Is this the future and fate of the Jews of Europe?

By David E. Kaplan

“What remains of Jewish life in Europe today works like this,” writes Giulio Meotti in Il Foglio, an Italian daily with nationwide circulation:

“…synagogues are protected fortresses; schools have no signs but they do have many private police and security guards; houses have removed the outside mezuzah; Jews do not wear a kippah in the street or a necklace with the Star of David; they do not give their Hebrew surname to taxis; they tell their children not to speak Hebrew in public, there are no Israeli flags in their windows.”

In less than a century after the Holocaust, signs of the worst in European history are barbarically repeating itself and that universal pledge of “Never Again” has been exposed as a façade for “Once Again”.

Were Jews delusional or naïve in thinking post-Holocaust that antisemitic attitudes had changed? I recall when attending in 1997, the 33^rd conference of the World Zionist Organization in Jerusalem and one of the leaders of the French Jewish community taking to the podium and in a booming voice, boasted that “France today is the finest and safest country in the world for Jews,” and to emphasize his point, added with a raised finger, “even more so that the US.” Rattling off the names of kosher restaurants in Paris “that would rival New York,” he painted a picture of a new “Golden Age” for French Jews, a far cry from his county’s painful past of Dreyfus and the Shoah. Even if it was an astonishing statement then, far more so today as countries in present day Europe seem to be competing in how far they express their antipathy towards Jews.  

Not only do they want their Jews to disappear from Europe but they also want the Jewish state to disappear from the face of the earth.

Following the Amsterdam pogrom with its roaming gangs violently accosting people in the street and demanding to see their passports to see if they were Jewish and thus eligible for a public beating, Europe is looking increasingly 1930s Hitlerian!

This horrific well-orchestrated mass attack in a European city center by pro-Palestinian hordes on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, was a chilling reminder of the dangers of resurfaced antisemitism on European soil.

Writes Meotti:

 “Last week’s pogrom in Amsterdam should  be the final wake-up call for Dutch Jews, but I doubt it will be.”

He strongly advocates that “Europe’s Jews should leave now before it’s too late.”

Agreeing with him is the Chief Rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Paris, Moshe Sebbag, who recently advocated departure for his community:

“There is no future for Jews in France. I tell all young people to go to Israel or to a safer country.”

While mostly rare for practicing community rabbis to encourage their congregants “to pack their bags,” it would appear this is precisely what is happening today in Europe. Another significant chief rabbi joining this trembling trend is the Chief Rabbi of Barcelona, ​​Meir Bar Hen, who expressed:

 “This place is lost. Better to leave sooner rather than later to Israel. Our community is condemned both because of radical Islam and the reluctance of the authorities to confront it. I encouraged them to buy a house in Israel.”

Echoing this petrifying perception is the chief rabbi of Brussels, Avraham Gigi, who asserts:

“The Jews have no future in Europe.”

Far less surprising is to hear Frederik Sieradzki, the spokesman for the Jewish community of Malmö, saying that Sweden’s third largest city “could lose all its Jews by 2029.” Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, Swedish cities, especially Malmö, have experienced an avalanche of Jew-hatred at the hands of Islamist mobs and their far-left comrades-in-arms. Sweden, like countries elsewhere, has imported the contemporary global antisemitism where the word “Jew” has been replaced with the word “Zionist” and/or “Israel.” It is the traditional “same old, same old” antisemitism in transparent disguise.

There is “no solution” for Malmö’s Jews and is “beyond repair” is the view of the country’s Jewish leadership and affirms Sieradzki’s, assessment that by 2029, the “Jewish community could disappear entirely.”

Not by 2029, but no less pessimistic is the prediction for the UK.

British-Israeli businessman and philanthropist who has been chairman of JNF (Jewish National Fund)-UK since 2008,Samuel Hayek predicts:

“Jews have no future in the United Kingdom.”

How the unthinkable of yesterday has sadly shifted to the plausible of today.

In Germany, the European country thought the most favorably disposed to Jews and Israel since the Holocaust, there are tangible shifts. Editor-in-chief Philipp Peyman Engel of the Jüdische Allgemeine, said in an interview with Die Welt that “Jewish in Germany is becoming invisible.”

I understood his point. A year ago, I met with a young adult delegation from Germany where one of the participants from Berlin said he has had to change his route when driving to the center of the city. “It’s added over 30 minutes to my drive. What used to be perfectly safe, now as a Jew, I cannot anymore drive through my old route which is predominantly Muslim. It’s now unsafe for Jews!”

