict invites unrestrained barbarity. Recourse against these perpetrators is extremely difficult or impossible in international tribunals or domestic civil law.  

Spectacular and inhuman acts of terrorism such as the attack on 9/11 of the Twin Towers, New York, are stark reminders of an inversion of evil in the world order.  It does not help that public opinion is either muted out of fear or minimised by clinging to the discredited notion of the weakness of the perpetrators and the justice of their cause.    

Returning to the Gaza conflict, outrageous and factually tenuous accusations are made with little regard to objectivity or substantiation. Israel is a liberal democracy with the rule of law, an independent judiciary and fundamental freedoms. Gaza is the exact opposite. A corrupt and violent dictatorship run by Hamas for the past 17 years unhampered by elections.

The Gaza conflict is not the first asymmetrical war fought by a regular state military against an armed group in a dense urban environment. Nor is it the first in which tens of thousands of civilians have suffered, buildings and homes destroyed, civilian displaced and privations of food and medical care were experienced. But Gaza is the first war conducted from urban tunnels carefully constructed by Hamas over many years in preparation for war – tunnels in which the civilian population is barred from shelter from aerial bombardment. This coercive obstruction of protection by Hamas is a violation under humanitarian law.  Palestinians are betrayed by Hamas.       

Mosul was virtually razed by the allied Iraqi and US forces in order to defeat ISIS in an urban environment similar to Gaza. The allied forces were not brought before the ICJ or ICC for genocide or war crimes, nor was it suggested that the warfare by the allies constituted a collapse of the world order in the “killing fields” of Mosul.  The exact death doll is uncertain with estimates ranging from 20,000 upwards. 

Nor is Gaza remotely moving the needle as a “killing field”.  Distinguished historian RW Johnson has recently explained the horrors of the Assad regime in Syria.  A mass grave of Syrians that had disappeared under Assad’s regime, was recently discovered at al-Qutayfa, 48 km north of Damascus. It is estimated that over 100,000 people were buried there and many more mass graves in Syria may still exist.  An observer was quoted saying that they have not seen anything like this since the Nazis:

“It makes you realise what it was like for Allied troops when they captured Buchenwald and Belsen.” 

This is really chilling. Worse still was South Africa’s failure at the UN to condemn Syria and vote for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. South Africa’s quiescence revealed a sickening contradiction of the self-righteous utterances of the ANC and President Ramaphosa about protecting human rights under its foreign policy.

South Africa has also brazenly undermined the world regarding Sudan.  Unquestionably, the Sudan conflict continues to be the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today with over 11 million refugees and displaced people.  While more than 63,000 deaths, mass starvation, rape and major destruction has been well documented, two of the Sudanese war lords have been well received by the ANC government of President Ramaphosa in South Africa. The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa found the conduct of the government in not co-operating with the ICC in failing to arrest President Al Bashir to be unlawful. The rank hypocrisy of the newly formed Hague Group announced by Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation to promote the enforcement of the ICC is chilling.  Lip service to the world order at best. At worst, a perversion of international law and justice.

KILLING TRUTH NOT FIELDS

Consistency, objectivity and factual accuracy have been run roughshod by the characterisation of Gaza as “killing fields”.   Attributing genocide to Israel in the Gaza conflict should not be undertaken lightly. Labia in the Daily Maverick, unquestioningly accepts the arguments presented by the South African legal team at the ICJ in the Hague that all the conditions for genocide are present in the intentions and actions of Israel. This is risible and far from well-founded or factually based. 

Labia states:   

“Former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s description of Palestinians as “human animals” and President Isaac Herzog’s assertion that an “entire nation” bears responsibility for Hamas’s actions are chilling.”  

The statement of defence minister Gallant on 9 October 2023 which is paraded confidently as proof of dehumanisation of Palestinians, siege  and genocidal intent in Gaza is incomplete and misleading.  The Minister was talking about Hamas and not Palestinians in general. His precise wording:   

“You saw what we are fighting against. We are fighting human animals. This is the Isis of Gaza.”

