What is astonishing is the willingness to abandon the sacrosanct motto of the #MeToo era: “I believe you.”

By Allan Wolman

When it comes to human rights abuses in Africa, particularly sexual violence against women, South Africa’s leadership skips a continent – its own – preferring to focus its energies on attacking Israel. Falsely accusing the Jewish state of genocide while mum on genocides far closer to home, exposes the moral bankruptcy of a nation that has squandered its potential inherited from the Mandela era.

In her op-ed in the NYT (21 March), Maebel Gebremedhin, cofounder and president of Tigray Action Committee and United Women of the Horn, highlighted the civil war between Ethiopia and Tigray. She describes this as one of the deadliest conflicts of this century with an estimated death toll of over half a million people and the region now facing widespread famine.

Coupled to this, over 100,000 women are believed to have been the victims of conflict-related sexual violence, and an estimated 40% of all Tigray women have been at the sharp end of “some type of gender-based violence”.

Gebremedhin goes on to say:  

“Tigray stands as one of many stark examples of what happens when conflict-related sexual violence goes unchecked. It is time the world speaks up for African women and holds governments, armies and all perpetrators accountable for the crimes they are committing. If not, they may continue to suspect that when it comes to them, accountability and justice are only buzzwords”.

In the conflict-ridden landscape of Sudan and Darfur, sexual violence has been tragically weaponized, with the appalling practices of trafficking girls and perpetrating rape employed as brutal tools war. The BBC recently featured a documentary “Unveiling the Forgotten: Sudan’s Hidden Conflict” which delves into the heart of the struggle, revealing untold stories, shedding light on a conflict that has long been overshadowed by other global crises.

 As the international community grapples with pressing global challenges, the BBC’s documentary serves as a timely reminder that Sudan’s forgotten war cannot be ignored. By amplifying the voices of those affected by the conflict, the film calls for renewed diplomatic efforts to address the root causes of violence and instability in the region.

The conflict in the region is attributed to tensions between Arab herders and non-Arab farmers over land, resources, and political power, with non-Arab groups accusing the Arab-dominated central government and militias like the Janjaweed of marginalization and discrimination. After the 2019 overthrow of al-Bashir, leadership in the Sudanese Armed Forces shifted, with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan assuming control of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), while Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemeti, led the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), playing a significant role in post-al-Bashir Sudanese politics, particularly stemming from his involvement in the Darfur conflict Hemeti, has faced accusations of involvement in ethnic and sexual violence in  the Darfur region of Sudan. As the leader of the RSF, he has been accused of overseeing operations where such atrocities occurred. The RSF has been implicated in various human rights abuses, including allegations of ethnic cleansing, sexual violence, and other forms of violence against civilians. These accusations have led to international scrutiny and calls for accountability for those responsible for such acts.

 It’s the same Hemeti who was hosted by President Ramaphosa in Pretoria in early January this year for “discussions” on his vision for ending the war in Sudan. Indeed, that was before South Africa had thought about grandstanding at the International Court of Justice.  But it appears that Ramaphosa, a vocal advocate against gender-based violence, remained unmoved by the atrocities of genocide and sexual violence in Tigray and Sudan. Similarly, prominent women in South Africa, including Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor and UNHCR’s Chair Navi Pillay, remain silent on matters concerning their own continent.

To its credit, the NYT did expose the Hamas atrocities of sexual violence on Israeli women on 10/7. While the BBC extensively covered the Sudanese conflict on both TV and radio, their coverage of Israeli women victims of sexual violence remains mum. CNN, on the other hand, exposed the disturbing silence of UN Women, whose response only came after this revelation (some months later), once again underscoring the hashtag #MeToo Unless You’re a Jew.

About the writer:

Allan Wolman in 1967 joined 1200 young South Africans to volunteer to work on agricultural settlements in Israel during the Six Day War. After spending a year in Israel, he returned to South Africa where he met and married Jocelyn Lipschitz and would run  one of the oldest travel agencies in Johannesburg – Rosebank Travel. He would also literally ‘run’ three times in the “Comrades”, one of the most grueling marathons in the world as well as participate in the “Argus” (Cape Town’s famed international annual cycling race) an impressive eight times. Allan and Jocelyn immigrated to Israel three years ago.

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).

With hundreds of thousands of reservists putting their studies, careers and families on hold to serve their country in its hour of need, Israel’s younger generation has shown its true mettle.

By Harris Zvi Green

March 22, 2024

My dearest friends,

During the past 24 weeks I’ve written much about the hypocrisy and cynicism that plague our world. The hatred fuels the jealousy that fuels the denial that fuels the hatred. A vicious circle energized by its own velocity. Speaking out against the never-ending tsunami of lies and distortions was my natural reaction. As a result, I haven’t said nearly enough about how proud I am of our younger generation.

October 7 was a nightmare. Israel was literally caught with its pants down. Our security forces were completely unprepared. Twelve hundred people were savagely murdered. Another 250 people were abducted to Gaza. After 168 days, 134 of them are still being held hostage under the most inhumane conditions.