Last year, 1,100 Jews immigrated to Israel from France. This year, it is predicted there will be over 4,500. This is an impressive hike in only one year. Then if we compare that before 2012 only 500 Jews left France every year, these statistics are spine-chillingly revealing. Jews are clearly leaving France in ever-increasing numbers and they are doing so because they see themselves no longer living through a “Golden Age” but rather another “Dark Age”. 

A blueprint to this “Dark Age” is to be found in the pages of Mein Kampf espousing the vision of a “judenrein” Europe – a continent cleansed of its Jews.

Is this acceptable to today and tomorrow’s Europeans?

For many who have read the signs, they will follow these developments from Israel.

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

Israelis can’t live with monsters on its borders anymore – a perspective from Kibbutz Kfar Aza revisited.

By Forest Rain Marcia

There is something very private about death – or at least there should be. Perhaps that is why murder is so horrifying. Life is the one thing that belongs only to the individual and the creator.

Invading your body to steal that spark of holiness is a defilement beyond words.

The Gazan invaders went a step beyond murder. They murdered with glee. Laughing with joy.

Signs of their enthusiasm remain, one year later.

How are you supposed to deal with places where this frenzy took place? Places where people you knew and loved had this done to them?

In Kfar Aza, the “young people’s neighborhood” remains untouched. While other areas of the kibbutz are being renovated and refreshed so that life can return to them, this neighborhood is frozen in time – from the bullet holes in the walls and the signs left behind by the rescue workers to the dishes left in the sink by people who will never have another morning. From here, hostages were taken and others were murdered. Here, the kibbutz decided that visitors could bear witness to the remains of the horror that occurred throughout their community.

Most of the homes are blocked off with red tape. These are families who wanted to keep those last moments between their loved ones and their murderers and the people who found them to themselves. Not private but also not open for all.

One family decided they want visitors to see. They want everyone to know.

A sign above the door calls upon visitors to enter. Here Sivan Elkabets and Naor Hasidim lived and died together. Their families added enlarged photos to the interior of the house so visitors could see the before, not just the after – an image of their bedroom, clean and neat in contrast to the mattress flipped upside down and the mess on the floor. Images in the living room of the happy couple. The last WhatsApp conversation Sivan’s dad had with his daughter and her boyfriend, Naor.

I couldn’t take in everything I was seeing. All I could see were holes everywhere… bullet holes… holes also from a grenade? The walls, the refrigerator, even the ceiling, riddled with holes.

The murderers were ecstatic.

This (below) is the entrance to their home. Just this is enough to convey the horror.

The holes in the washing machine. The door. The walls. On the wall under the window, in small letters instructions for the Zaka crew: “Human remains on the couch.”

The bigger writing on the other wall, a mixture of different crews who checked the house for safety and what other tasks needed to be done there. The writing in yellow indicates that on October 11th, 3 days after the invasion, there was a dead terrorist that still needed to be removed. On the door, the Zaka sticker from when the house was finally cleared.

Around the world many seem to have forgotten (or pretend not to know) what happened that day. We cannot. We will not.

We meant it when we said NEVER AGAIN.

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).

Robin Hood in reverse – how countries in deficit are funding billionaires

By Neville Berman

Something extraordinary is occurring in the financial world. Let’s start by looking at Lebanon. It is clear that the once thriving country of Lebanon has become a failed state whose economy is in free fall. Everyone understands that the policies of Hezbollah, acting on behalf of Iran, is responsible for this situation.  

Early in October this year, the newly appointed Prime Minister of France, Michel Barnier, announced that the French budget for 2025, would be one of austerity, and would include cuts in social programs and increased taxation on the rich. A few weeks after this announcement, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, chaired a meeting in Paris of senior officials from over 70 counties to raise money for Lebanon. Macron declared that France would give 100 million Euros to the fund. It seems surreal that while France is facing huge deficits and an austerity budget, the French President is promising aid to a failed Arab state. This becomes even more absurd when one considers the huge surpluses of Arab oil exporting countries that could help Lebanon, but  either refrain from doing so, or pay only token amounts.

