Gaza  has liberated people across the world to openly express their hate for Jews.

By David E. Kaplan

It sounds disgusting because it is disgusting.

The more pictures and video clips of suffering Gazans flood the media market, the more people across the world feel free – nay I say feel “liberated” – to once again publicly and proudly release their suspended or suppressed hatred of Jews. No longer the type of ‘civilized’, accepted or sanitized antipathy of the 1950s and 1960s that I recall from my native South Africa in the shape of refusing membership to Jews at golf clubs or being called “Hymie” at school.  No, Gaza has now presented a free pass to all across this planet that Jews anywhere are legitimate targets for abuse and very much worse.

The result is they turf you off planes even if you are a group of 50 French Jewish youth movement kids returning home as a Spanish airline saw fit to do; kick you out of restaurants and camp sites, refuse your booking at hotels, spit at you, punch and kick, set fire to you when you are in a synagogue and even shoot you dead as you leave a Jewish event. This is not the Germany of the 1930s but much of the world in 2025 and Gaza opened the floodgates of this ‘liberated’, unabashed hatred! While the verb ‘liberate’  would normally be understood to mean “to free”, here it is a return  to the automatic position of antipathy held over millennia now explosively unleased by Gaza.

The more the people of Gaza appear via the media to be suffering, the freer the people of the world  feel to safely return  to their default position of not only comfortably despising Jews but publicly expressing it – whether verbal or by violence. There is a calibrated correlation. When confronted over their dastardly acts against random Jews whether in Europe, UK, US, Canada or Australia, they respond in amplified verbiage containing the word “GAZA” – as if it’s an obvious satisfactory explanation or accepted legal defense. As he was dragged away after gunning down dead two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, 31-year-old Chicago-born Elias Rodrigues, shouted:

“…I did it for Gaza.”

This is reminiscent of the Middle Ages when killing Jews was not a universally illegal act and was often not punished, and sometimes even encouraged by authorities.  For much of the Middle Ages, the GAZA then was the Black Death, when pogroms against Jews were permitted or even instigated by government officials across Europe.  What has really changed when corruption of the truth back then and corrupting the truth today results in the same  mass hatred leading to persecution of Jews?

Google ‘current rise in antisemitism’  – as I did – and you will be instantly met with endless links  to articles like:

• Gaza conflict leads to rise in antisemitism

• Reflection & Resilience: A Year of Unprecedented Antisemitism

• U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Skyrocketed 360% in Aftermath of Attack in Israel

• Driven by Israel-Gaza War, Antisemitism in U.S. Reached an Unprecedented High in 2023

• Protracted war in Gaza partly to blame for ‘unprecedented’ wave of Australian antisemitic attacks, experts say

• SWC Alarmed by Unprecedented Surge in Anti-Semitic Incidents in Germany

• Huge rise in antisemitic abuse in UK since Hamas attack, says charity

What do all these articles – and can go on and on –  have in common? All record increasing violence against Jews unleashed by the media mania’s contrived coverage of Gaza portraying Israelis as Nazis on a murderous spree of innocent Palestinians.  Intentionally neglected in this narrative is that Israel:

– is engaged in an existential war with an enemy that perpetrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

– that this enemy had proudly pledged to repeat such massacres in the future and

– that they are holding hostages in horrendous conditions facing imminent death.

FUELING THE FRENZY

With the mass hysteria against Jews persisting unabated, it does beg the question that if the war in Gaza was suddenly brought to an end, would the incidents of antisemitism commensurately dissipate? Probably because there would be much less visual media coverage which is fueling the frenzy.  But then again, it would only be a question of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ that some other peg will appear for willing folk to happily hang their antisemitism on.

All this begs the question:

Have we crossed a bridge beyond what Israelis would commonly respond with “Kacha ze” (ככה זה) meaning “This is how it is” or has a threshold been breached where the lives of Jews globally are in mortal danger? Simply put:

Is there today no safe place for Jews anywhere on this planet without the provision of serious security?

A disturbing harbinger is the language of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who after accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza said:

“We have no atomic bombs to stop Israel”.

Accusing Israel of a false genocide, the leader of a country that has a notorious history of antisemitism, threatens the Jewish state with a real genocide. The Spanish PM laments, “If only I had an atom bomb.”

The Iberian prime minister’s careful word choice reveals his deep-rooted national inclination – what the Spanish Inquisition did not ultimately achieve – wiping out any trace of Jews!

With the way the world today looks upon Jews is an unsettling reminder why there is not only the need of an Israel but a strong defensible Israel that can safeguard a Jewish future to ensure in the words of Israel’s illustrious late foreign minister, Abba Eban:

“Israel’s future will be longer than its past”

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).

Misguided Western concepts for the Middle East and hope for Gaza

By Neville Berman

Despite the superb oratory ability of Winston Churchill to rally Britain during the Second World War, the Conservative Party and Churchill were defeated in the 1945 elections. Clement Atlee, the Labour Party leader became Prime Minister and Ernest Bevin was appointed as Foreign Secretary.  

Bevin was determined to see to it that the Balfour Declaration, with its promise of a “national home for the Jewish people in Palestine” would not be implemented. He placed restrictions on the number of Jews who could immigrate to Palestine, and implemented a naval blockade to prevent shipments of arms for the Jews in Palestine. In addition, Britain armed, trained, and sent a British general by the name of Glubb Pasha to lead the Jordanian army known as the Arab Legion.  

