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 this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

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Articles

(1)

Anne Frank and the Dangers of Holocaust Appropriation

By  Rolene Marks

While mega-millions have read Anne Frank’s diary and shared in her daily frustrations,  today readers share fresh frustrations brought on not by Nazis but the appropriators of history who abuse her character and her experiences to fulfill their own political agendas on social media.

Anne Frank and the Dangers of Holocaust Appropriation

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(2)

Is this really the Rainbow Nation?

By Harris Zvi Green

Two top lawyers – one a judge – appearing  to fill vacant judicial positions in South Africa’s national courts, were questioned on their religious identity, opinions on Middle East peace and their associations with  a communal organisation. Why? Because they are Jewish! Is this the proud new South Africa envisioned by Mandela?

Is this really the Rainbow Nation?

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(3)

China’s One Tweet Too Many!

The tweet of the ‘Grim Reaper’ is for Jews a Grim Reminder

By David E. Kaplan

Why would China that is so commercially engaged with Israel and looking to expand, have its embassy in Japan upload onto is official website, such an antisemitic cartoon reminiscent of the worst days of Nazi propaganda against the Jews?

China’s One Tweet Too Many!

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(4)

“Facts” that Provide Positive Results – rather than “Maybe’s”

Eating is a Necessity so get the most Benefit with Small and Maximum Chewing

By Lionel H. Phillips D.O

Our most accomplished and cherished asset is our hard-working human body. Requiring the minimum of care and knowledge in order to allow it to function efficiently, one of the most important pieces of advice from the writer is less on what to eat but more how to eat.

“Facts” that Provide Positive Results – rather than “Maybe’s”

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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

Lay of the Land is heartbroken at the tragic events that happened at Meron during Lag B’Omer. Our hearts are with all who have lost loved one and we pray for recovery for all the injured and those affected in anyway by this tremendous tragedy. Our gratitude to all who are assisting with rescue, recovery, emergency services, medical care and many who have opened hearts and homes to donate blood and look after evacuees. May the souls of all who have been lost rest in peace.

What’s happening in Israel today?  See this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

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Articles

(1)

Mindsets to Markets

The Stef Wertheimer formulae for the Middle East  regional stability where “the battlefield today should only be the market place”

By David E. Kaplan

With the latest Forbes magazine ranking Stef Wertheimer as Israel’s wealthiest citizen in its annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest billionaires, the writer revisits his earlier interview with the industrialist best known for his founding of Israel’s successful ‘Industrial Parks’, when he revealed his ‘Marshall Plan’ for regional peace and prosperity in the Middle East.

Mindsets to Markets

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(2)

J’ Accuse!

By Craig Snoyman

With an antisemitic murderer escaping justice, it is the French legal system that is now on trial.  With good reason for Jews to distrust the French authorities, where once there was the sole voice of an influential  writer proclaiming “J’Accuse!”, today that voice is the Jewish world bellowing – “We accuse!”

J’ Accuse!

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(3)

Sarah Halimi Murdered but no Trial for the Murderer – Why?

A French Jew’s insights of the events surrounding her killer’s “escape from justice”

By Dr. Gad Amar, retired French surgeon and writer

On his Facebook account, the 2017 killer of a retired Jewish doctor and head of a Paris kindergarten Sarah Halimi, brazenly took the surname of his ‘role-model’  – an earlier 2006 Islamic torturer and murderer of a Jew –  ‘proudly’ revealing to the world his antisemitism and his motive for killing. French justice turned a blind eye!

Sarah Halimi Murdered but no Trial for the Murderer – Why?

(Click on the blue title)

A lire en français/To read in French:

Sarah Halimi : une déroute judiciaire programmée

(Cliquez sur le titre bleu/Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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.

It was with personal sadness for many of our Lay Of The Land readers – alumni of UCT- to watch  this past week, historic buildings of their alma mater go up in flames, notably the 100-year-old library containing priceless books and manuscripts. Despite the distressing issues many alumni have with certain campus trends (see article below), all will share in our heartfelt message of solidarity with the people of Cape Town.

What’s happening in Israel today?  See this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

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Articles

(1)

Quo Vadis UCT?

