Category: News Letter

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 28 July 2025

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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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- 21-24 July 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Pick’ is Airline Antisemitism

SPAIN’S CHILLING MESSAGE TO JEWS

“We threw you out in the 15th century, we don’t want you back in the 21 century – even to visit!” 52 Jewish teenagers from France kicked off plane in Spain. Their ‘offense’:  singing in Hebrew!

Not since the Spanish Inquisition have Jews questioned their presence in Spain that has seen a record increase of antisemitic incidents. The most visually recent was the more than 50 Jewish teenagers returning home to France from a summer camp being removed from a plane after singing in Hebrew. A widely-circulated video shows a 21-year-old youth leader lying face down as Spanish police violently forced her to the ground while handcuffing her.   Said Sacha Roytman, director of Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM): “It is outrageous that we have reached a situation where singing in Hebrew by teenagers constitutes grounds for removing them from a flight, using violence and unreasonable force…simply because they are Jews.”




Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

SMALL IN SIZE HUGE IN HEART –  THE DRUZE COMMUNITY

A world indifferent, Israelis understand why the Druze in need have to be supported by Israel in deed.
By David E. Kaplan

International Indifference. “They are humiliating our elderly, killing our women and children. This is a campaign to wipe us out,” said Majd Al-Shaer, a 21-year-old Druze. Despite Druze appeals for help, the world is deaf to any suffering in this region other than Gazans. Tragically, Druze is not News!

SMALL IN SIZE HUGE IN HEART –  THE DRUZE COMMUNITY
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

A LESSON FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR

“At no point in the war had the Allies achieved a definite, clean success. How then, was the war to be brought to an end?” David Lloyd George, the British Secretary of State for War, at a meeting of the British War Cabinet in October 1916.
By Neville Berman

Trapped into Turmoil. April 6, 1917 US Enters WW1. In the end, the German response to anticipated US action, brought about the very action it was trying to avoid. Are the leaders prosecuting the wars in Ukraine and Gaza facing similar challenges and falling into the same traps?

A LESSON FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

PIERS MORGAN UNCOVERED

Does popular UK media personality seek clicks more than truth?
By Jonathan Feldstein

Pierc’ing the Air. Is Piers Morgan’s undeniably popular platform simply  ‘hard hitting journalism’ or has it taken a “…sharp and troubling descent into overt antisemitism”? by repeatedly platforming Holocaust deniers. On the Gaza war, does Piers alternate positions depending upon the amount of clicks he gets?

PIERS MORGAN UNCOVERED
(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).





Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 20 July 2025

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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X (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- 14-17 July 2025
(Click on the blue title)



THE DRUZE AND ISRAEL – A COVENANT IN BLOOD

Israel is and always has been short of friends.
Today, Jews across the world are finding themselves alone, ostracized and vulnerable.
One people that have stood by Israel sacrificing life and limb since 1948, is the country’s Druze community, who through thick and thin, war after war, have thrown in their lot with the destiny – and fate – of Israel. In the current Israel-Hamas war, Druze have fought and died alongside their fellow Jewish soldiers in the IDF as they have done in all previous wars. Today, the Druze in southern Syria, family to the Druze of Israel, are under attack with regime forces aiding Syrian Bedouins in perpetrating atrocities – including the summary execution of Druze civilians. Israel could not sit back, particularly as Israel’s Druze community’s leadership has appealed to Israel to save their people across the border in turbulent Syria from slaughter. Lay of the Land fully supports Israel’s efforts to help save the Druze of Syria.



Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

WE’VE  SEEN THIS BEFORE

History is repeating itself, not as tragedy or farce, but as a horror story
By Andrew Fox

Jews ‘in the rough’! This is not just a case of antisemitic vandalism found at London’s Hendon Golf Club but a show how the global assault on Jews has become mainstream.

WE’VE  SEEN THIS BEFORE
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

FEEDING OFF THE DEAD

A breed of South African vultures prey upon the deceased to further their political narrative.
By Josh Schewitz

Dr. Death? Modeling herself on the women who sat beside the guillotine during the French Revolution knitting while heads fell, South Africa’s Jo Bluen uploads onto her social media accounts inverted Red Triangles when Israeli soldiers fall in Gaza. Rejoicing at the death of 3 IDF soldiers with a devilish smile, is this who the LSE want to accept as a PhD candidate?

FEEDING OFF THE DEAD
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE AWARDS!