In February 1947, faced with continuing violent opposition by both Jews and Arabs in Palestine to British administration, Britain decided to terminate its Mandate and hand it back to the United Nations to decide what should be done with the territory.

On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted on Resolution 181 known as the Partition Plan for Palestine. The plan called for two separate states, a Jewish State and an Arab State. The word Arab and not Palestinian was used as the term Palestinian referred to both Jews and Arabs living in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea at the time.

In 1947, there were 57 members of the United Nations. The Resolution was adopted by 33 votes in favour, with 13 objections,10 abstentions and 1 country, Thailand, not attending. All 10 Muslim countries that were members of the UN voted against the resolution. Cuba, Greece and India joined the ten Muslim countries in objecting. The vote was carried by a 72% majority. The area offered to the Jews was a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea and the desert area south of Beersheba stretching down to Eilat on the Red Sea. Almost none of the biblical land of Israel was offered to the Jews. Despite this, the Jews accepted the plan. The Arabs rejected it outright.

What is often overlooked is that the Partition Plan included an important third partition. The cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, would be placed under international administration. The intention of this clause was to ensure that the Jews would not control this area and that all the main Christian holy sites would be controlled by international administration. It seems reasonable to assume that the words “international administration” was used as a synonym for European Christian countries controlling these important religious sites.

This clause ensured that the Partition Plan received the approval that it got. Despite the fact that the Catholic Church had established its headquarters in Rome, and other Christian break away movements were also established in Europe, Jerusalem and Betlehem will always remain central to Christianity. With the exception of the Evangelical Christians in America, most Christian churches oppose Jewish sovereignty over the holy sites of Christendom and especially sovereignty over Judea (West Bank) which is part of the heartland of biblical Israel. This position is evident in the latest rush of western countries to support a Palestinian State that will encompass Judea.  

The United States of America, led by President Truman, was the first country to recognize the Jewish State. However, the American State Department under George Marshall, was opposed to this decision. He believed that supporting Israel would offend the Arabs and jeopardise Arab oil supplies to America. Marshall refused to supply Israel with a single bullet. This policy continued for the next 19 years. It was only after the Six Days War in 1967, that America began supplying Israel with military assistance. 

On May 14, 1948 the British Mandate of Palestine ended. The last act by the British before leaving, was to hand the British built fort at Latrun to the Arabs. The fort controlled the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The British were determined to see to it that the Jewish State would not get Jerusalem.   

The same day that Britain withdrew, Ben Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the sovereign State of Israel. Five Arab countries immediately launched a war of annihilation against the Jewish state. Both Britain and America were of the opinion that Israel would not survive more than a month. After that, there would be a huge outcry of crocodile tears proclaiming how sorry the world was for the latest annihilation of the Jews. What they had overlooked was that the Jews in Israel were not alone. Millions of Jews in the diaspora supported Israel. American Jews donated the money needed to buy arms and fighter aircraft from Czechoslovakia. Thousands of Jewish volunteers from all over the world came to help Israel.

In 1948, six hundred thousand Jews were living in Israel.  They miraculously managed to repulse the attacks of 5 Arab armies. The Arab Legion took East Jerusalem and Judea, the area now known as the West Bank. Not a single country accused Jordan of occupying East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Jordan immediately expelled all the Jews living in East Jerusalem and destroyed all the synagogues in the area under their control. Israel paid a heavy price for its independence, losing 1% of its Jewish population. After the war, Ben Gurion paid tribute to those Jews in the diaspora that supported Israel. He stated:

 “You came to Israel in our greatest hour of need. Without you we could not have succeeded.”

In the years following the war, over 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries. All their property and belongings were confiscated. Over 650,000 arrived penniless in Israel. They had lived in the Middle East for thousands of years and spoke fluent Arabic and used Hebrew for prayers. They were immediately granted Israeli citizenship. The beginning of the ingathering and return of the Jews to the land of Israel as predicted by the Jewish Prophets was clearly evident. 

After the Israeli victory in the War of Independence, not a single Arab country wanted to accept Palestinian refugees as immigrants. They were placed in refugee camps to be cynically used to threaten Israel. The UN established a special body called UNRWA that has a mandate not to solve the Palestinian refugee problem, but to perpetuate it. Palestinian refugee rights have been extended to all descendants of the original refugees. There are over 100 million refugees in the world. None of them have the rights of Palestinian refugees.

In 1948, Israel did not gain control of all of Jerusalem or Judea. The Christian world could live with that. In1967, President Nasser, the charismatic leader of Egypt promoted Pan Arabism and threatened Israel with annihilation. On the morning of June 5, 1967, Israel in a pre-emptive air force attack, destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground.  In six days, Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem, the Golan heights, all of Judea, (West Bank) Gaza and the Sinai. 