From Day One, our younger generation showed its mettle. Their sense of sacrifice and determination to defend our country and its people so unselfishly, was instantaneous. Israel’s Tik-Tok generation took responsibility. They led by example. Hundreds of thousands of reservists put their studies, careers, families and livelihoods on hold to serve their country in its hour of need. They never waited for call-up papers. They showed up in their droves. Their priorities were crystal clear.

Their response was the same as that of Abraham to God, when he was called upon to sacrifice his beloved Isaac. Hineni – I am ready.

Many of our young men and women made the supreme sacrifice. Some suffered irreversible injuries requiring years of rehabilitation. Each and every one of them put themselves at enormous personal risk. They inspired and brought us together. They made us bury our differences for the common good. If our generation did anything right, it was raising this generation to save our people from another holocaust.

Our youngsters have won this war for us. We owe them so much.

An integral part of Israel’s Independence Day’s celebrations are the prestigious awards to those who have excelled in particular professions and fields. Amongst this year’s special awards, is a prize for “Civilian Heroism”. This prize will be awarded to Menachem Kalmanson and his nephew, Itiel Zohar, for their bravery in rescuing many of the residents of Kibbutz Beeri on October 7.

Early in the morning of October 7, 42-year-old Elchanan Kalmanson heard news of the massacre. Intuitively, he knew his presence was needed. Together with his brother, Menachem, and nephew, Itiel, they drove more than 100 kilometers to Kibbutz Beeri, not knowing what to expect.

With rockets falling around them, they finally arrived at the Kibbutz. The scene that greeted them was one of burning homes, gunshots and pandemonium. This group of three remarkably brave men went from house to house evacuating as many people as possible. They were forced to contend with blood-thirsty terrorists in their efforts to do so. Over a period of 14 hours, they made repeated trips into the fray and successfully evacuated tens of men, women and children.

On the last of these trips, Elchanan and Menachem were hit by terrorist fire. Elchanan died in Menachem’s arms. Elchanan Kalmanson, 85 residents of Be’eri and 26 policemen and IDF soldiers, fell in the battle for Be’eri. The Kalmanson family are worthy recipients of this award.

Josep Borrell is the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Over the past months, he has made numerous statements condemning Israel for her actions in Gaza. His statements suggest he is completely ignorant of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on October 7. He appears to question Israel’s right to self-defense and her duty to ensure the events of October 7 don’t repeat themselves.

Like many of his fellow politicians, Borrell has paid the customary lip service calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. But, like them, Borrell hasn’t bothered to follow through. He’s done nothing to put pressure on Hamas and her financial backers to release the hostages.

On the contrary, his politically motivated statements such as calling for an arms embargo against Israel and his outrageous claims that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war and provoking famine in Gaza, only serve to embolden Hamas. With such diplomatic support from the EU, what incentive does Hamas have to release the hostages?

Borrell is doing his job to keep the Palestinian terror machine alive. He’s not the only one.

Chuck Schumer, Democratic Majority Leader of the US Senate, had the audacity to use the Senate floor to call for elections in Israel. With all due respects to Mr. Schumer, Israel is a democracy and not a banana republic. Elections in Israel were last held 16 months ago. Unless the Knesset elects to dissolve itself, the next election will, by law, take place towards the end of 2026. The difficulties facing the Biden campaign in Wisconsin have no bearing on the timing of Israel’s next election.

The gullibility of the world continues to amaze me. As news consumers, the assumption is that we’re ready to accept anything and everything. The media presents “facts and figures” that suit the political agendas of the tycoons who control the media outlets. The news items and their authenticity are nothing more than hanging rails for revenue generating commercials. It’s so bad that even government sources and international organizations regurgitate these “facts and figures” as if they were gospel.

In an article published in the Telegraph UK on March 16, Jake Wallis Simons referred to a study made by Professor Abraham Wyner, a data scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, regarding the number and breakdown of the casualties in Gaza. The study shows that the numbers and their breakdown are statistically impossible. They indicate Hamas is faking the death figures put out by Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The unfortunate reality is that governments, humanitarian organizations and the media readily accept and provide credibility for these “facts and figures”. As Simons says, “this gullibility has led to a crime against reality.”

My condolences to those mourning their nearest and dearest. My wishes to the injured for a complete and speedy recovery. May God protect our brave soldiers. May the hostages soon be reunited with their families. May you all be blessed with good health to see smiles on the faces of your loved ones for many years to come.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and better times ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Harris Zvi Green.

About the writer:

Harris Zvi Green was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Aged 77, he made Aliyah 53 years ago. An accountant by profession, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for a number of Israel based hi-tech companies. He is married to Phyllis. They have 3 married children ,13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Harris Zvi Green is a founder member of Truth be Told, an organization engaged in public diplomacy on behalf of Israel.

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

The line separating the joy of being home and the trauma at home is very narrow.

By Jonathan Feldstein

Coming home to Israel after a trip overseas to anywhere, for any length of time, is always emotional.

Choking back tears, in a matter of minutes I see the coast, cities with countless construction sites indicating growth and building for the future, low lying houses and buildings surrounded by fertile cultivated fields. I anticipate seeing my family and sleeping in my own bed. Touchdown is often greeted with applause. I’ve never landed at any other airport where so many people applaud and get emotional. I’m home.