Describing Hamas as human animals is no more dehumanising than describing Nazis as monsters or beasts. People who violate all human norms and standards such as Hamas in barbaric and cruel acts of mutilation, burning, rape and murder forfeit the right to be accorded human dignity by upholders of humane norms and standards i.e. the ‘world order’ – Volenti non fit injuria. (Latin: “to a willing person, injury is not done”). Is Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State who recently described Hamas as a “bunch of savages” as well complicit in genocidal intent?

Then there was the disingenuous and untruthful accusation against Israel’s president, Issac Herzog that he was targeting civilians for collective punishment, when in fact he was rightfully placing the moral responsibility on Palestinians with this carefully chosen wording:

“First of all, we have to understand there is a state… that has built a machine of evil, right at our doorstep. It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved, it is absolutely not true. They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat, murdering their family members who were in Fatah… Israel evacuated Gaza. I was a member of the cabinet… We are working, operating militarily according to rules of international law, period. Unequivocally. But we are at war…”

The Gazans have been called out as the “most radicalised people” on the planet by US Senator Lindsey Graham. There is no mistaking this uncomfortable truth. Most civilians in Gaza are supporters of Hamas and have a deep-rooted ideological hatred of Israel. Gaunt and emaciated hostages who have been released from captivity confirm their ill-treatment. Many of them were guarded by civilians in their homes. Video footage of the hostages upon being paraded in public in Gaza after their release and before being handed over to the Red Cross has shown shouting hostile mobs of civilians surrounding them.  

Labia falsely equates the relentless and ferocious bombing of Gaza and all the destruction it entails, with a genocidal atrocity.  He and other media voices rely on the biased opinions of observers, including Israelis, who have not been significantly involved with investigating at first hand the war in Gaza. Contributing to this fallacious narrative are the human rights organisations and UN officials who have not distinguished themselves either, by producing reports relying on unverified Hamas sources. It is no secret that there never has been an open or free press in Gaza under Hamas, hence little wonder that no dissident or critical opinion of Hamas ever emanates from Gaza.

 An objective and authoritative assessment of the conduct of Israel is contained in the report of the High-Level Military Group submitted to the ICC on 5 August 2024. This was compiled by an international panel of experts, most of them senior military officers from 8 countries, all major democracies. They visited Gaza and assessed the operations of the Israel Defence Force as well as the provision of humanitarian aid. They found no evidence of random attacks in pursuance of a policy of deliberate and intentional killing of civilians. The report also describes an internal fact-finding unit of the IDF which investigates and prosecutes misconduct by soldiers. An unlikely feature of a genocide.

On the contrary, they were impressed by the extensive measures taken by the IDF to avoid civilian casualties particularly having regard to the unlawful armed conduct by Hamas operating militarily among civilians while disguising themselves as civilians by not wearing uniforms. Contra this with recent media images of the hostages being released showing Hamas operatives wearing neat uniforms with distinctive green head bands. 

The IDF has identified and filmed multiple sites where residential buildings and institutions such as schools, hospitals and mosques were used by Hamas as weapons storage facilities, and military operational bases. These are all serious violations of international law and the world order but not lamented by the Labia in his Daily Maverick article.  A fair-minded and rational observer would find this worrisome.    

In presenting the response of Israel to the atrocities by Hamas on 7 October 2023, Labia overlooks that the aggression of Hamas was not limited to one event. Hamas has continuously fired over 10 000 rockets randomly towards civilian population centres in Israel. This conduct is totally unlawful under international humanitarian international law and constitutes continuing war crimes. So too the keeping of hostages for over a year. The war was not a gross overreaction or use of excessive random force by Israel but a sustained and targeted campaign which includes the destruction of the military and rocket launching capability of Hamas in order to defend the inhabitants of a sovereign state.  This is a part of the overall goal of rescuing the hostages and defeating Hamas. These are all lawful military objectives in international law. 

Labia relies for his article on the number of deaths in Gaza from the English medical journal The Lancet which had been provided by a Palestinian doctor in a Gaza hospital – a highly questionable source in these times. Compounding the report’s veracity, Hamas fatality numbers do not differentiate civilians from combatants. A head count of fatalities in any conflict is always difficult to calculate and should invariably be treated with caution. International military experts have indeed commented that the proportion of civilian deaths in Gaza has been remarkably low measured by standards of asymmetrical urban warfare.     