This created a huge problem for the Church, especially the Catholic Church, that had been preaching for over 2,000 years that Christianity had replaced Judaism, and that the Jews were a wandering people without a homeland, and had been forsaken by God. The events that took place between 1948 and 1967 clearly demonstrated that none of this was true. In 1988, Jordan renounced its claim to East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The rush to recognize a Palestinian State by Western countries in the next UN General assembly, will increase the tsunami of hatred and antisemitism that is presently spreading across the world. It will not solve anything. No amount of appeasement will satisfy militant Islamists. They are not interested in co-existence. Their aim is a world dominated by Sharia law. Democracy, the rule of law, human rights and women’s rights are the very opposite of the teachings of the holy Quaran. Militant Islam threatens the very foundational pillars of Western civilization from within. It’s time to face reality. The worst possible decision is appeasement.

There are 22 Arab countries in the Middle East. Creating a non- viable 23rd Arab country called Palestine is not a solution. It will not solve the Palestinian refugee problem. It will provide another base for Iran, Turkey and Russia to spread chaos across the middle east. The situation in the middle east will become even more complicated and explosive. The UN now has 195 member countries. It is obsessed with demonizing the only Jewish State in the world. It has lost all its moral authority. The Palestinians have refused 5 offers of a state living side by side with Israel. The best that the Palestinians can now be offered is autonomy in Area A and part of Area B of the Oslo Accords and autonomy in Gaza.  

Surprisingly, Gaza can actually become a success story. There is a high probability of huge deposits of gas off the coast of Gaza. Drilling will cost hundreds of millions and will never take place if Hamas is in control of Gaza. The funding for rebuilding Gaza should start with the confiscation of the billions of dollars that the Hamas leaders living in exile have stolen from the people of Gaza. If gas is discovered, loans and grants to fully rebuild a peaceful and prosperous Gaza will be forthcoming. The return of all the hostages and the removal of Hamas is the prerequisite for solving the problems in Gaza. Without getting rid of Hamas, there will never be progress. Now is the time for the people in Gaza to seize the opportunity that has arisen. They need to realize that a better future is in their hands. They need to help kick Hamas out of Gaza.

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).

When the media turn into stenographers for Hamas rather than trusted sources for information.

By Rolene Marks

A wise person once said that there “are none so blind who will not see”.  If ever there was evidence of this, it has been the press coverage during Israel’s war with Hamas. We are inundated with headlines that routinely place blame on Israel and abdicate Hamas of any responsibility for their role in this war. Media outlets quote the Hamas-controlled casualty figures as fact and the latest slander is the accusation of a policy of mass starvation, despite the transparent sharing of information by the IDF’s COGAT unit, responsible for humanitarian aid. The heartbreaking images of Palestinian children who are emaciated has been proven to be of patients suffering from congenital diseases.

Facts be damned!

Many are wondering if the media have become stenographers for Hamas rather than trusted sources for information. We believe that we can fight Hamas’s carefully crafted propaganda campaign with facts; and in an ideal world, that is how it should be – but in the last two years, we have seen a frightening new phenomenon with the legacy media. The failure to report factually.

Is it lazy journalism – or something a lot more insidious?

It starts in the field.

We believe that if we take the foreign press to see the killing fields of the south, or the thousands of pallets of uncollected aid inside Gaza, that they will somehow see our side and what we are fighting.

Sadly, many have already written their stories before they see the evidence. I know this because in the last 9 months I have experienced it a few times when I have joined colleagues to cover events. Two specific incidents remain burned into my mind.

I recall a visit to Nir Oz on day 360 of the war with a group of foreign press and the few of us Israeli journalists. Nearly a year later, the stench of death assailed us as we walked through the ravaged Kibbutz. Standing outside the decimated home of Oded and Yocheved Lipschitz, we all stood listening to their daughter-in-law Rita share how the family hoped that whoever held him captive, recognized that he was one of several volunteers who would drive Palestinian children needing cancer treatment to Israeli hospitals. One of the foreign journalists, big grin on his face turned to another and said, “a little bit of destruction in this neighbourhood.” The journalist he directed this comment to, grinned in response.  It is impossible for me to express the anger and hurt witnessing that exchange. In February 2025, the Lipschitz family would lay Oded to rest. He was murdered in captivity and his remains were released alongside those of Shiri Bibas and her two flame-haired children, Kfir and Ariel in a grotesque ceremony during the ceasefire and hostage release agreement earlier this year.

The more recent example involves Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC. It is no secret that tensions between Jerusalem and Canberra have become increasingly tense since 7 October. Few can forget Foreign Minister Wong’s refusal to visit the decimated communities affected by the massacre, or the public trading of criticisms between government representatives of both countries in the wake of Australia’s stated intention to recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s UNGA.

Three weeks ago, I was part of a small press contingent taken into the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing to document the thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid that the UN and various aid agencies have been very slow to collect, while routinely accusing Israel of initiating a policy of mass starvation. Aid trucks with their drivers in them waiting for the greenlight from the UN, idled nearby and a UN vehicle was stationed close.

My report:

Journalists were given free rein to walk around and document what we were seeing. While we were under the watchful eye of the IDF there to protect us and answer any questions we may have had, none of the soldiers inhibited us in any way or told us that we HAD to share any specific information. What we witnessed spoke for itself. It spoke to everyone it seemed, except for the two correspondents from ABC.