Emotions continue minutes later walking down the ramp to passport control and baggage claim, past pictures of the 134 hostages still in captivity by Hamas in Gaza, the same 134 people whose pictures I walked by, slowly, still in captivity when I left weeks earlier.

The lump in my throat got bigger and it became harder to breathe. The trauma of being home, to a country at war, returns full force.

Suddenly I realize that the line between the joy of being home and the trauma at home is very narrow. As much as I am thrilled to be home, returning to the trauma is strangely comforting. I’ve missed it traveling through two countries and 11 states, in more than a dozen hotels. I’ve even felt guilty being away, an undeserved respite despite the fact that every day is spent thinking and talking about the situation, often intensely and emotionally.

The trauma continued upon leaving the airport as I learned of a serious security incident involving snipers. While security incidents in Israel are not unusual, snipers at the airport are rare indeed. Welcome home to the trauma. Now I just want to get home to my house.

The next day is the first Friday of Ramadan. After 20 years, we’ve learned that as much as Ramadan may be the Islamic holy month, it is often used as a catalyst or excuse for terrorism and violence. Precautions have been made to limit the threats, but living adjacent to a Palestinian Arab village whose mosque is often louder than my TV, we also know to be on the lookout and careful about incidents that could happen at any moment.

That evening, after the sanctity of the beginning of Shabbat descended on Israel, the day of rest, I was reminded how close everything is. We live some 40 miles northeast of Gaza. During the course of the war, it has not been unusual for rockets to be fired this far, sending us to our bomb shelter, multiple times until the sound of the Iron Dome intercepting the rocket overhead.

It’s such a narrow country that whether en route to attacking a terrorist site in Gaza, or having just done so, we often hear the thunderous sound of military aircraft overhead. This was the first time I had heard these since coming home, but still they sounded unusually loud. My family looked at one another aware that the quantity of airplanes overhead sounded unusually large, wondering what they were doing or had just done.

Another momentary awareness of the reality of the trauma around us, even at 34,000 feet. Nevertheless, it is a comfort to be home, aware that despite the war, there’s no shortage of hardware to protect us.

Speaking with friends and family, I also became aware that while many have been discharged from active military service, the trauma they experienced was not left behind. It still impacts Israelis daily. While traveling, I spoke of how the war and its consequences will impact the DNA of our soul. I visited a college professor who has been concerned for my family from the start of the war. He reminded me that it’s a real phenomenon (which I knew), but I didn’t know it had a name. Epigenetics.

I wish I could be alive 50 years from now to study the history of this time, but also to see how my children and grandchildren grow up, hopefully thriving as adults and parents and grandparents themselves.  I hope they are able to put the trauma of this war in perspective and succeed on every level personally, as well as continuing to build our country. We are all deeply impacted in our soul. This, sadly, will probably not go away anytime soon.

The trauma is not just personal but national. I don’t know how yet, but it will impact everything going forward in the future of the State of Israel and Jewish history. It will impact how we look at ourselves, how we defend ourselves, the risks we’re willing to take, our economy, international relations, who our friends really are, and much more.

There’s trauma in international calls and pressure for a cease fire that takes into account only the alleged civilian casualties among Gazans (based on the undocumented and conflated Hamas numbers), with no parallel calls for a release of all the 134 hostages, dead and alive, or the urgency to eradicate Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian Islamic regime that is the head of the evil snake, and where regime change must begin. 

There’s profound trauma amid painful negotiations for a hostage release. 134 people still being held by the terrorists. It’s unthinkable that anyone would think that taking hostages is acceptable to begin with, or that we would have to negotiate and release hardcore terrorists to get them back, as if some sort of corporate business deal.

For weeks there’s been talk of releasing 40 or 50 hostages, but this brings to the forefront the awareness of the trauma we know they have suffered, how to help them when they are freed, and the psychological warfare that the terrorists inflicted, cruelly manipulating us in December as 101 hostages were released. No doubt this will be the same if a new deal is secured, if not worse, traumatizing us all.

There’s added trauma that we feel indirectly through the families of the hostages. If 40-50 are released, that means most will not be, leaving unbearable suffering for the families of those remaining in captivity. 

The trauma is heightened further by the horrific and yet possibly necessary release of terrorists in exchange for the hostages, including murderers. The suffering of the families of their victims, where they will be released to, and when they will commit more acts of terror are just some of the things that traumatize us as a nation. There’s no end to the trauma in sight, but what is always a constant is that even with the war and the trauma, it’s a blessing to be home, personally and prophetically.

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).

Presenting a façade on CNN of the ‘motherly’ queen, Jordan’s Queen Rania questions authenticity of Palestinian massacre of Israelis.

By Lawrence Nowosenetz

In an interview with CNN (Tuesday 12 March 2024) Queen Rania was discussing the humanitarian aspects of the Gaza war. She said:

 “Aid under bombardment does not stop the destruction, the death and the heartbreak. We cannot save people from hunger only then to bomb them to death”.