By Stephen Schulman

“Where are you going?” or more poetically, “Whither goest thou?” asks the writer of his alma mater regarding a lecturer in its Political Science department telling impressionable  first year students that “Hitler committed no crime.” Offending not only Jews but all decent and rational human beings, the writer sees UCT at a critical moral crossroad as to how it will respond?

Quo Vadis UCT?

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(2)

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

By Craig Snoyman

Having watched late into the night the interview on TV of Judge David Unterhalter for a position on South Africa’s Constitutional Court,  the writer, a practicing advocate, “battled to sleep”. What bothered him were questions focusing on the applicant once being a member of a leading Jewish communal organisation – the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. Is this the new direction of  South African justice?

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

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(3)

Jerusalem!

Poetic Perspective of Israel’s Capital

By  Gill Katz, journalist, author and TV script writer

While the walls of the Old City project a place of war and bloodshed, the writer reflects in poetry an old city – not in capital letters –  of “another Jerusalem”, not of “cultural clashes” but of bumping shoulders with bearded Greek Orthodox Priests and Haredi Jews to bare bellied tattooed teenage girls.

Jerusalem!

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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 this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

The Man for all Seasons

Duke of Edinburgh leaves behind legacy of support to Jewish and Israel causes

By Rolene Marks

Revealed with his passing the number of Jewish and Israel causes he associated his esteemed name with, Prince Philip, is fondly remembered in the Jewish State as having been the first member of the British royal family to visit Israel and that his mother is revered for sheltering Jews in Nazi-occupied Greece during the Holocaust.

The Man for all Seasons

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(2)

From Bombs to Babies

Israel at 73

By David E. Kaplan

With the country coming to an immediate standstill at the sound of the siren to honour Israel’s fallen, to the sudden switch of joy celebrating the country’s independence, the Israeli temperament is attuned to life’s sudden changes.

From Bombs to Babies

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(3)

Decked out in Blue and White

By Rolene Marks

From streets, buildings and people ‘dressed up’ in Israel’s national colours for the emotional rollercoaster  journey from “somber memorial” one day  to “celebration and jubilation” the next,  the citizens of Israel reveal the country’s ‘True Colours’.

Decked out in Blue and White

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(4)

Israel Is All You Have

By Martine Alperstein

Reflecting on the character of Israel by the nature of its characters –  from its citizens who have to fight to survive to those who fought to arrive here enduring imprisonment as “Refuseniks” or walking barefoot through a never ending African desert – the writer cherishes this Independence Day the long-fought for freedom of a People and a Nation.

Israel Is All You Have

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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 this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

The Hills are Alive

Honouring this week the six million Jews murdered, the writer reflects on a visit to “Yad Vashem”

By David E. Kaplan

Rather than answering the question of “WHY”, a visit to Yad Vashem reveals more the “HOW”- and reminds and reinforces people to remember and pledge – “Never Again”.

The Hills are Alive

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(2)

We Remember Them

By  Rolene Marks

With time running out  to hear personal stories from the survivors of the Shoah coupled with a rising tide of antisemitism, the writer reflects on this week’s Yom HaShoah weighing heavier, while at the same time reassured about the future because “We are protected in our beloved State of Israel”

We Remember Them

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(3)

Tea in Tel Aviv

Israel’s tea pots are filling up as people again gather in crowds

By David E. kaplan

With so much of Israel’s population now vaccinated against Covid, people are venturing out to nature reserves, beaches and street cafes. With traffic and tumult returned to Tel Aviv, the writer looks at Israel’s DNA  to understand how one month ago it was ‘tea for two’ and today can be ‘tea for eight’.

Tea in Tel Aviv

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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.

Praying For A Healthier Tomorrow

Lay Of The Land wishes all our Christian readers around the world a Happy & Healthy Easter, a speedy end to Covid and a welcome return to the socially “Old Normal”

What’s happening in Israel today?  See this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

A Walk In The Park A Return To The Dark?

Avoid this one in Istanbul

By David E. Kaplan

Why when the international media made headlines of crowds storming statues and ripping them off their proverbial pedestals for racist pasts, Turkey today escapes such opprobrium  when it names a park in Istanbul  after  Hüseyin Nihal Atsız  who wrote: “We will not only exterminate Jews like the Germans did, we will go further…”

A Walk In The Park A Return To The Dark?