Standing amongst the towers of aid marked UN, UNICEF and World Food Programme, with a solemn face, the ABC journalist said:

 “This is the face that Israel wants you to see how it is prosecuting the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

The reporter continued with his scathing report, trying to cast doubt on Israel’s claims. Several takes were needed to make it sufficiently withering in its delivery. The insinuation was that it was an orchestrated attempt by Israel to brush off accusations of deliberate starvation. Those of us who witnessed it were astounded. We could not believe what we were seeing.

Had they not seen exactly what we had? Mountains of food, hygiene kits, baby food and so much more rotting in the blazing heat waiting for collection by the very entities accusing Israel of starvation? It was no coincidence that once safely deposited back inside Israel; the two Australian ABC correspondents  beat a rather hasty retreat.

These two incidents demonstrate the alarming trend in agenda-based reporting. We must hold our media accountable to share facts and not editorial or personal agendas. Misrepresentation of facts and deliberate misinformation is creating a terrifying global climate of antisemitism and misguided foreign policy decisions. We cannot dismiss this trend – our safety is a stake. We need to hold our media accountable.

As media consumers, we are not powerless; we have agency and need to demand better from our press.

Lives depend on it – both Israelis and Palestinians.

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).

Whatsup in Gaza? Check out this illuminating WhatsApp exchange below.

By Mark Reichenberg

[Many Israelis over the last two years, especially intensifying in recent months,  have been inundated with WhatsApp’s, emails and calls from friends, family and former colleagues abroad relaying that they are “horrified”, “disturbed”, “astonished” or “in disbelief” of what they are reading or seeing in their news regarding what Israel is doing in Gaza. It has become a daily ritual in the global media for Israelis  – who are defending themselves in an existential war against a terrorist enclave holding their hostages – to see themselves maligned and their soldiers portrayed as arch villains.
For this reason, Lay of the Land chose to publish a WhatsApp exchange between an Israeli and a Londoner that, when written, was unintended for publication, however it is being published to display a microcosm encapsulating a daily common experience.

David E. Kaplan  Editor, Lay of the land]

Living in Kfar Saba in central Israel, I received a message on WhatsApp today (21 August, 2025) from a friend and former colleague (ex-UK presently living in Belgium), that I had served with on a public company board, and we have subsequently remained in friendly contact. Ever since the outbreak of the war, he has demonstrated caring towards our family and son in the IDF reserves, showing great concern for not only us, but Israel as well, yet his message below says so much….

“Hi Mark
I hope you are all okay.
Enough is enough and I don’t understand why this war continues. Help me understand as I am losing sympathy. Why keep killing children.
Sorry for my rant but I just needed to say something and get a view from an Israel citizen.”

I could not be angry with him for the message, because it is this writer’s belief that an intelligent, moderate and demonstrably morally good man has been overwhelmed by the flood of social media, fake news, an antisemitic UN and Jew hating UN Secretary-General, along with morally bankrupt Western governments and leaders, especially of the despicable ilk of Starmer, Macron and Albanese – all of whom, like most the world, have or are succumbing to the Hamas propaganda machine – and God knows that Hamas is beating Israel hands down at that game.

So, instead of berating him, as he is a good man and I believe genuinely frustrated, and he has probably been bashed in his social circles for any kind of support he has shown for Israel, I chose to outline some facts for him, all publicly known worldwide, but glossed over and conveniently “forgotten” by all those mentioned above, and so I responded thus:

“Killing what children? Or are you also succumbing to the Hamas propaganda machine with the false images and facts.

You are right, enough is enough but let’s put it in perspective:

• Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023, brutally murdering and raping innocent civilians in their homes and beds.
• ⁠Hamas brutally murdered and beheaded babies in front of their parents at the same time.
• ⁠Hamas entered a music festival and mowed down young, unarmed Israelis who were attending the festival.
• ⁠Hamas filmed and live streamed their actions on Facebook and YouTube including the burning and murder of babies.
• ⁠Hamas took hundreds of innocent hostages into their tunnels, murdering and raping many of them.
• ⁠Hamas then launched thousands of rockets on Israel aimed at CIVILIAN areas and cities, not military bases.

Had this happened in any other country, the country that attacked would have been obliterated within 48 hours or less.

Now let’s look at some facts – well known and admitted by Hamas.

• Hamas use the civilians and children as human shields (war crime).
• ⁠Hamas fires rockets into civilian areas aimed at civilians (war crime).
• ⁠Hamas rapes, murders and starves the hostages (war crime).
• ⁠Hamas denied access to the hostages by the Red Cross (war crime).
• ⁠Hamas fires its rockets; stores its weapons and runs military bases from schools and hospitals (war crime).
• ⁠I could go on and on….

Israel before bombing, instituted and still institutes civilian warnings and the knock-knock system so that civilians can leave the areas. As has been seen in the press, Hamas does not let them leave and shoots their own civilians who try.

Now let’s look at humanitarian aid. Which country in the world allows humanitarian aid into the country that attacks it to feed the attackers and their population? There is NO starvation in Gaza, thousands of truckloads of food go into Gaza and are hijacked by Hamas. Yet images prevail in the press of full Gazan markets, overflowing with everything and fresh food beautifully presented. It has been proven time and time again that the images of starvation are false and from other countries in many cases.