Sitting right next to Macron at the donor conference was Najib Mikati, the interim Prime Minister of Lebanon. Forbes magazine estimates that Mikati’s net worth is $2.8 billion. Did it not occur to Macron, or any of the other delegates, that it would be reasonable to request that Mikati should personally be called upon to donate to help Lebanon?  What is even more absurd is that Lebanon has five billionaires that are estimated to be worth over $11 billion and hundreds of millionaires.  Between them they could come up with billions and still be incredibly rich. Why should countries in huge deficits donate money to Lebanon?  What is even more glaring is that these billionaires will probably be the very people that will be awarded the contracts to rebuild Lebanon. Mikati was previously charged with corruption in building contracts in Syria. He was cleared due to “lack of evidence.” It seems obvious where part of the aid will end up.

As ridiculous as this might seem, it is even more ridiculous when we look at the funding of UNRWA. Since 1949, UNRWA has received billions in donations. According to figures published by UNRWA, nearly $1.3 billion was pledged to the organization just for 2023. The funding comes from the following:

– 91%  was pledged by American and European countries

– 5% came  from Japan and Australia, and only

– 4% was pledged by Muslim countries. 

This is really extraordinary, as it shows that the super-rich countries in the Middle East give token amounts to UNRWA, while counties that are mostly in debt donate 96% of UNRWA’s budget. The European community was the number one supporter of UNRWA for 2023 with pledges of $686 million. The US was the top individual country with a donation of $422 million. With one of the world’s highest per capita deficits, Japan still managed to donate $48 million to UNRWA. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged $17 and $15 million respectively. The UAE spends more on horses than on support for UNRWA.  Now the interesting fact is that the top leadership of Hamas is also reportedly worth billions and are living in five-star luxury in Qatar.  What a farce the whole system of humanitarian aid and donations has become.

Humanitarian aid has really become a case of Robin Hood in reverse. Countries and entities with billionaire leaders are receiving aid from countries with huge deficits. The billionaires are smiling all the way to the bank. They know that they will soon be even richer when they inevitably skim off part of the donations that sucker donor countries are promising. The stupidity of donor countries seems unbelievable. It is time to wake up to where donations are being sent and where part of humanitarian aid actually ends up. Swiss banks could probably provide part of the answer.

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.

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).

Will Europe protect itself from their self-inflicted stupidity?

By Jonathan Feldstein

A pogrom is a premeditated, organized, violent riot with the aim of threatening, intimidating, and massacring Jews, made common in late 19^th and early 20^th century Russia and Eastern Europe. Last week, in the continent best known for a genocide against the Jewish people less than a century ago, that is exactly what happened again.

It is ironic that the latest pogrom took place in the country made famous by Anne Frank  – whose family was initially hidden, but then turned in by another antisemites, and Righteous Gentiles like Corrie Ten Boom who put their own lives on the line to protect Jews – Jews are once again being hunted, and not protected by the authorities.

Itis ironic that the latest pogrom happened the week of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom throughout Germany, an event that was not only threatening to Jews, but a test the rest of the world that failed then by not speaking up and stopping the Nazis. As a result, the Nazis understood they could implement their “Final Solution”, and nobody would rise up to protect the Jews.

The latest pogrom is a similar test for the future of Europe.

It is not only that Jews were hunted and targeted deliberately throughout the streets of Amsterdam, but the ability to do so was self-inflicted, made possible by decades of immigration policies allowing violent Arab/Islamic extremists to entrench themselves in cities across Europe, not just in the Netherlands.

After the fact, Dutch leaders spoke out in shame.  King Willem-Alexander spoke to Israeli president Isaac Herzog stating:

 “We disappointed Dutch Jewry during the Holocaust, and tonight, we disappointed you again.”

Leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) Geert Wilders posted on X/Twitter:

 “I am speechless. Amsterdam Police just confirmed that NO ONE has been arrested during the Islamic Jewhunt in Amsterdam Thursday night.”

Christians for Israel mobilized to protect Israelis, despite threats to themselves, evoking the memory of Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews in the Holocaust.

Despite this, the reality is much worse than being reported outside Israel. Israel sent rescue flights to bring home some 2000 Israelis. Israeli media is widely covering the horrifying stories of those who were attacked, and the Dutch response.

What is now known is that the Arab/Islamic attacks on Jews in Amsterdam were premeditated, coordinated, and instigated on social media days before the pogrom. What is now known is that Israeli Jews were targeted and harassed in public, in the days prior to the pogrom. What is now known is that taxi drivers were part of the plot to target Israelis, physically preventing them from escaping. Israelis reported fleeing for their safety into waiting taxis, only to be hijacked to side streets to the hands of waiting mobs. What is now known is that violent Arab/Islamic mobs waited along the train route from the stadium to attack the Jewish Israeli fans fleeing. Underscoring that this was premeditated, the mobs were armed with knives, sticks, batons and fireworks which they set off at the Jews.

