Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

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What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

The Israel Brief

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Articles

(1)

‘CLOSED CIRCUIT’ OPENS MINDS TO TERRORISM

Observations and insights in chilling documentary about 2016 terrorist attack in the heart of Tel Aviv

By David E. Kaplan

The evening of 8 June 2016 was a Midsummer Nights’ Nightmare at Tel Aviv’s popular Sarona market, when two ISIL-inspired Palestinian terrorists sat down at a table at ‘Max Brenner’, removed their firearms and shot randomly – killing and wounding in a murderous rampage. Now made into a chilling documentary, its showing followed by a panel discussion at Reichman University’s Counter-Terrorism Conference,  proved unnerving as it was illuminating.

‘CLOSED CIRCUIT’ OPENS MINDS TO TERRORISM

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(2)

THE GREATEST BRITON

A tribute to ‘The Queen’ of our times

By Rolene Marks

From the writer’s perspective in Israel, “David Ben Gurion was Prime Minister” when the globally lamented Queen Elizabeth II “ascended the throne”. Her 1947 declaration on her 21^st birthday in Cape Town, South Africa that “… my whole life. whether it be long or short. shall be devoted to your service…” was thankfully “long” and explains why her funeral is expected “to be the most viewed event in history.”

THE GREATEST BRITON

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(3)

Poland & Lithuania

A sad tale of two countries

By Stephen Schulman

Grateful to the foresight of all his four grandparents who left Eastern Europe for South Africa over a 100 years ago, the Holocaust was part of the writer’s “education and consciousness”  but hardly touched him personally until he came to Israel and married Yona. Born to parents in a DP Camp in Germany before emigrating to Israel, Yona’s family’s history brought home to the writer the intimate horrors of what befell Europe’s once thriving Jewish communities.

Poland & Lithuania

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LOTL Co-founders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

Like this content? Please share and tweet it to your friends and followers.

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted.

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

The Israel Brief

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It felt as if all global news was suddenly suspended as the news out of Balmoral Castle, Scotland broke. It made little difference that at 96 her passing could hardly be unexpected. It was! Over the seven decades of her reign, the world changed, leaders came and went, but Queen Elizabeth II – resolute and radiant – constantly inspired and uplifted the spirit of her people.

Articles

(1)
HONOURING ELI

Soldiering on, the indomitable spirit of Eli Kay- murdered by a terrorist in Jerusalem in 2021- is today back at his base

By David E. Kaplan

Murdered in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Old City in November 2021 has not stopped Eli Kay serving his country and his comrades in uniform. His positively infectious spirit that characterised his life now characterises the clubhouse on his former army base that has poignantly been named after him.  The writer attended the ceremony and reports on the moving event.

HONOURING ELI

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(2)

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HERZL

Musings and thoughts from the 125^th anniversary of the World Zionist Organisation and Congress recently held in Basel, Switzerland

By Rolene Marks

125 years after the first 208 delegates gathered in 1897 in Basel to discuss a vision for the establishment of a Jewish state, the writer joins 1400 fellow-inspired Zionists from across the world to celebrate the fulfillment of that vision. Share the writers moving observations and illuminating insights in the city that transformed a dream into a reality.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HERZL

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(3)

107 Years Late for Dinner

How I uncovered my Grandmother’s lost Identity

By Grant Gochin

Adopted, Bertha Lee Arenson’s final word’s on her deathbed to the writer, her grandson, were: “I wish I knew my real name,” and “who my family was.” So began a quest of research and search in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia that finally turned up not only the happy revelation of identity but the tragic truth of human barbarity.

107 Years Late for Dinner

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LOTL Co-founders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

Like this content? Please share and tweet it to your friends and followers.

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted.

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

THE ISRAEL BRIEF

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Articles

(1)

PLANE LIES

The heaven reveal Jordan’s concern for Palestinians is a lot of hot air

By David E. Kaplan

No sooner had the plane carrying Palestinian passengers on the first flight from an Israeli airport touched down in Larnaca, Cyprus, there were sparks – not on the runway – but between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. With Jordan accusing the Palestinians of betrayal and treason, will this welcomed first flight be destined to be the last?

PLANE LIES

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(2)

A CRY TO THE HEAVENS

Testimonies of terror  in Lithuania during the Holocaust

By Grant Gochin

This is a tough article to read but it MUST be read. While the ashamed in today’s present Lithuania try suppressing a dark history of complicity in the past, testimonies of survivors give voice to the mass of the brutally murdered Jews. Amongst these testimonies is the writer’s cousin, Sheyne Beder, who witnessed the cruel murder of the rabbi of Birzai – set alight and then shot. The murderers were Lithuanian!