The war could have ended on day 2, all that had to be done was that Hamas returned all the hostages, and it would have been done. Instead, they held them, murdered most INCLUDING STRANGLING AND MURDERING TWO BABIES THEY TOOK AS HOSTAGES IN FRONT OF THEIR MOTHER IN THEIR TUNNELS and on a hostage exchange barbarically substituted the mothers remains with some dead Palestinian woman’s remains.

And all this under full support of UNWRA and the United Nations who condemn Israel at every move and refuse to condemn Hamas.

The UN and most of Europe has devolved to 1939, praising the destruction of the Jewish people – and why? Because Israel is a successful nation (you can only be messaging now because of Israeli innovation). Because the Jews and Israel refuse to roll over and be slaughtered again like in the Holocaust?

And still Hamas refuses to hand over the hostages, because without holding the hostages they no longer have a reason to exist.

And don’t cry about “innocent Palestinians “. There is no such thing. They grow up being taught that to murder a Jew is a blessing; they support Hamas. If there were innocent Palestinians, they would have handed the hostages back or told the IDF where they were.

You sadly have fallen foul of the totally one-sided UN and EU.

If you want to educate yourself on this, and this not coming from an Israeli, I suggest you look up Douglas Murray on YouTube and start watching his speeches and interviews from October 7 onward. He is an Englishman in the UK in politics, not Jewish but extremely rational.

There are no children being murdered, get that propaganda out your head now.

I always was proud of how rational you are and how you look at the whole picture – I think you should do that now….”

Our discussions continue, and he has certainly stated his support for the war to end and the view that Netanyahu must go, stating “All I would like to see is the war ended, no more war crimes” and continuing with “I want Hamas gone… I hope your family are safe as I am sure they have been called to arms and fight.”

We remain friends and will continue to talk and hopefully his view will once again affirm his obvious support of Israel.

About the writer:

Mark Reichenberg is a Chartered Accountant (South Africa) (CA. SA.) with over 30 years of international financial leadership, currently focused on taking Israeli and non-UK based companies to IPO and admission on the London Stock Exchange. Having managed multimillion-dollar listings, Mark established London AIM Advisory Services to guide Israeli companies through the full London IPO lifecycle — from investor introductions to funds raised and post-listing governance.
Mark is married with two adult children and lives in Kfar Saba, 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).

A way forward to releasing hostages and bringing peace to Gaza

By Peter Bailey

The hostage crisis that has bedevilled Israel for almost two years since the barbaric invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, has been leveraged by the Hamas leadership to its utmost advantage. Besides the carnage on the day, which included the murder of women and children, rape, disfiguration and the burning of  live victims, including children, Hamas dragged 251 men, women and children into captivity to be held as hostage.  224 living hostages were taken as well as the bodies of 27 victims who were killed by Hamas during the initial attack. The current impasse is totally unacceptable, with Hamas manipulating global public opinion against  Israel while the Jewish state battles the double challenge of trying to stem the tide of mass media hysteria and ensuring that a similar terror attack never happens again. 

Numerous attempts have been made to arrange for temporary cease fire arrangements, which have resulted in 205 hostages being released or rescued to date. The following information is on the Foreign Ministry’s Hostages and Missing Persons Report as at 22 June 2025. 

As of 22 June 2025, 50 hostages are still being held in captivity in Gaza. Of these, 49 were abducted on October 7 and one hostage (Hadar Goldin) has been held in Gaza since 2014.

To date, 205 people were rescued or released from Hamas captivity. 148 of the hostages returned alive and 57 deceased.

While these figures are cold statistics, they tell us that almost 82% of the hostages taken on 7 October 2023 have been either released or rescued. Tragically, Hamas and its fellow terrorist groups in Gaza are still holding 50 captives as hostages for ransom. The world has by and large remained silent about the hostages and their fate, even the International Red Cross,  which has a mandated responsibility to do its utmost to care for and arrange for the release of hostages has been silent, except for making regular demands to visit the terrorists captured in Gaza since the horrific attack on 7 October.  

Negotiations for the release of the hostages have largely been entrusted to Qatar and Egypt, with numerous intercessions by the United States. The choice of Qatar and Egypt as mediators is quite disconcerting, as both have a far closer relationship with Hamas than they have with Israel, and can under no circumstances be classified as impartial. Qatar is the owner and funder of the Al Jazeera news network, which can be considered as the public relations arm of the Gaza terrorist factions. Since 7 October 2023, Al Jazeera has published material, often unsubstantiated, that has had immense negative influence on global public opinion regarding Israel’s current war in Gaza. This could not be pursued without the approval of the government of Qatar. 

Egypt, in contrast to Qatar, is opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, the spiritual mentors of Hamas and its terrorist fellow traveller, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. While ostensibly joining the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Egypt has regularly turned a blind eye to the passage of war materials and many other necessities required by Hamas to develop the labyrinth of tunnels that crisscross  Gaza from end to end. These are the very tunnels in which many of the hostages have been and are still being held captive, and from which Hamas terrorists stage surprise attacks on  Israeli Defense Force personnel. How the many white Toyota Hilux pickup trucks used on 7 October were imported into Gaza remains an open question.  