To escape the violent Arab/Islamist mobs and protect themselves, Jews jumped into canals, and hid in random in stores and kind strangers’ apartments. The violent Arab/Islamist mobs prowled the streets demanding ID from people to target the Israelis, posting many of their victims on social media.

It is also known that the Israeli government warned Dutch authorities of these planned attacks. Not only were the warnings not heeded, but there are also reports of police refusing to protect the Jewish Israelis.

There were stories too of thankful salvation like a contemporary ‘Righteous Gentile’ who stepped up and reportedly saved a number of Jewish Israelis and a Druze Israeli citizen who confused the Arab/Islamic mob by speaking in Arabic to throw them off the trail of hunting the Jews. Melhem Asad is being celebrated as the hero he is.

While dozens were arrested, it is also now known that none of the violent Arab/Islamic mob who attacked, hunted, threatened, kicked, beat, stabbed, pummeled, or terrorized Jews remain in custody.

It is clear what needs to happen, but the question is how Dutch and indeed all European leaders will respond. What needs to happen is that the mob who promoted, incited, and perpetrated the pogrom must all be tracked down and arrested.

Laws need to be enforced to the strictest, and established where they don’t yet exist, for the harshest consequences. Europeans need to revoke citizenship of those committing antisemitic crimes, and instantly deport any non-citizens involved.

This is the time for Europe to save itself, to vomit out the evil in their midst, evil rooted in intolerant Islam. Europe must correct the lenient and self-destructive policy of granting residency and even citizenship to people from Arab and Islamic countries, no matter why they want to leave their countries, on a false sense of being righteous rather than essential self-preservation. It is as if Europe provided the tools and resources to build a continent-wide Trojan horse, allowing people who have no interest in European culture, history, or its future to enter freely and hijack the continent. People who see Europe as just another place to conquer, over which to raise the flag of Islam.

Had it not been for the allies defeating the Nazis, all Europe would be speaking German today, there would be no Jews, and the world would be a different place. Today, Europe must save itself as there will be no allied troops coming to rescue them from their inability or unwillingness to protect themselves from their self-inflicted stupidity.

Ironically, the Amsterdam pogrom took place the week of the planned announcement of a unique program to bring people to follow in the footsteps of Righteous Gentiles, specifically considering highlighting stories of Righteous Gentiles in the Netherlands. Now, we have to question whether this is realistic, or safe at all.

Theodor Herzl is known as the founder of modern Zionism, giving voice to millennia of Jewish dreams to return to the Land of Israel, and creating the infrastructure to advocate for the restoration of Jewish sovereignty from the late 1800s. The catalyst for his activism was the infamous 1894 trial of French Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison for clearly trumped-up charges rooted in overt antisemitism, even in “enlightened” 19^th century Europe.  Herzl believed that the solution to antisemitism was the Jewish people having their own state, to be able to live normally, equally, among the nations of the world, not as a persecuted dispersed minority among other nations since the 1st Century.

Unfortunately, Herzl was mistaken. Israel is indeed a thriving sanctuary for the Jewish people, and indeed a light unto the nations. However, it’s existence is not the panacea that Herzl dreamt it would be to end antisemitism.  Rather, it gives fuel in the tank for antisemites to morph, creating new excuses to hate and persecute Jews. Even in Amsterdam. Even while watching a soccer game.

In the 20^th century, Europe was saved by the allies shedding blood to prevent the entire continent from becoming Nazi. Unfortunately, this was too late for 6 million Jews. Twenty-first century Europe is now at a juncture, and must decide if it wants to save itself, or go down the path of darkness where any semblance of light in their “enlightenment” will be extinguished.  This is the last opportunity for Europeans to save themselves.

Will Europe resist the cancer that they have allowed and even enabled to grow from within, or continue to suffer the evil consequences until ISIS-like gangs control entire cities, not just no-go neighborhoods, and destroy any semblance of what Europe once was, culturally and physically.

About the writer:

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

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

Contrary to misguided epitaphs of “legendary leader” and “martyr”, Hamas leader Sinwar was a cold-blooded killer.