An award of ignominy given to deluded Middle Eastern leaders who have tried to destroy Israel.
By Neville Berman

Bunker Blusterer. Once noted for his endless insufferable speeches from his bunker, Hezbollah leader,
Hassan Nasrallah’s obsession with ending Israel, resulted in his own end – with a bang! Hardly alone in his obsession and ignoble end!

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE AWARDS!
(Click on the blue title)



(4)

ALL QUIET IN THE WEST WING

With discussions at the White House held in private and no clear announcements of a major Gaza deal nor followed by the customary Oval Office photo, what can we read?
By Jonathan Feldstein

What’s the Big Deal? With expectations of a “Big Beautiful Deal” relating to the hostages, a ceasefire and expansion of the Abraham Accords, in the absence of a major announcement left everyone guessing!

ALL QUIET IN THE WEST WING
(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).



Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 13 July 2025

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 
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X (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- 07-10 July 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Photo-Pick’ as a satire on TV news today!

STATUS OF GLOBAL MEDIA

Breaking Meows. Capturing the decline in public trust in mainstream media, Lay of the Land selected this photo
snapped in London on July 9 of a journalist interviewing ‘Larry the cat’, Chief Mouser at 10 Downing Street,
while visiting French President was meeting the British PM.(Photo: Reuters/ Chris J. Ratcliff)



Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

DEVASTATION AND RESILIENCE

Visiting South African photojournalist, Ilan Ossendryver, captures in real-time the Measure and the Mood in Israel during Iran’s devastating missile attacks.
By Rolene Marks

Capturing Catastrophe. Renowned SA photojournalist was in Israel to launch his book “Israel After October 7” –
a collection of photographs documenting the destruction and horror following the attack on 7 October,
when suddenly Iranian missiles rained down on Israeli cities. Out came the resting camera…

DEVASTATION AND RESILIENCE
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

ZAPIRO = FAR,FAR BELOW ZERO!

Consistent in his skewed prejudice against Israel, coupled with concealing facts and distorting the truth, South African Jewish cartoonist stokes the fires of antisemitism and endangers the Jewish community.
By Stephen Schulman

‘Bloodbath’ is Blood Libel. Reverting to Medieval antisemitic iconography of Jews as “baby-killers”,
SA cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro, paints 21st century Jews as the ultimate Jew-killers – Nazis.
Armed with a poison pen, this modern-day Stormtrooper endangers Jews everywhere.

ZAPIRO = FAR,FAR BELOW ZERO!
(Click on the blue title)




(3)

FROM DEVASTATED HOMES TO HOTEL HOSPITALITY

As Iran’s ballistic missiles pummel Israel’s urban areas turning residents into evacuees, Israel’s hotels  – despite tourist decline –  meet the challenge.
By Motti Verses

Hotels for Homeless!  Hardly publicized in the international media, a devastated apartment complex in
Tel Aviv following an Iranian missile attack. Following similar strikes at city centers across the
country leaving thousands homeless, Israel’s hospitality industry opened its doors.

FROM DEVASTATED HOMES TO HOTEL HOSPITALITY
(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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 06 July 2025

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

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X (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- 23 June – 03 July 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Photo-Pick’ captures the normalization of Jew hatred.

A GLASTONBURY CHILLER

20 months after Israel’s Nova Festival massacre, England’s Glastonbury festival chants message of death to Jews

Making it Mainstream. Like Glastonbury, its sister festival in Israel was meant to be a celebration of music,
peace, youth and love, only at Nova, the dancing turned into a massacre, which Glastonbury this month
celebrated with the chant of – “Death to the IDF”!



Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

ALL EYES ON TRUMP AND NETANYAHU

The issues on the White House agenda of upcoming meeting between PM Netanyahu and President Trump are clear; everything else is unclear.
By Jonathan Feldstein

Reshaping the Region. Gripping hands, what exactly is their grip on a region with too many loose ‘cannons’?
While all sorts of possibilities have risen following Israel’s post-October 7 resetting of the
regional landscape, the only certainty that remains is uncertainty!

ALL EYES ON TRUMP AND NETANYAHU
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

A PLAGUE ON PARIS – WHAT’S CHANGED?

A plague outbreak – “DISEASE NO. 9” – in Paris in 1920 blamed mainly on Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, turned out to be France’s antisemitic fake news!
By Michel Levine

Turning Same Ol’ Page. The pages of history are replete in blaming Jews for a plethora of misfortunes deviously
caricaturing them as “conspiratorial”, “vermin” and “spreaders of disease”. Preceding the Nazis,
the “liberal” French excelled in 1920 Paris by blaming a plague outbreak on its Jews!