Qatar is a different kettle of fish altogether, being strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood, making Qatar itself a follower of stringent Islamic fundamentalism. Qatar, a hereditary dictatorial monarchy, has regularly provided a safe haven for Muslim Brotherhood members who have fallen out with their host countries, which has historically resulted in tense and often fractured relationships with the other Sunni Muslim states in the Gulf region and beyond. Qatar’s penchant for providing a safe haven for Muslim Brotherhood adherents has resulted in the monarchy becoming home to the external leadership of Hamas. This has been the case since a personal request in 2011 by then US president Barack Obama for Qatar to provide an external office for the Hamas leadership. His rationale was that it would be easier to negotiate with the Hamas leaders in Qatar, a favoured US ally, than in its previous base in Iran, the primary sponsor of Hamas. Since that time, not only does Hamas have an office in Qatar, but its so-called political leadership, who are essentially terrorists in exile, have luxurious living quarters for themselves and their families in the capital city of Doha. 

The support provided by Qatar  to Hamas did not end with providing an external headquarters, but has included substantial financial handouts since the overthrow of the Palestinian Authority Government in Gaza by Hamas in 2007. Since then, it is reliably estimated that Qatar has transferred some $1.8 billion to Hamas, in addition to  regular monthly $30 million payments to the terrorists,  facilitated by the Israeli Government since 2018. Qatar has also been a generous sponsor of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Gaza terrorist group who participated in the atrocities committed on 7 October 2023. The flow of money from Qatar was briefly interrupted during the 18-month period of the Bennet/Lapid governments, who refused to allow Israel to facilitate the payments. The Netanyahu government reinstated the monthly payment facility immediately after the current coalition came to power in December 2022. 

Financial contributions to Hama appear to have stopped after 7 October 2023, but Qatar, as the host of the Hamas leadership, found itself ideally placed to become a leading mediator, as did Egypt,  in view of its shared border with Gaza. While most of the hostage negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt that have taken place have borne no fruit, there can be little doubt that neither are unbiased mediators. With the same old staggered and partial release deals for release of the hostages once again on the negotiating table, the time for a fresh approach to ending the hostage crisis  is long overdue. 

PATH TO PEACE

Affirming the close relationship as allies between the United States and Qatar, President Donald Trump expressed on 14 May 2023  that  Qatar “is a great friend of the United States.”  Furthermore, Trump appears to have a very close personal relationship with the rulers of Qatar, who gifted him a $400 million luxury aircraft. Despite vis-vis Israel, Qatar being projected as an enemy state there is much evidence to the contrary and even Prime Minister Netanyahu has expressed that Qatar “is a friend” of Israel. Optimizing on these relationships, is it not long overdue that Trump and Netanyahu exercise leverage on their much-vaunted friend Qatar by insisting that the leaders of Hamas be taken into protective custody to be held until all the hostages held in Gaza have been released? Qatar would prove its bona fides by obliging to this not unreasonable and potentially life-saving request. Furthermore, it is the kind of positive action that a responsible government would be expected to take in the interests of saving lives with the added bonus and of elevating its international standing by effectively contributing to resolving global challenges. While Qatar’s immense wealth has bought it multiple privileges and quality international events – notably the 2022 FIFA World Cup – ending the hostage crisis, would cement Qatar’s much desired position as a respected world leader.

The friendship that has developed between Trump, Netanyahu and Qatar should be exploited to the hilt. Used strategically it could herald Hamas being “persuaded” to relinquish its political ambitions in Gaza including total disarmament. This could lead to a welcome new deal for the beleaguered people of Gaza and allow for the enclave to be rebuilt as a haven of peace with a great potential for prosperity and prove a showpiece of the possibility of a semi-autonomous Palestinian state living side-by-side and in peace with Israel. 

However, to achieve this, Qatar has the key.

The question is:

Can it be persuaded to use it to unlock the path to freeing the hostages and the citizens of Gaza from the catastrophic clutches of Hamas?

*Feature picture:
A Key Player. Exceeding 7m in length and 3m in width, Qatar set in 2016 a World Record feat for the ‘Largest Key’, which was previously held by Cyprus.  With its strong relations with Hamas, the writer believes Qatar holds another more important key – the key to bringing an end to the war in Gaza.

About the writer:
The writer, Peter Bailey, a military history buff, was a Major in the South African Army Reserve before making aliyah in 2013.  He is the author of two books: Street Names in Israel; and Men of Valor: Israel’s Latter Day Heroes. 

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

When media outlet Al-Jazeera operates as an asset of a belligerent party it steps onto the battlefield to fight not to report.

By Andrew Fox

The usual candidates are up in arms about the IDF killing Al Jazeera journalist, Anas Al-Sharif. These outraged commentators seem to have overlooked the substantial evidence that he was an active member of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, and therefore an entirely legitimate target (see the screenshots below). However, I would go further than that: I will now make the case that he was a legitimate target because he was an Al Jazeera journalist.

There is a dangerous myth in modern conflict: that “combatant” means a man with a rifle or a woman in a uniform. The misunderstanding is that unless you are pulling a trigger, you are somehow outside the fight. This is a comforting belief, especially for those who think war is neatly contained to trenches, tanks, and troops. However, in the 21st century, that is no longer true, and under the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), it has not been true for a long time.

“Participation in hostilities” is the legal point at which a civilian ceases to be protected from being targeted. This does not only refer to kinetic actions. It encompasses any act that is likely to negatively impact the military operations or capacity of a party to the conflict. During the WWII, this included railway switchmen guiding troop trains. In Afghanistan, it referred to unarmed insurgent spotters on hilltops radioing in troop movements.