Rousing words indeed. 

As usual, she reduced the root cause of the conflict – as all the twisted and dishonest opponents of Israel do – to historical injustice: occupation, settlement expansion, human rights abuses and disregard for international law.

Have we not heard this litany of slander abundant times before?

Naturally the democratic peace-loving nature of Palestinian society was nowhere mentioned.

Even the interviewer Christina Amanpour, not known for her regard for Israel or her balance in coverage of the conflict, could not hold back from questioning the queen about the events on 7 October 2023.

Queen Rania gave this astonishing response:

“Israel experienced one October 7, since then, the Palestinians have experienced 156 October 7’s”.

This breathtaking lie suggest that for the last 156 days of the Gaza war, Israel has been committing similar atrocities on a daily basis on the civilians of Gaza. Not one single instance has been recorded of anything remotely approximating (G-d forbid), torture, burning, mutilation, rape, even necrophilia by Israeli soldiers on Palestinian women and children.    

However, her rank hypocrisy and dishonesty reveal a far more profound dimension of gross historic amnesia. Airing her crocodile tears to a gullible global audience over the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza – dismissing that it began with a massacre of Jews – she conveniently overlooked the history of what befell the Palestinians in Jordan at the hands of her husband’s father – King Hussein!

Remember the Black September massacre of the Palestinians by the Jordanian armed forces in 1972?

The viewers of CNN should have been reminded by Amanpour of this glaring historical fact. So should Queen Rania if she is unfamiliar with her own inconvenient history!

Quick rewind.  After the Six Day war in 1967, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, mostly from the former Jordanian occupied West Bank, fled to Jordan. Refugee camps were set up. The fedayeen i.e. PLO fighters, conducted their international terrorism activities from Jordan. In 1970, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a splinter group of the PLO, hijacked three civilian aircraft to Dawson’s Field in Jordan. The aircraft were blown up and Jewish hostages were taken. The left wing of the PLO became emboldened calling for the overthrow of the Jordanian monarchy to create a Palestinian state within Jordan. There were assassination plots against King Hussein. The king saw these actions as a threat to the sovereignty of Jordan and took military action against fedayeen posts in the refugee camps. Some writers describe this conflict as a civil war.  In September 1970, the Jordanian armed forces launched full scale military attacks on Palestinian strongholds and the PLO was expelled. Many sought refuge in Lebanon. Palestinian fatalities including civilians are estimated to be between 4000 and 25,000 depending on the source. 

Another elephant in the room during this interview is the question why Jordan has refused to accept refugees from Gaza. This would be a natural and immediate humanitarian response from Jordan. Queen Rania was silent too on this issue preferring to soldier on blaming Israel’s “hardline leaders keeping their people in this perpetual state of fear of an existential threat that doesn’t exist…”

Doesn’t exist?

How can Her Highness say that following Hamas’s political bureau member Ghazi Hamad emphatically expressing to the world on 1 November 2023 in an interview with a Lebanese TV channel that the terror group will repeat the October 7 attack time and again until Israel is annihilated.

Did she not see and hear Hamad express the following:

“We must teach Israel a lesson and we will do that again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be second, a third, a fourth.”

While Queen Rania chose to ignore this egregious declaration of genocide, she surely can’t escape the Hamas charter which seeks to establish an Islamic state in all of Israel.

The Queen may be forgiven for her ignorance or dishonesty, but her compliant interlocutor Amanpour cannot. She is a seasoned news veteran on a major news network and one would assume has some smidgen of journalistic ethics to place the real facts on record. Would that be expecting too much from CNN?  

In the words of Bob Dylan from the songA Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall –

“And I’ll tell it, and speak it, and think it, and breathe it

And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it

And I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinking

But I’ll know my song well before start singing”

We know our song well and we will never be silent or silenced by a world that turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to the injustices and lies against our people.

About the writer:

Born in Pretoria, Lawrence Nowosenetz obtained his BA at University of the Witwatersrand and LL.B at the University of South Africa. Admitted as an attorney and advocate in South Africa, he practiced at the Pretoria and Johannesburg Bar and worked as a human rights and labour lawyer at the Legal Resources Centre, a public interest law firm. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, Lawrence completed an internship in the USA and is presently a part-time Senior Commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as well as a panelist 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).

Revisiting Israel’s devastated south, you want to cry while your soul wants to scream.

By Rolene Marks

To truly understand the magnitude of destruction, devastation and loss on 7/10, you must bear witness. Pictures and footage in the media do not do enough justice. I headed down south with my good friends, the Fisher family who have been collecting the generous donations that people are contributing to give to soldiers.

Nahal Oz Army Base

 First stop was Nahal Oz army base, mere metres away from the Gaza border, to deliver loads of stuff that wonderful people have donated and organised by Maeghan Fisher, for the HUGELY appreciative soldiers. After a lesson in effective tank combat, we walked around looking at the massive destruction on the base caused by Hamas terrorists on 7/10. Buildings are pockmarked from bullets and grenades; evidence of looting and wholesale destruction is everywhere. The shattered glass, burnt palm trees and the smells tell the story about that darkest day in Israel’s history. Exactly 5 months before, Hamas murdered, raped, mutilated, kidnapped and burnt over 1200 during in their orgy of terror. As we walked around, a Jordanian aid plane airdropped aid into the Gaza strip. Aid is distributed daily by land, air and sea, despite what you may see in the media. I saw it with my own eyes.