In short, the world order has been in decline for many years but the perverse failure to identify Hamas as the true violator of the world order in this conflict is far more than disturbing – it’s chilling. 

*Feature picture – Faceless Fanatics. As barrages of rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip at dawn on October 7, 20-23, Palestinian terrorists move towards the border fence with Israel from Khan-Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images).

About the writer:

Now retired, Pretoria-born human rights and labour lawyer, Lawrence Nowosenetz practiced at the Pretoria and Johannesburg Bar. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Nowosenetz completed an internship in the USA and served as a part-time Senior Commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as well as a panellist at Tokiso Dispute Settlement – the largest private dispute resolution provider in South Africa. He has also served as an Acting Judge of the Hight Court, South Africa.  

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).

Nowhere is the failure of the International Red Cross Red Cross more vivid than in its abandonment of the most vulnerable  hostages – Shiri Bibas and her two red head kids!

By Jonathan Feldstein

Three more Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for 491 days were released last week. The three men returned home emaciated, gaunt, and with signs of suffering from severe malnourishment including complex cardiac issues and infections. Seeing them paraded by Hamas in a dehumanizing public spectacle before thousands of armed terrorists and jeering “innocent civilians”, it was impossible to avoid the analogy with the Holocaust survivors of 80 years ago.  In addition to deliberate starvation, there are multiple reports of the hostages’ physical and psychological torture, and sexual abuse. The massacre on October 7, 2023, that is correctly noted as the largest slaughter of Jews on any one day since the Holocaust, has now seen men and women returning, surviving unspeakable horrors, and looking the same as the victims from 1945.

Waiting in the wings as a spectator, the International Red Cross (ICRC) has justifiably faced widespread Israeli criticism and public ridicule. For nearly 500 days, the ICRC has stood idly by and were complicit, inter alia, in the following:  

– never once visiting or checking on the status of any one of the 251 hostages kidnapped 16 months earlier on October 7, 2023

– failed to deliver medical supplies to any hostages

– never pursued to find out the condition of the hostages to advise their worried families

– insensitively advised family members of hostages that they should show concern for the Gazans

– enabled and participated in Hamas’ war crimes and crimes against humanity

One could be forgiven for thinking that the ICRC was contending to win “Best Supporting Actor in a Real-Life Horror Movie”.

Nowhere are the Red Cross’ failures and abandonment of the hostages more vivid than regarding the most vulnerable among them including dozens of women and children, and even elderly Holocaust survivors. Nowhere among the most vulnerable is this more evident than the Bibas family whose father, Yarden, was released a week ago after an unbearable 16 months of captivity. Remaining in cruel captivity are Yarden’s wife, Shiri, and their two beautiful red-headed sons, Ariel (4) and Kfir who were aged 4 and 9 months respectively at the time of their capture and have not been heard from since.  The terrorists not only kidnapped the entire Bibas family, but made sure to film the terror in Shiri’s eyes, and Ariel screaming in fear, from multiple angles. Surely, the Red Cross would and should have advocated for the release of the Bibas family long ago, and insisted on visiting the little boys to check on their wellbeing. They have done nothing. Simply, the Red Cross abandoned the red heads.

“Come now, Jonathan. Surely you must be exaggerating,” you might think. No, the facts are incontrovertible. In fact, it gets worse. Just look at the spectacle to which the Red Cross has become party.Upon the release of the hostages, Red Cross representatives have willingly participated in a grotesque public signing of a Hamas ‘certificate of release’. Did nobody in the Red Cross, anywhere in the world, say:

 “No, we will not participate in your continued dehumanization of the hostages.”

In every case of the hostages being released, how is it that the Red Cross has allowed armed Hamas terrorists to surround and climb on top of the vehicles carrying the hostages to freedom, threatening and tormenting their victims even once they are out of Hamas clutches?

Why does the Red Cross transport the hostages in vehicles with clear glass windows, a vile invasion of privacy of people who have endured so much suffering, and providing no security for the released hostages from the bloodthirsty mobs for whom one extra, “Allah Akbar” could trigger a deadly lynch.  