Today, I contend that it also means information warriors.

Modern militaries no longer see information merely as a support tool. Instead, it is established as a joint force function, equal to manoeuvre, fires, and sustainment. NATO doctrine, US joint publications, and even Israel’s operational concepts treat the information environment as a domain where decisive effects can be attained.

In Gaza, the battle is not just fought in tunnels and streets. We are all too well aware that it is also fought in newsrooms, on satellite feeds, and across social media timelines. No single outlet has played a more pivotal role in shaping the global perception of the battlefield narrative than Al Jazeera.

Journalism is not a crime, even in war. Legitimate, good-faith journalists should never be military targets. However, the legal considerations shift if a media organisation, especially one funded by a party to the conflict, moves from just reporting to actively participating.

Al Jazeera is not a neutral observer. It is the flagship media arm of Qatar, a state that funds Hamas directly through hundreds of millions in cash infusions into Gaza. Qatar provides political sanctuary, hosting Hamas leadership openly in Doha, and runs strategic information campaigns amplifying Hamas narratives and suppressing their atrocities. This is not independent journalism. It is state-directed strategic communication, explicitly designed to influence the conduct of hostilities.

Oh boy, has it worked. Hamas’s dominance of the information battlespace has been on a par with any battlefield victory the IDF has won in Gaza. The role of Al Jazeera’s coverage has been decisive. They have had a critical role in bringing international pressure by saturating global audiences with emotive, selective imagery. This has mobilised street protests, driven foreign policy debates, and generated calls for ceasefires.

This pressure has materially constrained Israel’s freedom of manoeuvre, forcing the IDF to alter targeting timelines, suspend operations, and accept increased risk to its own troops. Therefore, by shaping global perception, Al Jazeera has increased the political cost of decisive action by the IDF, giving Hamas operational breathing space and prolonging the conflict. If that is not “direct participation in hostilities” under LOAC, then nothing is.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sets out three criteria for direct participation in hostilities:

Al Jazeera’s conduct fulfils all three criteria. The harm threshold is satisfied because their broadcasts have directly compromised IDF operations. A clear causal link exists between narrative shaping and operational constraints. This is well-documented and observable. Additionally, there is a belligerent nexus as their editorial stance explicitly aligns with Hamas’s strategic objectives and Qatar’s geopolitical interests.

Once those criteria are fulfilled, civilian protection is paused for as long as they participate. This is where the conversation becomes uncomfortable. We have been conditioned to see journalists as sacred non-combatants. Indeed, genuine independent journalism remains vital and protected, and there must be space for reporting mistakes, but this protection is not absolute. When a media outlet ceases to operate as an independent actor and instead functions as an operational asset of a belligerent party, it steps onto the battlefield, and on the battlefield, law and morality both demand that those who fight are treated as participants in the war.

Never mind that Al Jazeera’s journalists in Gaza double as active terror group members. Above and beyond that, I put it to you that the IDF is within its legal rights under LOAC to treat Al Jazeera’s Gaza-based personnel, facilities, and transmission infrastructure as legitimate military objectives. There is a further argument that Al Jazeera facilities worldwide have become actively involved in the conflict and, therefore, are legitimate military targets.

The conflict in Gaza is not just about bombs and bullets; it also involves hashtags, headlines, and live feeds. In that landscape, an enemy’s ability to wage war is not solely measured in rockets and rifles, but also in narrative dominance. Pretending otherwise does not make us more humane. It just leaves one side fighting with one arm tied behind its back.

The shocking global disinformation storm surrounding Gaza has been notable for its lack of accountability for major news outlets knowingly lying about the war and spreading falsehoods. If nothing else, establishing a clear threshold for crossing between journalist and targetable combatant might make these deceitful media organisations and reporters reconsider their journalistic standards.

About the writer:

A veteran of three grueling tours of Afghanistan, Major Andrew Fox holds a Batchelor’s degree in Law & Politics, a Master’s in Military History & War Studies, and is currently studying for a PhD in History.

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 world has swallowed Hamas’s expertly crafted propaganda.

By Rolene Marks

You should be horrified. I am. Horrified, enraged, and so very shattered. I hope you are too. I hope that this has shaken you wide-awake. The starved, emaciated images and footage of Israeli hostage Evyatar David, starved to his bones, held in a dark, airless tunnel, shirtless and wearing ragged cut off tracksuit pants digging his own grave is devastating. It is inhuman. For Jews who carry generational trauma, this took us back to our family members, the living dead in the death and concentration camps of Europe.

Blink and you will miss the beefy arm of a terrorist’s performative handing a can of lentils to him. The beefy, fat and well-fed arm of a Hamas terrorist.

Evyatar, described by those who know his as a gentle, kind soul who loves to play music, was stolen by Hamas from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023.

Released hostage Tal Shoham, who was held together with hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal before he was released in February, says he recognizes the tunnel. Speaking to Israel’s Channel 12, Shoham said:

“That is exactly the same tunnel where [released hostage] Omer [Wenkert], Evyatar, Guy and I were held”.