In the cheder ochel (dining room) the coppery smell of blood is pervasive, even though it has painstakingly been removed. It is an assault on the senses.

The most devastating area is the command centre, where soldiers, including the female “Tatzpitaniot” were murdered, raped, burnt and abducted. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. It is a place where evil reigned supreme – and the evidence is everywhere.

I thought about Naama. And Noa. Shiri. Eden. Agam. Roni. All of them. I walked into what was the command room at Nahal Oz and I felt the presence of them saying:

 “Tell our story, don’t let the world forget us“.

Their presence is everywhere – and so are the candles and flowers from heartbroken friends and family. It almost reminded me of the children’s memorial at Yad Vashem – Israel’s National Holocaust Memorial and Museum.

It is impossible not to cry. The soul wants to scream. It was here Hamas shot, raped and burnt our girls. Some were burnt to ash. It was from here the world watched as Naama was dragged, bleeding from her crotch to Gaza. She is still there. It is from here that Noa Marciano was taken hostage, her remains recovered by our soldiers. At least her parents had a body to bury, a place to go. Others were burnt to ash. To ash. It was here where Eden saved her fellow Skyriders – and paid with her life. She fought like a lioness. We will roar in her memory. And the smell. The room reeks of smoke and burnt plastic. Bullet holes are everywhere. My hackles were up. I thought of their last moments here. It was here I saw a female soldier, at this place of devastation, of holiness, tears streaming down her face. We looked at each other. We did not need to say words. We knew what each other felt. March is Women’s History Month. Please speak for Naama, Roni, Agam, Noa, Eden and all of our women. They no longer can. Bear witness and speak.

The Graveyard of Cars

The eye sees cars. The soul feels people. Families were in some of these cars. Young festivalgoers desperately fleeing were in some of these cars. Soldiers, police and rescue personnel who were racing to the scenes of slaughter were in these cars. You can see the level of carnage. Many cars burnt, every car pummeled by bullets, some, including an ambulance, hit by rocket-propelled grenades. Many have stickers indicating ZAKA cleared it of human remains but the truth is not every speck of DNA was cleared, and so this is holy ground. You see the white pickups mounted with machine guns and mangled motorbikes used by the terrorists, who indiscriminately fired on everyone. We know some of the individual stories of occupants. Some have car seats for babies or toddlers. Agony. Then you look inside. A hairbrush here. A toy there. A container. Personal objects. This place will eventually become a museum. People will learn about their owners. People will learn how on a sunny Saturday morning became the darkest day.

Nova Festival Memorial Site

They came to dance. They came to celebrate peace – and hopefully, those on the other side of the border would one day feel the same. They were full of life, a vibrant testimony to joy. The Nova memorial site has changed since I visited in January – but the ground still cries out with the blood of the many victims. The trees whisper. Remember what happened here and make sure the world does not forget. This is holy ground.  Next to the memorial site, trees have been lovingly planted for each life taken. Trees are sacred in Israel and it is a fitting memorial. The reminders of beautiful lives brutally ended or taken hostage in Gaza are everywhere. The heart aches. The soul screams. It is impossible not to see the horrific, depraved carnage in your mind’s eye. Each memorial pole has become a shrine, a personal testament to each beautiful soul. We know many of the individual stories but each one is deeply personal.  

There is a tent where a constant stream of prayers for the souls of the murdered and the freedom of the captives are intoned. Tiny miguniot (shelters) line the roads in the south. A stark reminder that rockets have pummeled this area for decades and that dark Saturday, hundreds ran for the shelters as rockets rained down and Hamas terrorists murdered innocents. I am always struck by how small they are. Big enough to take 10 people – not 20, 30, terrified individuals that could not be protected against the bullets and grenades. ZAKA stickers placed on the outside are a reminder that these shelters became places of death and devastation. Israelis in our sorrow are determined to honour our murdered. We will dance again. We will!

Shova Junction

Light in the darkness. In a place of sorrow, new life starts to grow. Red anemones dot the fields and areas. Citizens are starting to slowly return home and rebuild. While we are a country in deep trauma and pain and at war against a monstrous enemy, we focus on building. Perhaps that is the secret to our success. We are a stubborn people, hoping for peace, looking to the future. It is too soon and we are in too much pain to talk about peace solutions with our neighbours, but the stubborn hope is there, underneath the layers. You can only destroy darkness by shining light. We ended the day in the most hopeful of places. Shova Junction. On 7/10, emergency personnel and the IDF evacuated the wounded to the junction so that helicopters and ambulances could work safely, away from threats of terrorists with RPG’s. The residents of the Shova moshav, organised by the irrepressible Dror and his two brothers, started to bring food and coffee for exhausted first responders. The junction grew and grew and is now a place that is packed with food and everything our soldiers could possibly need, most of it donated by many generous people around the world just wanting an opportunity to say thank you to our warriors. None of them is photographed out of respect for their personal safety. Music plays, hugs and a hot meal and whatever they need is given to them. We owe each one a debt we can never repay but we can take care of them. Under the protective plastic that covers the tables, are letters to soldiers, lovingly written by children in South Africa that they can read. A group of 10 soldiers led by a religious man gathers for evening prayers. A soldier strums a guitar nearby. It is an oasis of joy and peace. I give Dror a hug. He calls me “Shova sister“. We embrace the amazing Racheli who is an embodiment of the spirit and resilience of the area. And hell yes, we can all agree FCK HMS!!! Am Yisrael Chai!