By Lawrence Nowosenetz

Ensconced in his alternative universe, Iqbal Jassat – an executive member of the notoriously anti-Israel and antisemitic South African platform ‘Media Review Network’ – laments Yahya Sinwar as an:

“Iconic leader martyred by Zionist colonialists.”

(Politicsweb 21 October 2024)

A continent away on his home turf, Mr Sinwar was far better known as the “Butcher of Khan Younis”.

Yahya Sinwar was a brutal and ruthless murderer and mostly of fellow Palestinians. He was born and brought up in Khan Younis in Gaza. In 1988, he was arrested and convicted by Israel of murdering four suspected collaborators among other crimes against Israeli soldiers. He was given four life sentences. He admitted to killing one of them with his bare hands. He continued to take upon himself to punish suspected informers. According to a former Shin Bet interrogator, Michael Koube, he was the “cruellest man” with “murder in his eyes.” During interrogation, Sinwar expressed his preference for the machete as weapon of choice to kill Jews. In 2004, he developed a brain tumour, which Israeli surgeons at Soroka Medical Center removed what would have been  fatal .  They saved his life.  Sinwar acknowledged his debt to Dr Yuval Bitton the prison medical officer who enabled Sinwar to receive medical attention. However, his nephew Tamir died defending Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Tamir, who had been seriously wounded while attempting to fight off five terrorists, was eventually subdued, taken to Gaza, where he died soon after of his wounds. That’s the thanks the doctor uncle received from saving the life of Sinwar!

According to South Africa’s Mr Jassat, “For millions of Muslims and millions of more supporters across the world of Palestine’s freedom struggle, Sinwar’s martyrdom may mark the end of a legendary anti-colonial warrior, but not the end of the Resistance”. Resounding words as disingenuous as they are false.  

Martyrdom is understood to be laying down one’s life for something of great value for a principle or cause. Sinwar was a fervent adherent of the ideology of Hamas that Israel should be destroyed and replaced by a Muslem state. For this goal he was prepared to sacrifice the lives of Palestinians.  At the time of his death, Sinwar was holed up in a building in Gaza armed with a false UNRWA passport and lots of cash. It would appear that he was not warrioring at all but was preparing an escape. He masterminded his armed terrorists to invade a sovereign country under ceasefire with Hamas. There they performed with glee, the burning of babies, mutilation and rape of women, murder of 1200 civilians and the abduction of 250 men, women, children and babies to languish in Gaza. 101 hostages are still being held in captivity one year later. No “resistance” or “anti-colonial” movement in human history has contemplated or carried out such barbarous acts. Can one seriously infer that mass atrocities are of value to the cause of Palestine by the millions of Muslims and their supporters across the world?

There is no equivalence between the price paid by the fallen heroes and heroines in the struggle against Apartheid and Sinwar. He was no hero. His killers exultantly attacked and slaughtered unarmed peaceful youngsters at the Nova music festival. Not exactly a heroic way to secure the freedom of Palestine. 

While some have chosen to compare Sinwar to Mandela and other fighters who opposed Apartheid, it is an insult to the memory of those South African heroes and heroines to place Sinwar in their company. Israeli government officials who knew Sinwar well during his 22-years of imprisonment, described his character as cruel, manipulative, brutal and even psychopathic. 

While there is the rule of law in Israel and Palestinians have access to the courts to redress unlawful conduct by the authorities, this is something which does not exist in Palestine. Dissident journalists are beaten up and even killed. Homosexuals too.  Hamas under the leadership of Mr Sinwar was no haven of democracy: 

• No elections since 2007, the first and only elections held in Gaza.  Ismail Haniyeh led Hamas in Gaza until February 2017 when Yahya Sinwar succeeded him until present. 
• No independent judiciary, no rule of law. The Washington-based international research institute Freedom House which ranks civil liberties and political rights in countries and territories of the world, rated Gaza with a score of 7% compared to Israel with a score of 74%.                               

Despite attempts by Jasset and his ilk to whitewash the Hamas leader, Sinwar was no saint. On the contrary, he was what his fellow Palestinians named him:

“The Butcher of Khan Younis”

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).

Driven by curiosity to see what was happening turned out to be a literal drive into a day of terror on the road .

By Forest Rain Marcia

On October 13th, I had a very interesting day. Too interesting. By the end of the day, I felt like I had been steam-rolled and it took me 24 hours to bring myself back to normal.