A PLAGUE ON PARIS – WHAT’S CHANGED?
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

HYPOCRISY TAKEN TO NEW HEIGHTS

How the world has reacted to Iran’s attempt to eradicate the Zionist entity.
By Neville Berman

Height of Hypocrisy. A “Hands off Iran” placard is fine for these protestors at an anti-war demonstration in L.A,
California, June 21,2025 but no such similar sentiment shown when Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas
and the Houthis of Yemen fired missiles on Israel!

HYPOCRISY TAKEN TO NEW HEIGHTS
(Click on the blue title)



(4)

RETRACING ROOTS

Israeli travel advisor takes a trip of a different kind tracing the footsteps of his late mother to Uzbekistan’s Samarkand.
By Motti Verses

Majestic Memories. Recollections as a teenager in Israel of his mother describing Samarkand in Uzbekistan as
“The most beautiful city” where she spent her teenager years as a refugee from Poland during WWII,
led the writer on a journey of discovery that was both pleasurable and personal.

RETRACING ROOTS
(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).



Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 29 June 2025

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 
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X (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- 23-26 June 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Photo-Pick’ could be one of sadly too many!

Flooded with photos of Gaza, less seen in the international media is the damage in civilian areas across Israel.
Israelis reflect on the cost of combatting its enemies committed to its total destruction.

Total Devastation. Rescue workers and firefighters survey the site of a direct missile strike launched from Iran on civilian homes in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)




Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

FROM ASHES TO DEFIANCE

Why I love Israel
By Andrew Fox

True Colours. It’s protests like these in Parliament Square on 14 June calling for the Israeli attack on Iran to STOP that has Jews in Briton expressing “…the present atmosphere reminds them of Germany in the 1930s.”  An illuminating perspective by a Roman Catholic
British war veteran on the country he now questions and the country he has come to love!

FROM ASHES TO DEFIANCE
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

ZAPIRO = ZERO

Ink dripping with blood, South African Jewish cartoonist endangers his people.
By Stephen Schulman

Poison Pen. Ignoring the October 7 massacre inflicted on his own people, the ongoing ordeal of Israeli hostages cruelly held captive in Gaza and Israel’s displaced citizens from devastated cities and towns, Jonathan Shapiro (left), aims his loaded pen exclusively at his fellow Jews in Israel whom he characterizes as arch villains. He appears indifferent to the collateral damage he ‘comically’ causes.

ZAPIRO = ZERO
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

AFTER US BOMBING, FINANCIAL TIMES & GUARDIAN PUSH ‘TAIL WAGGING THE DOG’ TROPE

Framing antisemitic tropes about Jewish or Israeli influence over US presidents has a long and toxic history.
By Adam Levick

The ‘Plane’ Truth? No sooner had the US dropped its bombs on nuclear facilities in Iran, esteemed British newspapers released their own payloads, targeting not Iran but Israel aiming to divert the narrative away from the global threat of the Islamic Republic to the global threat being the Jewish state! Sound familiar?

AFTER US BOMBING, FINANCIAL TIMES & GUARDIAN PUSH ‘TAIL WAGGING THE DOG’ TROPE
(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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 22 June 2025

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/

X (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- 16-19 June 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Photo-Pick’




Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

WE ARE PAYING WITH OUR LIVES

Media figures who parrot Hamas propaganda are contributing to Jews paying a very heavy price – the loss of our safety and our lives
By Rolene Marks

WE ARE PAYING WITH OUR LIVES
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

“WE JUST WANT TO GET BACK HOME”

While terrified citizens typically flee from war zones – not Israelis who hurriedly flock back home from abroad.
By David E. Kaplan

“WE JUST WANT TO GET BACK HOME”
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

ICE CREAM AND A BOMB SHELTER FOR TOPPING!

How the mundane morphs into the monstrous as two totally separate concepts find commonality for an anguished Israeli grandfather.
By Jonathan Feldstein

ICE CREAM AND A BOMB SHELTER FOR TOPPING!
(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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 16 June 2025

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/

X (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- 09-13 June 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Photo-Pick’

SLEEPLESS IN ISRAEL

With Iran aiming their ballistic missiles at Israel’s civilian centers, Tel Aviv is now literally living up to its reputation as “The City that never sleeps.”