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(2)

Weep, the Beloved Country

By Stephen Schulman

From a racist and oppressive country that the writer left  over a half century earlier “where free speech was nonexistent, all criticism was suppressed and its opponents subject to severe punitive measures,” Schulman explores the nature of South Africa’s hard-fought ‘freedom’ of today, when its esteemed Chief Justice  is “ORDERED” to apologise and withdraw his personal comments relating to Israel.

Weep, the Beloved Country

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(3)

The Arab World Fighting Antisemitism

How Arab countries have become the new leaders in the fight against growing antisemitism

By Rolene Marks

From the NO’s in 1967  to the YESSES of today, there is monumental change in attitudes towards Israel across the region as Arab countries that have normalized ties with the Jewish state are helping repair too many wasted years of mistrust, incitement and hatred and will go a long way to countering antisemitism.

The Arab World Fighting Antisemitism

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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.

Happy Passover

Celebrating the ‘liberation from bondage’, Lay Of The Land wishes all across the world, a speedy ‘liberation from covid’ that plaques us all.  We remember those we sadly lost and salute our heroes – our healthcare workers.

What’s happening in Israel today?  See this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

Music to Our Ears

Israel’s Shalva band sings with artists from the United Arab Emirates

By David E. Kaplan

Transcending borders and boundaries, musicians with disabilities from Israel and the United Arab Emirates sing together in Hebrew Arabic and English, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, demonstrating  that regardless of nationality, religion or culture, we can join together to promote positive social change and foster more inclusive societies.

Music to Our Ears

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(2)

“From Slavery to Freedom”

Transformation is in the air! Do you feel it?

By Justine Friedman

Does celebrating our “Freedom from Slavery” that occurred over 3000 years ago in Egypt remain relevant today everywhere? Examining its significance during a pandemic, the writer – a clinical Dietician and Mindset Mentor – explores how a contemporary “breaking of shackles” from restrictive mindsets can enhance the quality of our lives.

“From Slavery to Freedom”

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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

New Developments in Social Media

To lower the political temperature, Facebook is restricting exposure of content it deems “political” including – Zionism and anti-Semitism. To ensure LOTL’S  voice is heard, visit and/or subscribe to our platforms for unbiased coverage and please share our content.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

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 this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube   by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

Message from Megiddo – A Wrong Righted

Celebrating the centenary of Isaac Ochberg’s 1921 daring rescue of orphan children from war-torn Eastern Europe

By David E. Kaplan

It was a tearful and illuminating unveiling of a tragic tumultuous past on the SA Jewish Report webinar to 13,000 participants from all over the world of what transpired 100 years ago when South African Jewish businessman, philanthropist and Zionist visionary, Isaac Ochberg, risked life and limb to save Jewish orphans in Eastern Europe. Join in the centenary celebration organised by the Isaac Ochberg Heritage Committee (Israel), Megiddo Regional Council supported by JNF-KKL.

Message from Megiddo – A Wrong Righted

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(2)

Time To Tackle Antisemitism – Seriously!

UN steps up to the plate at special virtual Conference

By Yair Chelouche

Lay Of The Land‘s co-founder, Rolene Marks joins an impressive panel of experts at the UN Alliance of Organizations (UNAOC) virtual conference following the urgent call to devise new innovative methodologies in trying to combat rising antisemitism, most notably the role of social media in the spread of online hate.

Time To Tackle Antisemitism – Seriously!

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(3)

Israel Sends Vaccines to Palestinians

By Rolene Marks

With Israel proving the world leader in rolling out the Covid vaccine, some have chosen to besmirch Israel by falsely accusing the Jewish state of violating international law by blocking vaccines to Gaza. Not only is this untrue but Israel is cooperating with its Palestinians neighbours, ensuring that they receive much needed medical necessities, which has been lauded by UN Special Envoy to the region, Nikolay Mladenov.

Israel Sends Vaccines to Palestinians

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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

New Developments in Social Media

To lower the political temperature, Facebook is restricting exposure of content it deems “political” including – Zionism and anti-Semitism. To ensure LOTL’S  voice is heard, visit and/or subscribe to our platforms for unbiased coverage and please share our content.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

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 this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube   by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief (1)

The Israel Brief (2)

(Click on the blue title)

Lay Of The Land’s David Kaplan will be participating in this important webinar on the 14 March celebrating the centenary of the heroic rescue of Jewish orphans from war-torn Eastern Europe in 1921 and brought safely to South Africa and whose descendants today reside all over the world.