A CRY TO THE HEAVENS

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(3)

“WHAT THE WORLD SAYS ABOUT ISRAEL IS UNFAIR, UNTRUE AND UNACCETABLE”

Tribute to the passing of Freda Keet whose inimitable “VOICE OF ISRAEL’ carried from Jerusalem across the globe

By David E. Kaplan

Those older enough, may well remember hearing the eloquent voice of investigative journalist, war correspondent and anchor of Israel’s English news service – Freda Keet – during the country’s tumultuous years from 1963 to1985. This former Rhodesian (today Zimbabwe), impacted global opinion-makers at a critical time in Israel’s history. While the sound of her voice is no more, her message resonates no less today.

“WHAT THE WORLD SAYS ABOUT ISRAEL IS UNFAIR, UNTRUE AND UNACCETABLE”

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LOTL Co-founders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

Like this content? Please share and tweet it to your friends and followers.

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted.

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

THE ISRAEL BRIEF

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Articles

(1)

MUNICH METAMORPHOSIS

Images from ‘blood on the tracks’ to ‘love on the tracks’

By David E. Kaplan

While most Jews and particularly Israelis have historically negative images of Munich being once the capital of the Nazi movement and the Olympic setting for the mass murder of Israeli athletes in 1972,  this month in Munich the Israeli flag was proudly paraded following its athletes winning medals at the 2022 European Championships.

MUNICH METAMORPHOSIS

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(2)

MY FAVOURITE GENTLEMAN

Remembering a pioneer, Lay of the Land contributor, a gentleman and my friend.

By Rolene Marks

Making legal history in Israel, Jonathan Danilowitz didn’t just fight for what is right in the courtroom but also in the battlefield of public diplomacy. With the Jewish state facing a tsunami of hate, this former South African became a tireless advocate for Israel and Jewish issues and an inspiration to others – including the writer – in the battle against the purveyors of lies, distortions and irrational hatred.  

MY FAVOURITE GENTLEMAN

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(3)

THE LAST SHABBAT SUPPER

The day  – 80 years ago this week – my great grandfather ‘died’

By Jonathan Feldstein

It was the foresight of his great-grandparents to start getting their children out of Poland in the 1930s that the writer is alive today and can reflect from Israel that fateful terrifying ‘last’ Shabbat in 1942 when the remaining family – like all the Jews in Kańczuga – were rounded up and shot. While the bullets were German, the jeers from the those who lined up to celebrate or just watch, were Polish!

THE LAST SHABBAT SUPPER

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LOTL Co-founders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted.

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

THE ISRAEL BRIEF

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Articles

(1)

THREE DECADES LATER

The long arm of Iranian injustice takes out famed writer’s eye

By David E. Kaplan

There is no time limit on Iranian threats as Salman Rushdie was ruthlessly reminded and which Israel needs no reminder.  When Iran bellows “DEATH TO ISRAEL”, exhibits the Star of David on its paraded missiles and is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons, Israelis are not duped by false façades at the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna.

THREE DECADES LATER

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(2)

THE FATAL FLAWS OF THE ONE-STATE SOLUTION

Finding a solution – reappraising the Israel-Palestinian impasse

By Samuel Hyde

Since the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991, Palestinian leaders have walked away from every deal on the table because any “solution” that does not lead to the dissolution of Israel is ipso facto rejected. Currently compounding this process are present proposals from proponents of one-statism which are for the writer, more “ideological” than “well-reasoned”. Israel is not obliged to commit suicide!

THE FATAL FLAWS OF THE ONE-STATE SOLUTION

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(3)

5 EU COUNTRIES THAT SHOULDN’T BE THROWING STONES

Accusing Russia of rewriting the Holocaust for its current propaganda is fair – but not when you’ve always whitewashed the Holocaust for your own purposes

By Dr. Efraim Zuroff

While the Russians are manipulating history to justify its invasion of Ukraine, the plea by Eastern Europe leaders to set the record straight is in the words of the writer “the height of hypocrisy and chutzpah.” These are the very same countries guilty of creating false narratives of events in the Holocaust to cover up its own complicity in the systematic mass murder of Jews.

5 EU COUNTRIES THAT SHOULDN’T BE THROWING STONES

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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted. 