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).

Pogroms were our past; our Gazan neighbours brought them back to the present.

South African photojournalist Ilan Ossendryver ‘focuses’ on Israel’s devastated south.

I have always heard about our Eastern Jewish roots, where my grandparents came from, and the many Pogroms (Pogrom is a Russian word meaning “to wreak havoc, to demolish violently”) we Jews faced there, resulting in many Jews being murdered, raped, and burned.  It was history that we were taught.  We thought it would never happen again.

 But it did, and history has repeated itself, this time, in our time, in front of the world, in Israel, a country meant to protect us against such evils.

On 7 October, the Pogrom happened in real time, broadcast live, filmed and boasted about by Hamas perpetrators for the world to see.  It was a textbook Pogrom, as you would read in history books. 

What was, became a present-day nightmare reality. My images capture the absolute hate and devastation that was wreaked across the southern part of Israel in towns and Kibbutzim. The reality Jews woke up to. Evil taking place in their safe, peaceful places of life, their houses, their rooms, their towns.

Israel and her people are in mourning.  But this time, the history of this massacre will always remain a reminder of what we as Jews face, a world that mostly do not like us. This time the reminder is not far away deep in eastern Europe, but here in Israel, two hours away from Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish People.

On October 7, 2023, Kibbutz Reim, located on the border of the Gaza Strip, experienced a large scale, brutal terrorist attack when dozens of Hamas terrorists penetrated the Kibbutz, slaughtering and injuring a large number of civilians, women, children and senior citizens. Near the kibbutz, a mass massacre was carried out at the Nova Music Festival, in which at least 364 people were murdered.

These were homes where families lived collectively on a kibbutz. Kids played on the lawns. Only nature provides now the colour; the black and grey are the residue from the monsters from Gaza.

Scars and ash from a pogrom – not in Eastern Europe of the 1940s but in Southern Israel today.

The burnt remains where once life was vibrant.

The monsters from Gaza who did this came not like Cossacks on horseback but on Toyota white trucks, motor bikes and motorized gliders.

Not only did they murder and mutilate but took away hostages, the posters of two appear on this door.

No floor, no roof remains but worst of all – no people.

Grey skeletal structures is all that is sadly left.

Charred remains of a kibbutz home where once love and laughter reined.

This relic tells of the old and infirmed that were not spared.

Israel’s national flag reminds that Jews will survive and again thrive.

Where once was habitation, now  lies desolation.

Is it any wonder copies in Arabic of Hitler’s  ‘Mein Kampf’ have been found in Gaza when this is what Gazans unleashed upon Israel.

About the writer/photoprapher:

Ilan Ossendryver has been a photojournalist for over 25 years covering international news events such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Gulf War, the war in Lebanon, the Israeli Jordanian peace agreement, and the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin. He photographed at Hosni Mubarak’s palace in Cairo where the late Yitzhak Rabin met Yasser Arafat for the first time. He also documented life under Apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela. He has covered two American presidents, seven Israeli prime ministers, as well as many well-known people from Leonard Bernstein, Pavarotti, FW De Klerk, Michael Jackson and Gorbachev.
Illan’s photographs have appeared in many international newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Forbes, Der Spiegel, South China Morning Post, The Times of London, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Yedioth Acharanot, Maariv and The Star of Johannesburg. He is currently the resident photographer of the Johannesburg based Jewish Life Magazine and the South African Jewish Report.

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).

‘Gaza’ is providing the ideal socially acceptable excuse to release innate expressions of antisemitism.

By Sidney V Kaplan

With all the mayhem in the world today, I have the feeling that if Iran would drop the bomb on Israel today and wipe it off the map of the world, it would make the headlines that day and the following day will be business as usual.

I left SA 45 years ago as I didn’t see any future and was always conscious of my Jewish identity although I personally did not experience any antisemitism.

This present war brought about a tsunami in antisemitism but at the same time it forcibly highlighted the potential danger of radical Islamism which the world in the past turned a blind eye. Whether they liked it or not, they were continuously exposed to what the Muslim brotherhood is all about. Hamas is the Palestinian expression of the Muslim Brotherhood, formed as an offshoot of the Egyptian organization operating in Gaza.

I was naïve to think that even the most deluded leftists – the ones that unreservedly support the Palestinians and always criticize Israel’s policies – would process with some semblance of understanding what happened this time after witnessing the nature and scope of the brutality that played out on October 7, 2023. I was sure there’d be a wave of sympathy and solidarity for Israel’s victims.