To register: http://bit.ly/sajr82

Articles

(1)

Fast Times at IDC Herzliya

Aspiring for pole position in Israel’s hi-tech revolution, increasing number of women are enrolling at IDC to study Computer Science

By David E. Kaplan

From a high of 30% in the 2019-2020 academic year at the IDC Herzliya’s School of Computer Science, women student enrollment has risen to an unprecedented 37% in the 2020-2021 year. The writer delves into this phenomenon as women forge ahead in a field once mostly exclusive to men.

Fast Times at IDC Herzliya

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(2)

Middle Eastern Winds Blow into Africa

By Rolene Marks

Understanding that the seemingly intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is no longer an impediment for African countries to establish mutually enriching bilateral relations with the Jewish State, more are doing so with trade and cooperation between the continent and Israel growing even during a global pandemic.

Middle Eastern Winds Blow into Africa

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(3)

Erasive Antisemitism

Naming a Subcategory of Antisemitism

By Ben M. Freeman

When the much loved and respected Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg recently died, her Jewishness – other than to recognise that she died on Rosh Hashanah – was mostly omitted by the international media. The writer questions whether such “omissions” are not part of a wider trend of “Erasive Antisemitism” that aims to strip or redefine the Jewishness of individuals.

Erasive Antisemitism

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(4)

Polish Dialogue

By Sarah Ansbacher

The writer reveals a very personal verbal journey of discourse and dialogue on the Holocaust between herself and Polish citizens over the years. What began years earlier in London with an uneasy  exchange with a Polish tourist, the years passed with further  exchanges in Europe and in Israel arriving at greater understanding.

Polish Dialogue

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(5)

The Arab Voice – February 2021

Arab writers from the Middle East and beyond, opine on the impact to the Middle East by (1) the  undermining of US democracy by its Far Right, (2) the life-threatening danger of “Conspiracy Theories” in the ‘Age of Corona and (3) the change in US administrations from Trump to Biden.

The Arab Voice – February 2021

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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

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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New Developments in Social Media

To lower the political temperature, Facebook is restricting exposure of content it deems “political” including – Zionism and anti-Semitism. To ensure LOTL’S  voice is heard, visit and/or subscribe to our platforms for unbiased coverage and please share our content.

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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 this week’s daily ‘The Israel Brief’ broadcasts on LOTL  YouTube   by seasoned TV & radio broadcaster, every Monday to Thursday and on our Facebook page. 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 Charlottesville, Virginia. You can subscribe to LOTL news from Israel and enjoy at a time of your convenience.

The Israel Brief

(Click on the blue title)

Articles

(1)

A Tale of Two Judokas – the Israeli and the Iranian

It took bravery, grit and defiance – not against a single competitor but an autocratic regime!

By David E. Kaplan

Defying orders  to withdraw from  the 2019 World Championship in Japan because he might likely face an Israeli in the final, Iranian Judoka Saed Mollaei went into exile instead. Emerging “Friends for life” with that Israeli – Sagii Muki, the two competitors reunited this February in a competition in Tel Aviv.

A Tale of Two Judokas – the Israeli and the Iranian

(Click on the blue title)

(2)

And Then They Came for Us

Big Tech censorship is hurting the freedom of speech

By Rolene Marks

Social media is becoming increasingly antisocial with tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and others restricting  online exposure of what an algorithm may determine as  “political”. With “Zionism” not being immune from censorship and behemoth Facebook ‘unfriending’ a sovereign state like Australia, who is safe today? Are our rights to free access of information as news consumers in serious danger?

And Then They Came for Us

(Click on the blue title)

(3)

Tel Aviv is Alive, Well and Pedaling

By Stephen Schulman

With its flat topography, large parks, seaside promenade, multitude of cycling lanes and many hire bike stations, Tel Aviv has become a Mecca for cyclists. Even in this difficult pandemic period, the writer, a seasoned social cyclist, explores Israel’s two-wheeled renaissance as many Israelis have discovered and rediscovered the joys of cycling.

Tel Aviv is Alive, Well and Pedaling

(Click on the blue title)

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

To unsubscribe, please reply to layotland@gmail.com

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