Dueling Dancers. The night skyline of Tel Aviv as Israel’s air defense system take on Iran’s ballistic missiles.
Pairing off in a dance of death, the lives of the citizens below are at stake.




Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

HIGH ANXIETY

On the morning the war began with Iran, a sound question: What’s in your bomb shelter?
By Jonathan Feldstein

Missiles on the Way. A mass of ballistic missiles is heading your way from Iran. You have to scurry to the bomb shelter.  What essentials do you take with you and what are the thoughts going through your mind?

HIGH ANXIETY
(Click on the blue title)


(2)

MOBY DICKHEAD

From climate crusader to freedom flotilla freedom fighter, even Captain Ahab had more self-awareness.
By Andrew Fox

“Ship of Fools”. Cellphone cameras click-away as climate activist Greta Thunberg does the ‘Titanic Twist’ with a Palestine flag after boarding the “Selfie Yacht” and before setting sail to a war zone from the Sicilian port of Catania on June 1.

MOBY DICKHEAD
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD TREAD VERY CAREFULLY WHEN IT COMES TO JIHADIST TERRORISM

Why should a minority foreign import be allowed to determine the future of the majority?
By Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe

Façade of “Free”. Why is South Africa’s Electoral Commission accepting the registration of a political party named Islamic State of Africa (ISA)  led  by Farhad Hoomer, previously accused of leading an ISIS-linked terror cell and who has said will push for the introduction of Sharia law in South Africa?

SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD TREAD VERY CAREFULLY WHEN IT COMES TO JIHADIST TERRORISM
(Click on the blue title)



(4)

“AND THAT’S THE WAY IT IS”

The real situation in the Middle East
By Neville Berman

Time for Truth. One of the most respected figures in the history of American journalism, Walter Cronkite, would conclude his TV news broadcasts with his iconic catchphrase: “And that’s the way it is.” When will international journalism report on the Middle East with such honesty?

“AND THAT’S THE WAY IT IS”
(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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 09 June 2025

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/

X (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- 03-05 June 2025

THE ISRAEL BRIEF- 26-30 May 2025
(Click on the blue title)



This week’s Lay of the Land’s ‘Pick’ was taken last year and is relevant today as it will be tomorrow

UNCOMMON ELSWHERE IS COMMON IN ISRAEL

In Israel, nothing distracts from the ordinariness of this setting of a young woman, an off-duty soldier, in a Tel Aviv bakery taken on June 4, 2024. Beyond the breads and the pastries, its message is clear:  Jews, men and women, have to fight to survive, a message world Jewry is processing amid rampant and increasingly violent global antisemitism. (Photo: Reuters/Marko Djurica)




Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

REFLECTIONS IN SUNNY EILAT

A week’s holiday in Israel’s southern seaside resort during war presents some illuminating thoughts beyond sea and sun.
By David E. Kaplan

Red Sea Revelations. The place is buzzing; the hotels and restaurants are full but beneath the veneer of an idyllic tourist resort, Eilat cannot escape the fallout of war.

REFLECTIONS IN SUNNY EILAT
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

THE THREE I’s: DISCERNING GENOCIDES FROM TRAGEDIES

We suggest that every tragedy that might be classified as genocide be tested by the three I’s – Intent, implementation and implication.
By Prof. Per Anders Rudling and Dr. Efraim Zuroff

Juggling Genocide. Indifferent as to what constitutes ‘genocide’, an anti-Israel protestor holds this sign outside the ICJ in The Hague in 2024 in support of the case against Israel by South Africa, which now itself stands accused of genocide by the Trump administration.

THE THREE I’s: DISCERNING GENOCIDES FROM TRAGEDIES
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

THE ARAB VOICE–MAY 2025-(2)

Perspectives and insights from writers in the Arab media

In this week’s collation, Arab writers on the Middle East opine on: (1) Following rifts between the US administration and the Israeli government, how do the region’s major players proceed? (2) Recognizing changing geopolitical currents, how will the Palestinian Authority (PA) respond? (3) With the surprise lifting of US sanctions on Syria, what is driving this change in US policy?

THE ARAB VOICE–MAY 2025-(2)
(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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 26 May 2025

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/

X (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- 19-20 May 2025
(Click on the blue title)



Lay of the Land’s photo ‘Pick of the Week’

TARGETING JEWS EVERYWHERE

Instead of choosing an engagement ring and than a wedding dress, their parents were left to choose headstones.
The gunning down of Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, affirms the message already being understood, “Jew are no longer safe anywhere.”



Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

REBEL, RABBLE OR WORSE?

Understanding the menacing mentality of the Houthis, look not to the deserts sands of Yemen but to the urban landscapes of Europe and America.
By David E. Kaplan

Timeless Terror. By appearance, it’s easy to pass the Houthis off as a frightful aberration arising from the desert
sand in the Arabian Peninsula, but their attitude and intent towards Jews is no different to their ‘civilized’ peers pounding the pavements and podiums across Europe and the Americas.

REBEL, RABBLE OR WORSE?
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

‘MARCH OF THE LIVING’ EXPOSES HARSH TRUTHS

It’s not “crying wolf” to name antisemitism when it appears, it’s crying warning.
By Allan Joffe

Thoughts on Track. Marchers prayed and wept as they proceeded through the Auschwitz complex as these who
sat down on the very train track that had brought millions of Jews from across Europe to their death. Why has the Nazi mission to rid the world of Jews resurfaced or did it never leave?

‘MARCH OF THE LIVING’ EXPOSES HARSH TRUTHS
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

“HANG UP THE PHONE AND PLAY DEAD”

Attending the Noval Music Festival on October 7, 2023 – “a cross between Woodstock and Auschwitz” – Yuval survived and then sang for her country.
By Jonathan Feldstein

Singing of Survival. Listening to Abba (dad) over the phone to “play dead”, Yuval Raphael would lie beneath
dead bodies in a shelter for 8 hours while terrorist would spray wildly with machine gun fire. Suffering a
head wound and broken leg, Yuval would survive to sing for Israel in the 2025 Eurovision in Basel.

“HANG UP THE PHONE AND PLAY DEAD”
(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).

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 19 May 2025

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/

X (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- 12-15 May 2025
(Click on the blue title)



Lay of the Land’s photo ‘Pick of the Week’

Message from Basel to the world

Click on the photo below to hear

Yuval Raphael at the 2025 Eurovision perform – “New Day Will Rise”

128 years after Herzl stood on a hotel balcony in Basel and dreamt of a future Jewish state, the manifestation of that dream appeared in the form of Yuval Raphael – standing aloft in the same city at the 2025 Eurovision and sang her country into second place, with a powerful rendition of a ‘New Day Will Rise’. 19 months earlier, Yuval was playing dead in a shelter at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023; hiding under a pile of bodies in a roadside bomb shelter for hours, with shrapnel embedded in her leg, until she was ultimately rescued. How fitting she concluded her performance in Basel, staring ahead but facing the world and said: “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The People of Israel Live”)
https://youtu.be/R1J7nJXLKAg




Articles

Please note there is a facility to comment beneath each article should you wish to express an opinion on the subject addressed.

(1)

NOT NORMAL BUT THE NORM

Where are your kids and grandkids when the siren sounds?
By Jonathan Feldstein

Dropping with Dread. Israeli children waiting for their school bus, drop to the ground and hold their hands to their heads as sirens sound the warning of an incoming ballistic missile from the Houthis in Yemen. 
Is this ‘normal’?

NOT NORMAL BUT THE NORM
(Click on the blue title)



(2)

IRAN, IRAQ AND OPEC

How successive American Presidents – Democratic and Republican – have misread the Middle East.
By Neville Berman

Has World over a Barrel. “There are 6 words that Iran has used for decades,” asserts the writer – not in Farci but in English – that for some reason, no American President seems able to understand – “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”. Very few believed Hitler when he declared that he wanted a Jew-free Europe!

IRAN, IRAQ AND OPEC
(Click on the blue title)



(3)

BRIDGE THE GULF

The Persian Gulf – Past, Present and Future
By Marziyeh Amirizadeh

A Gulf Apart. While the writer – a survivor of death row in Tehran’s notorious prison – applauds any effort to undermine the Islamic regime which “should be a US priority,” Trump’s idea of renaming the Persian Gulf and negotiating with the ayatollahs she argues, “are contradictory, and in the end strengthens the regime.”

BRIDGE THE GULF
(Click on the blue title)



(4)

THE ARAB VOICE  MAY 2025

Perspectives and insights from writers in the Arab media

Middle East Arab writers address:
(1) The challenges within the PA that require more than choosing a successor to Abbas.
(2) The demand of Hezbollah relinquishing its arms which it views as “sacrosanct”.
                          (3) Comparing protests in Gaza against Hamas and protests in Tel Aviv against Natanyahu government.

THE ARAB VOICE  MAY 2025
(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).