Of course, our normal here in Israel, particularly in the north, is not normal at all.

Our day began with a meeting with an important Israeli official in a Haifa coffee shop. The conversation was interrupted by the sound of sirens, screaming that we needed to race to the bomb shelter – only there was no shelter in the coffee shop.

What do we do?

Everyone got up, leaving their food and drinks on the table and ran across the street to the shelter in the nearest building.

Packed in the shelter of an apartment building with people we don’t know, we had to wait 10 minutes before leaving – because while the Iron Dome is excellent, no system works 100% of the time and shrapnel from the missile interceptions can continue to fall from the sky – so we continued our discussion with explosions overhead and a girl crying in the corner from stress.

Then we returned to the shop, paid our bill, and continued our day.

Later in the day, we drove toward the northern border. 

It is not safe to travel to places under missile bombardment. If you are in a shelter, that along with the Iron Dome is likely to keep you more or less safe (and even that is not 100% certain) but traveling between places, there is no shelter and no assurance that you won’t be hit.

But we wanted to see what was really happening to our country. Haifa is under bombardment and the communities along the way to the north have been bombarded even more than Haifa. Traveling that path is a risk – but bombs can find you anywhere and the thought that any terrorist would succeed in terrorizing me into not going wherever I want in my own country made me so angry that there was no way I was staying home.

The communities bordering Lebanon have been evacuated for the last year. When the IDF entered Lebanon with ground forces, the area became a closed military zone – meaning that only the military or those approved by the military can travel there.

But from Haifa to Nahariya, life goes on. People live in their homes, go to work, shop, and send their kids to school (according to the assessments of the IDF Homefront Command which shuts down the schools when the bombings are too bad).

We decided to drive on the old road rather than the highway. The highway is faster but the old road has buildings along the way, making it possible to find shelter should we get caught outside when the sirens go off.

We popped in to check on our daughter-in-law who was by herself in their home near Nahariya. Our son, her husband, is enlisted and someplace in the north. That means worrying about him while being bombed. She told us that although where they live there supposedly is 30 seconds to get to the shelter when the sirens go off, the explosions often come before the siren.

We had a nice visit and continued further north.

After Nahariya, soldiers stand guard closing the area to unnecessary travel – for the protection of civilians and to make it easier for the army to do what they need to do. The soldiers we talked to were pleasant (as our soldiers usually are) but also anxious (which is not usual at all). They were concerned about Hezbollah UAVs invading and bombing them. It was later in the day when we saw just how justified their concern was…

It was getting dark. Definitely, time to go home. That’s when the sirens went off.

We were on the road, nowhere near any kind of shelter. We did what other drivers did – stopped the car on the side of the road and ran down a small incline as far away from the cars as we could get. There was a ditch that provided some semblance of protection so we laid down and covered our heads, as the Home Front Command instructs us to do. When missiles hit, shrapnel flies up at an angle, so the best bet is to lie flat on the ground and cover your head. 

The sound of the siren blaring from the nearest community as well as from my phone was nerve-wracking enough. Then I saw on the app update that the sirens were warning of an incoming UAV  followed by the booming explosions of the IDF interceptions.

So there I was face down in a ditch, in the dark, shaking and cursing my curiosity. Len covered me with his body. He wanted me to feel safe and calm down so he made jokes to distract me. I laughed. Then I heard a little girl wailing in terror. She was further down the road with whoever it was that was trying to take her home. None of us were hurt but if I was shaking, how would a small child feel?

How long do you wait before moving when it is a UAV attack and not a missile? I could see on my app that alerts were going off further south so obviously the UAV was moving in that direction, away from us. I assumed that it would be shot down closer to Haifa.

We got in the car and continued on the way home.

Outside Nahariya, the sirens went off again. This time missiles. Like all the other drivers on the road, we pulled over and got out to run to the nearest shelter. There was not anything close and there was not time. Some people stopped next to a wall that in truth, offered little to no protection. We were close to the mall so we ran in that direction, hoping to find an entrance. A building outside the mall looked like a bomb shelter but it was closed. It took us a moment to figure out that it was an electricity generator room for the mall (so not a place to enter). We stood in between the wall of that building and the wall of the mall, a relatively good place to be. Women from Nahariya were reluctant to stand where we were because they were wearing flip-flops and there were thorny bushes under our feet. But what’s a few scrapes compared with flying shrapnel? We encouraged them to come in and they waited with us. One had a ten or 12-year-old daughter. She was silent but had tears in her eyes and her face was twisted in fear.