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

(*Listen to Rolene Marks discusses this week “Operation Breaking Dawn” on WINA/The Schilling Show)

THE ISRAEL BRIEF

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Articles

(1)

UNhealthy OBSESSION

The United Nations seems to be unable to loosen its grip on anti-Israel obsession

By Rolene Marks

Entrenched in an endless loop of defaming and delegitimising Israel, the writer questions the UN’s obsessional focus of maligning the Jewish state while ignoring the world’s worst offenders of human rights. Supposedly “dedicated to fighting antisemitism”, why is the universal global organisation its primary promoter?

UNhealthy OBSESSION

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(2)

LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

Considering the past, making the case for the present and for Israel

By David E. Kaplan

Despite these days of much talked about “global despair”, the writer questions what era in history would be preferable to the present? Man’s response to global problems with Israel in the vanguard makes the world a safer and healthier place.

LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

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(3)

LIVING UNDER FIRE

Israelis coping with barrage after barrage of rockets fired from Gaza

By Rolene Marks

A peaceful Shabbat in Modi’in in central Israel was interrupted by the wails of a sudden siren, sending the writer, her husband and ‘Jack’, their “very disciplined cat” running into the shelter. For 3 days, much of Israel’s southern population were doing the same as Islamic Jihad unleashed 1,100 rockets and mortars into Israel.  Israelis respond with resilience.

LIVING UNDER FIRE

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(4)

FLIGHTPLAN TO FREEDOM

The impact of a Russian Jewish pilot’s plot to hijack a Soviet plane to freedom

By Jonathan Feldstein

How do you judge success? Even though the attempt to steal an unoccupied civilian aircraft on 15 June 1970 by Jewish Soviet pilot Mark Dymshits and a group of sixteen “refuseniks” was unsuccessful, it inspired a generation of Jews to leave the USSR and seek freedom in Israel. The plane may not have taken off, but the movement it inspired, did!

FLIGHTPLAN TO FREEDOM

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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted. 

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

(*Listen to Rolene Marks discusses this week the recent visit by US President Biden to Israel on station WINA/ The Schilling Show)

THE ISRAEL BRIEF

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BORN IN WAR, ISRAEL LIVES WITH WAR

We pray it will not always be

Articles

(1)

A WORLD APART

Two perceptions of a campus bombing

By David E. Kaplan

Twenty years ago, nine students and staff were sitting in the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, relaxing, eating, chatting, and working on their futures. All that was taken away from them by a bomb that ended their lives. Meanwhile, on the 20^th anniversary of this massacre, the murderers are receiving a substantial increase to their monthly ‘salaries’!

A WORLD APART

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(2)

KING ABDULLAH’S LEGACY

Will the vision of peace of Abdullah I find traction with Abdullah II ?

By Jonathan Feldstein

On a clear day from his balcony in Israel’s Judean Hills, the writer can see the capital of Jordan – Amman. What he can’t see is what the political future in the Hashemite kingdom will be. Will the vision of peace that Abdullah I sough and died for finally favour with the great-grandson, Abdullah II, who rules today?

KING ABDULLAH’S LEGACY

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(3)

TIME TO DO RIGHT, SOUTH-AFRICA

Pandor’s call for Israel to be called an ‘apartheid’ state laughable

By Pamela Ngubane

While medical personnel at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital – the largest hospital in Africa – are struggling to provide care to patients “using infrastructure built in the previous century” and “60-70% of students who leave high school will be unemployed”, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor focuses on besmirching Israel.

TIME TO DO RIGHT, SOUTH-AFRICA

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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted. 

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

THE ISRAEL BRIEF

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

ISRAEL UPPING ITS PACE

The Jewish state’s cycling team, ‘Israel-Premier Tech’  soars at the Tour de France

By David E. Kaplan

In only the country’s third appearance in the most prestigious cycling race in the world, Israel at the 2022 Tour de France took two nail-biting stages.  A world force-fed on a daily diet of negative coverage of the Jewish state, this 109th Tour offered over a billion TV viewers a refreshing re-imaging of ISRAEL for 21 days on the saddle.

ISRAEL UPPING ITS PACE

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(2)

A DREAM OF ZION

The Story of Ethiopian Jewry

By Rolene Marks

Israel is the only country in the world that has extracted a people of Africa en mass to save rather than enslave. The story of Israel’s Ethiopian community is one of unimaginable hardship and loss, but it is also one of a remarkable homecoming after 2000 years of exile.

A DREAM OF ZION

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(3)

PAST AND PRESENT MIX AT THE LOWEST POINT ON EARTH

The highs and lows of Israel’s Dead Sea

By Motti Verses

This Communication Executive revisits his past when as a child and later as a student in Jerusalem, he would frequently visit the popular places around the Dead Sea. Time has not stood still. What remains and what has changed makes for intriguing reading as the writer ‘floats’ on a high…. or is it a low?