I was wrong!

Shocking and personally mind-wrenching the very opposite happened. Instead of sympathy over the massacre of Jews, antisemitic attacks have skyrocketed and over the five months since October 7, antisemitism has pivoted beyond the events in the Middle East intensifying in hostility and violence against Jews per se. As one perplexed commentator opined, the “extreme left has undergone an irreparable mutation.” I share his astonishment.

No less disturbing was the response – or lack thereof – in the Arab world. Where were the Arab and Muslim leaders – political and religious – condemning Hamas in its fanatic pursuit to massacre Jews. The reality was the contrary where Hamas is seen as “liberators” and its brutal savagery celebrated. So, any excuses made for the absence of any Gazan dissident who would be immediately silenced under the Hamas dictatorship does not account for the Palestinian Arabs in the diaspora who have the freedom to object but choose not to. This harsh reality is what we – as Jews – are up against.

Is it any wonder that people today are concerned, traumatized, and do not see any light at the end of a very dark tunnel. The sad reality is that Gaza is an excuse to find a socially acceptable way to publicly express Jew hatred under the false pretext of righteous indignation. The Gaza war has ignited an antisemitic reaction across Europe and throughout Britain causing unrest and rage which is continuing unabated.

One needs to revisit the aftermath of the European refugee crisis which caused mass migration to the west in 2015. This had the effect of fueling antisemitism and is a sign pointing to the failure of multiculturalism that is leading to the probable unsustainability of communal Jewish life in Europe, England and elsewhere.

One has only to look at Angela Merkel’s refugee policy, which did not bother to identify true genuine war refugees, implanting an ideology that holds the Jew as the eternal enemy.

Those immigrants who arrived in Europe as refugees were already radicalized and brought their animus towards Jews with them. It then rapidly grew unchecked, rooted in that all too familiarly-fertile European bed of antipathy towards Jews.

ANTISEMITISM IS ON THE MARCH

One has only to look with horror at the astonishing reemergence into public British political life of arch antisemite and notorious Israel basher, George Galloway after winning the election in Rochdale, a town with a 30% Muslim population. This is indeed a dark day for Britain. “This is for Gaza,” he opened his acceptance speech following his win, accusing the opposition Labour Party of “enabling, encouraging and covering” Israeli actions in the war in Gaza.

In subsequent interviews, Galloway refused to say whether he believed that Israel had a right to exist and told one broadcaster that Israel was “killing more children every day than actually were being killed in Auschwitz.”

Fearing the turbulent ‘winds of change’, Mike Freer, the Conservative Justice Minister and MP for Finchley and Golders Green, which is home to a large Jewish population, announced recently he would not seek election again following death threats, abuse, and arson attack. Although Freer is not Jewish, he is a public supporter of Israel a member of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), which made him a prime target.

“The attacks by Muslims Against Crusades, Ali Harbi Ali and the recent arson attack …. have weighed heavily on me…” he wrote in a letter to the chairman of the Conservative Party’s Finchley and Golders Green branch.

There were also other candidates that received death threats all amounting to a terrible indictment of what is happening in England.

A land once renowned for its tolerance, Britain’s city streets today are the unsettling settings for huge anti-Israel demonstrations. They occur nearly every weekend and have been tainted by ugly antisemitic chants and slogans.

In their distorted minds, Hamas leaders see themselves as been successful in this latest round of fighting generating tremendous support from all over the world towards the Palestinian cause.

On his visits to Germany, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who supports terrorists’ organizations including Hamas, urged Turkish immigrants to resist assimilation, which he called a crime against humanity, and to teach their children to speak and read Turkish before German. Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952.

So, what we see is a Europe paying a high price – and will pay even more in the future – for not requiring as a passport for residency, the assimilation or integration of Muslim immigrants into European culture.

Coupled with the failure of multiculturalism, we have also witnessed how over 40 years a whole generation of academicians and teachers has been craftily induced by a long-planned campaign to turn against the Jewish state. It started slowly with contributions to universities to set up departments that would present a specifically anti-Israel narrative and appoint staff in other areas who would share such an agenda until it became the accepted narrative. Billions were invested in setting up an infrastructure of ideological hatred. This has been the case in the US where they carelessly let it happen. As a result, there is so much prejudice across Western societies and an unwillingness to hear alternate points of view.

A notable example would be John Louis Esposito who promotes his agenda through his positions at Georgetown University as professor of religion and of Islamic studies and founding director of the center for Muslims-Christian Understanding (renamed after Prince Alwaleed bon Talal following his $20 million gift in 2005). Esposito has spent more than 40 years, lately on the Saudi payroll, misinforming the public.

A backer of the BDS movement, Esposito has signed a letter calling on “scholars and librarians within Middle East studies to boycott Israeli academic institutions”. The letter pledges “not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel.”

On Twitter, Esposito has conjured antisemitic references to the “Jewish Lobby” echoing the age-old canard about Jews controlling foreign governments.