I swallowed my own pounding heart to smile and tell her she was very brave and doing a great job. It is absolutely infuriating to see children being terrorized – and children should not see grown-ups afraid.

There were no more sirens on the way to Haifa. When we arrived, we thought we’d take some time to sit outside on the beautiful promenade overlooking the bay, breathe some fresh air, and relax before going home.

The weather was beautiful and the view stunning, as always.

And then, from the base at the bottom of the Carmel we heard their loudspeakers:

“Warning! Be prepared for impact! Take shelter!”

What the hell?! First of all, it was shocking that we could hear what was happening from so far away. And my reflexive response was, why do our soldiers have to be prepared for impact?! Hezbollah should be preparing for impact!!

And then they shot an intercept missile, bright like a streak of fire into the night sky. The trajectory was so steep, at first it was not clear what direction it was going in – my body tensed before my mind understood what it was seeing. It looked like it went to Lebanon. The light disappeared and then we heard the sound of the explosion rolling back at us like a wave coming in from the sea.

Looking at my phone to see updates on what happened, I began seeing the lists of wounded roll in. The UAV that didn’t explode on us flew all the way to Benyamina and exploded on people there. A lot of people (later we learned that they were soldiers – 4 were killed, dozens wounded, some critically).

We went home and began to unwind from the too intense day. I understood that my body was washed with adrenaline, and I needed to decompress or suffer from stress poisoning, so I drank a lot of water.  

And then the sirens went off.

We raced down the stairs to the shelter and listened to the huge explosions of the missile interceptions over our house.

It was not easy to relax and go to sleep after all that but finally we managed – only to be woken up too early in the morning by sirens.

That was just one day when nothing happened to us.

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).

A confusing world of ignorance, double standards, falsehoods and hypocrisy has arrived.

By Neville Berman

Perhaps I am getting old and my understanding of things is becoming confused.    

Why can’t I understand that the words, “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” are not statements of intent or a threat?     

Why can’t I understand that the Palestinians have been living in the land between the river and the sea since time immemorial and that the Jews have no history in this land before 1948?   

Why can’t I understand that the right of return for Palestinian refugees and all their descendants is an inalienable right that no other refugees in the world have?

Why can’t I understand that the United Nations and the European Union knows what’s good for Israel and the Jews?

Why can’t I understand that UNWRA is a worthy candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize? 

Why can’t I understand that UNIFIL fully implemented UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and stopped Hezbollah from bringing any armaments into the area south of the Litani river?

Why can’t I understand that indefensible borders are the best way to secure the future of Israel?

Why can’t I understand that creating a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a Jew free Judea and Samaria is actually good for Israel?

Why can’t I understand that beheading, raping, mass murder, and taking hostages of babies and grandparents can be celebrated when the victims are Israelis?  

Why can’t I understand that the Palestinians are interested in promoting democracy, the rule of law, women’s rights, freedom of religion, gay rights and human rights wherever they live?

Why can’t I understand that Palestinian intellectual property and inventions are the driving force that is bringing progress and prosperity to mankind?

Why can’t I understand that without Palestinian oil production, irreparable damage will be caused to the world’s economy?  

Why can’t I understand that the Iranians are building a peaceful nuclear program? After all, Iran signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and Iran would never lie.

Why can’t I understand that if a Palestinian rocket falls near a hospital parking lot in Gaza and kills 50 people, it is actually an Israeli massacre of 500 innocent civilians in the hospital?   

Why can’t I understand that Israel is committing genocide against hundreds of thousands of   Palestinians who live in Israel, and tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been crossing into Israel on a daily basis to work?

Why can’t I understand that all over Gaza, babies are dying of starvation because Israel only allows a few hundred tons of food to be delivered daily?

Why can’t I understand that the Lebanese delegate to the UN who voted hundreds of times against Israel, is now the head of the International Court of Justice, and that he has no conflict of interest and is not at all biased against Israel?  

Why can’t I understand that the BBC considers the murderous terrorists of Hamas to be militants?

Why can’t I understand that when Hamas and Hezbollah fire thousands of rockets at Israel, it is not considered a war crime?

Why can’t I understand that when Israel defends itself it is committing a war crime?

Why can’t I understand that the more politicians lie, the more likely they are to be elected?  

Why can’t I understand that there is no double standard in the world?

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.

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).