Essentially, the Red Cross has been party to 251 war crimes, from day one, every day. In the first 50 days alone, that’s 12,500 war crimes. For the remaining 76 hostages, that’s nearly 38,000 cumulative days of war crimes to which the Red Cross has been complicit and has done nothing.

As Rolene Marks, an international journalist and media specialist noted:

“The Red Cross is complicit in crimes against humanity, including starvation and torture of hostages. They have failed their mandate, not provided medicine, not demanded welfare checks, or done anything to rase awareness of or advocate for the hostages. They failed the Jewish people during the Holocaust and have failed the Jewish people today.”

Indeed, comparisons to the Holocaust are not just because of the visual signs of starvation of the survivors. Hiding behind a mask of “neutrality” the Red Cross continues to carry the shame of its complacency with the Nazi’s murder of six million Jews. During the Holocaust, as it maintained a relationship with the Third Reich, the ICRC failed to denounce Nazi atrocities, and even provided an immoral cover up for them.

Throughout Nazi Europe, the ICRC only visited a few concentration camps under heavily controlled conditions. The most infamous visit occurred in June 1944 at Theresienstadt, staged by the Nazis to deceive the international community. As a result, the Red Cross issued a misleadingly and deceitful positive report that contributed to inaction, and the slaughter of millions more.

By 1942, detailed reports about the mass extermination of Jews had reached the ICRC. A key moment came in 1944 when two Slovak Jewish escapees from Auschwitz, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, provided a comprehensive report on the camps function as a death factory. Despite this evidence, the ICRC largely remained silent.

After the war, the ICRC was primarily focused on helping prisoners of war, but not Jews and other Holocaust victims who were classified as civilians, claiming they were outside its mandate. Only in 1995, ICRC President, Cornelio Sommaruga issued an apology, admitting the organization’s moral failure in not speaking out more forcefully.

Based on its notorious WWII record and its abysmal failure today vis-à-vis its inaction regarding the hostages in Gaza, it seems the ICRC never truly learned from its mistakes, whether due to a lack of caring or more likely – a deep seeded bias against Jewish victims.

In addition to justified widespread criticism of the ICRC, it has become subject of widespread ridicule. The best of these was a recent parody comparing the Red Cross to a rideshare app.

Today, Yarden Bibas faces the grim reality that his wife and sons may have been murdered. Of course, we don’t know because Hamas has never been forced to provide a list of the hostages and their status, and the Red Cross abandoned its responsibility to ensure that at least this would happen.

Hillel Fuld, a global speaker, tech columnist, and startup marketing advisor commented:

“The Red Cross has stayed loyal to its historic moral bankruptcy. It should come as a surprise to no one that they completely failed to do their job as it pertains to the hostages. Somehow anyone with a moral compass hopes deep down that this time would be different, but it never is. Maybe Trump will do something about it like he’s done to so many deeply immoral organizations worldwide.”

Fuld’s brother, Ari, was stabbed to death in a 2018 terror attack, by a terrorist who was recently released in a hostage exchange.

With growing signs that the remaining live hostages are in a desperately dire physical and mental condition or could at any moment  – at a whim – be executed by Hamas, one would expect that the Red Cross should be advocating for their welfare and demanding answers.

No, that is not the case.

Instead, far more important that their ‘costumes’ are pressed, waiting for the next hostage release spectacle so they can pose for pictures alongside the masked and armed Hamas terrorists.

Rather than insisting on the unconditional release of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, the Red Cross are serving as props to the Hamas real life horror movie.

Some in Israel have called upon the ICRC not only to be held accountable and castigated for their careless, inept collaboration with Hamas, but to be defunded and shut down. This should expand to other national Red Cross societies, including the American Red Cross, which by their own inaction and lack of bold steps on their own, are also complacent in allowing the parent organization not to fulfill its own mandate.

Due to ICRC and other international inaction, the Genesis 123 Foundation has launched a global petition to pressure Hamas to release all the remaining hostages unconditionally.

About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

*Feature picture: A crowd surrounds Red Cross cars as they arrive at the site for the handover of Thai and Israeli hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi).

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).