Also in Britain, Kings’ College, one of the UK’s most prestigious colleges, has been offering a course on counter terrorism peddling bias and misinformation about Israel. Anna Stanley, a former civil servant who attended the counter terrorism course as part of her studies, noted that should the course have taken place following Hamas’ October 7 attack, it would have been “contextually justified as ‘merely the oppressed countering the oppressor’.”

In trying to understand why we are in this current predicament, there are two sets of academic literature aimed at helping policy makers grapple with the threat of radical Islam.

The first set of ideas supported by Esposito, treats the religious motive as irrelevant. They are not concerned about political Islam as an ideology but only about individual acts of violence committed in its name.

A second set of scholars acknowledge that factors such as poverty and bad governance are relevant but argue that US policy makers should take seriously the religious ideology that underlies violence.

Where the world has failed is its focus on acts of violence while ignoring the major issue of the ideology that justifies, promotes, celebrates, and encourages violence and the methods used to spread that ideology.

The uptick in global hate against Israel and Jews worldwide is exacerbated by the obsessive nonstop biased reporting on Israel by TV news works generally and by the Qatari state-owned media network Al Jazeera in particular. It came as little surprise that U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during his visit to Doha on October 13, 2023, BEFORE Israel launched its retaliatory assault on Gaza, reportedly asked Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to “turn down the volume” of Al Jazeera’s Gaza coverage. 

 If anything, the vitriol and unabated hateful reportage has been amplified.

Following the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust, the leading victorious powers collectively pledged that nothing like this should ever be allowed to happen again. And here we are 80 years later, and the savage malignancy of antisemitism is sweeping across the globe, unleashed by Hamas’ murderous assault on Israel on October 7.

About the writer:

Sidney Kaplan is originally from  Cape Town South Africa and a founding member of ‘Manof’, a moshav founded in the Galilee in 1978. Today, he is retired, having been involved in marketing in Cape Town prior before coming to Israel, and in Israel, one of three partners involved in the flower growing industry for export.

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).

Concerns this past International Women’s Day for Israel’s women hostages in Gaza and honouring women soldiers in the IDF.

By Dena Pantanowitz

As a South African on International Women’s Day, I recognised and celebrated the heroic role of women soldiers in the IDF who dedicate themselves to defending their home while promoting and yearning for peace.

The role of women soldiers in the IDF illustrates the superlative strides Israel has made towards gender equality in the armed forces. These brave women serving on the front lines from flying a fighter jet or rescue helicopter to manning a tank, demonstrate unwavering courage and commitment to safeguarding Israel’s security and protecting its citizens. Their dedication and sacrifice exemplify the strength and resilience of women in the face of terrible adversity.

Following some 3,000 terrorists from Gaza bursting through Israel’s border on October 7 to rampage murderously through southern regions, women IDF soldiers were soon in the thick of the action, including an all-female tank unit that fought for hours, killing dozens of attackers along the border and in communities attacked by Hamas.

When this group of young combat women were woken at 6:30 a.m. on October 7, they had no idea they would be making history. Part of a company of all-women tank operators – only made permanent in 2022 following a two-year pilot programme – they were about to experience real action. Thundering along country roads to get to the communities under attack, they soon came under massive assault and responded by running down terrorists, and securing breaches on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Informed that there were attackers in all the trees around, “We started firing bunker busters at the terrorists that were up close, and then mortar shells at those further away,” Michal, an officer in the unit, told Channel 12.

“I could see the hits, I saw [the terrorists] fall down,” she added. These women had to improvise. Another commander, Hila, explained that none of them had been trained on the weapons system installed on the armored Humvee but “Within 10 minutes, we’d all become experts: how to run it, how to fire, how to slam the brakes.”

“We approached the border and saw burned bodies of terrorists in the trees. We were still firing as we went through to make sure we got everyone.”

At the end of the day, female soldiers were also among those killed by Hamas and among those taken hostage alongside their male counterparts.

And then there are the women that were taken off into captivity like the spoils of war. These women endure unimaginable suffering, subjected to captivity, sexual abuse, and exploitation. Their basic human rights are being violated, and their voices silenced under the oppressive regime of Hamas. Our hostages are not part of history, they are our present, and they need our voice!

I have just returned from a mission to Israel and have seen with my own eyes the absolute devastation since 7 October. This was a systematic massacre by Hamas on our people, innocent woman, children, men and the elderly were slaughtered. We cannot sit back and be quiet.

On International Women’s Day, we stood in solidarity with the courageous women soldiers of the IDF and advocated for the release of all hostages, especially the 19 women and children held captive in Gaza. It is incumbent upon the international community to condemn such violations of human and women’s rights and work towards ensuring the safe return of these women to their families and loved ones.

As we celebrated the achievements and contributions of women worldwide, we remembered those who continue to suffer in silence. We must amplify their voices and demand justice and freedom for all women, regardless of their circumstances or background.

As a Jewish woman, I will be a voice for all our woman that cannot use their voices right now; we cannot let their silent cries be unheard.

Let us be their voice not only today but every day.

About the writer 

A “proud Jewish wife and mom” from South Africa, Dena Pantanowitz, participated in February’s community leadership’s solidarity mission to 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).