Reacting to the condition of Evyatar in the Hamas footage, Shohan continued:

 “I was shocked to the depth of my soul. He is broken mentally, emotionally. I can’t see any of the joy of life that he had managed to retain in his eyes now…. Really, a shell of the Evyatar I knew.”

Asked what the Hamas video does not show, Shoham says:

“behind the curtain they’ve put up, which is just one of the blankets we used, apparently Guy Gilboa-Dalal is standing or sitting because they don’t let them go to a different tunnel. And right behind the cameraman, there’s an iron door, and a well-lit room, with air conditioners and a group of terrorists who sit and sleep there. They have cable TV. They have plenty of food — food they have stolen from the humanitarian supplies that Israel sent in for a very long time. We could see that they were well fed, that they lacked for nothing. They also bragged about having stolen it, that they had months of supplies in that tunnel and all their tunnels.”

Rom Braslavski stayed behind at the Nova festival to try to help those injured. He was cruelly taken into captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another genocidal terrorist group.

The footage of an emaciated Rom Braslavski crying broke me into a million pieces. It should break you too. He cannot stand anymore and is in terrible pain. There are 18 other hostages we believe to still be alive and every second counts. Medical experts believe they have lost roughly 50% of their body weight and that they could suffer multiple organ failure very soon.  Hamas and other terror groups still hold the remains of 30 others.

With very few exceptions like the NY Post, the vast majority of the media either buried the story of emaciated and tortured Evyatar and Rom amongst other stories – or just neglected to publish, preferring to push their accusations against Israel of genocide and mass starvation.

Hamas know they can show anything they want to – they have the measure of the delirious Jew hatred many in the west are indulging. Israel may be winning on the kinetic battlefield – but losing the propaganda war as many swallow the lies. It is a propaganda war and what is needed now is for the silent majority to speak up loud and clear – before it is too late.

The exploitation of Palestinian children should infuriate you. The media, keen to add fodder to its carefully crafted narrative dedicate to demonizing the Jewish state, have trotted out the photos of children with congenital diseases as proof of “mass starvation”. Nobody stopped to check the veracity – or apologise properly when it was eventually exposed. Did anyone honestly think that the terrorists who murdered, burnt families, raped and kidnapped would not use their own population as human shields or propaganda fodder? They said quite bluntly that they would! Again, and again. Many choose not to hear.

Hamas and their stenographers (of which the press play a major part) have seduced the masses by using pejoratives and sexy soundbites like accusing Israel of genocide and mass starvation and just about any other evil they can drum up. Sadly, it is working.

The accusations of genocide are particularly preposterous. Not only has it been routinely debunked by the failure of the media and the masses to ask the little questions allows a lie to fester. Let us look at one example – the IDF inoculated well over 500, 000 children against polio in September 2024. Never before in a “genocide” has a population’s children been inoculated to guard against polio, or humanitarian aid facilitated by land, sea and air. Are these the actions of people accused of genocide? Yes, Gaza looks disastrous – but to understand what is happening above ground, you have to understand what has been happening below ground.

The media’s failure to investigate and just take the word of a terror organization verbatim, a terror organisation whose foundational charter extols the extermination of the Jewish state and people, over a democratic ALLIED state is unconscionable.

Hamas are the masters of propaganda. One only had to look at the hostage release scenes, which were a veritable theatre of the grotesque to understand exactly who Israel is dealing with – but most, failed to take the lessons on board.

The accusation of mass starvation persists, despite the images of “starving children” having been debunked. The media purposefully ignore the successful efforts of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to feed hungry civilians. The UN and various aid organisations failures to collect and distribute aid after it has entered and cleared the crossings is not just ignored, it is blamed on Israel.  I visited the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing a few days ago at the collection point. I saw mountains of aid left standing in the sun. Some of the boxes were open and we could see flour, cooking oil, baby food, hygiene products for children, women’s hygiene products, toiletries, tomato sauce, canned tuna, sugar, sacks of potatoes and onions and so much more. Boxes were labeled “UNICEF”, “UN” and “World Food Programme” amongst the many. Trucks stood idle with the drivers waiting for the instructions from the UN to load up and go towards civilian sites. It was infuriating and frustrating to see so much waste.

I also witnessed the western media propaganda-swallowing machine in action with my own eyes. I watched as two ABC Australian reporters who had walked the same aid wasteland as I did, do their piece on camera. Puffed up with a full load of self-righteous indignation, the Middle East correspondent said with a completely straight face “this is the face that Israel wants you to see in their argument about how they are prosecuting humanitarian aid.” Sorry, what? You saw what we all saw and now you are spinning it in order to pander to your narrative that casts Israel as the evil pariah in all of this?

It is pointless calling people antisemitic – they are immune to it and quite proud of it. This is something much more nefarious that there is not even a definition for it yet. This obsession with demonizing Israel, this inability to see reason or logic – or even evidence. Seduction by propaganda is easy to implement when the culprit, in this case Hamas, understands the latent hatred that lies in many, dying to be let loose under the guise of self-righteous indignation.

It is an imperative to fight back – no matter how outnumbered we think we are. Every single one of us has a responsibility we need to take on.

 Every single one of us has a moral obligation and responsibility to speak for our hostages. The living and the dead without exception. Every single one of us MUST FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE AVALANCHE OF LIES AND PROPAGANDA. Lives depend on it. Literally.

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).