PAST AND PRESENT MIX AT THE LOWEST POINT ON EARTH

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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

Like this content? Please share and tweet it to your friends and followers.

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

Twitter: Lay Of The Land – @layoftheland5

Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted. 

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

‘RUCK’ & ROLL

From rugby to netball, squash to tennis, the 21^st Maccabiah is “rocking”

By David E. Kaplan

After recent years of few tourists to Israel, Israel is flooded with visitors to the world’s third biggest sporting event – the Maccabiah. Even President Biden was present for the Opening Ceremony of the “Jewish Olympics” in Jerusalem. How important is the “Jewish Olympics” today?

‘RUCK’ & ROLL

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(2)

ANTISEMITIC “MAPPING PROJECT” EXPOSES BDS’ REAL AGENDA

Is a Kristallnacht in the USA farfetched or a real possibility?

By Eitan Fischberger and Arsen Ostrovsky

A new website endangering the Jewish community of America by targeting Jewish institutions in Massachusetts, includes a high school, a center for people with disabilities, student groups, synagogues, newspapers, Jewish-run charities, and even a center for Jewish arts. The writers appeal to prevent a future Kristallnacht on American soil!

ANTISEMITIC “MAPPING PROJECT” EXPOSES BDS’ REAL AGENDA

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(3)

A 101 -YEAR-OLD-NAZI CONVICTED

Late justice is still justice

By Dr. Efraim Zuroff

“One could sense the tension as the judge entered the courtroom, and everyone stood up,” notes the writer who was instrumental in bringing Josef Schütz to this long-awaited point. A long life also meant that the unrepentant Nazi lived long enough to hear a German judge sentence him for being an accessory to mass murder.

A 101 -YEAR-OLD-NAZI CONVICTED

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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@kenmar11

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).

Unveiling the contours and contrasts of an ever-changing Middle East landscape Reliable reportage and insightful commentary on the Middle East by seasoned journalists from the region and beyond

Home

Like this content? Please share and tweet it to your friends and followers.

To subscribe via email please send a mail noting your request to: layotland@gmail.com 

Please visit/ join/follow our social media platforms:

 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LotLSite/

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Also available on YouTube @The Israel Brief  – Simply click on the red subscribe button to receive alerts when a new report is posted. 

What’s happening in Israel today? See from every Monday – Thursday LOTL’s The Israel Brief broadcasts and on our Facebook page and YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, Rolene Marks familiar to Chai FM listeners in South Africa and millions of American listeners to the News/Talk/Sports radio station  WINA, broadcasting out of Virginia, USA.

The Israel Brief

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Lay of the Land welcomes the 10,000 athletes from 80 countries and visitors from abroad to the  to the 21^st Maccabiah – the 2022 “Jewish Olympics”

Articles

(1)

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HOTEL

Reflecting on a South African ‘dreamer’ and ‘doer’ at Rosh HaNikra – Israel’s rocky border outpost with Lebanon

By David E. Kaplan

A surprise visit to Rosh Hanikra revealed surprising history jarring the  writer to recollect the role of  the visionary Norman Lourie, who transformed landscapes and impacted lives both in South Africa where he was born and in Israel where he settled.

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HOTEL

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(2)

NO, ANNE FRANK WAS NOT PRIVILEGED!

Debate rages on social media platform discussing if Anne Frank had “White privilege”

By Rolene Marks

Where is the “privilege” in being singled out for extermination? A convoluted race-based perverted logic is preying on social media today dehumanising Anna Frank and the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust as if they had it coming being “White”! If understandably dumbfounded, the writer breaks it down.

NO, ANNE FRANK WAS NOT PRIVILEGED!

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(3)

FROM CLOSED BOOK TO OPEN BOOK

Miroslaw Tryczyk’s startling exposé of Polish participation in the mass murder of Jews

Book review by Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff

(First published in The Jerusalem Report)

“There are very few books which influence the rewriting of history, but this book should be one of them,” asserts Nazi hunter Dr. Zuroff. It details from witness testimony, the murder Jewish residents of fifteen towns and villages in eastern Poland NOT by the Nazis but by their Polish neighbours! Despite false government narratives to cover up the past, brave writers are illuminating the terrible truth.

FROM CLOSED BOOK TO OPEN BOOK

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LOTL Cofounders David E. Kaplan (Editor), Rolene Marks and Yair Chelouche

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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).