WHAT DID ANTI-ZIONISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT SYDNEY BESIDES PRAISE FOR EL-AHMED? NOT MUCH.

Those who see ‘safety through solidarity’ as the ‘lesson’ of the terror attack have internalized what classical Zionist thinkers called an ‘exile mindset’ — a near-religious sanctification of Jewish powerlessness.

By Zev Dever

(Courtesy of Davar where article was first published)

In the aftermath of the terrorist massacre in Sydney, much of the Jewish discourse has highlighted praise for the individual bravery of the hero Ahmed el-Ahmed, the unarmed Syrian immigrant who intervened in the attack. It frankly seems as though many progressive Jews are relieved to have this Muslim man as a counterexample to the terrorists who carried out the massacre.

While el-Ahmed is certainly a hero, and the praise is well deserved, statements and posts from anti-Zionist Jewish groups, seem to take this praise a bit far, elevating the emphasis on el-Ahmed’s heroism to near parity with the massacre itself. This emphasis is taken to draw an interesting conclusion: again and again it is echoed that the lesson of this entire event, exemplified in el-Ahmed’s actions, is that “our safety lies in solidarity with others.”

**Skepticism in Solidarity**. While “*safety through solidarity*” might offer moral reassurance to vunerable Jewish communities around the world, but does it offer operational guidance?

It is truly striking how uniform this message is. It’s strange enough to highlight the identity of the hero and not the murderers, subtly transforming a Jewish tragedy into a morality tale about Muslims not being evil. To be fair, Jewish communities may understandably feel relief in highlighting the fact that many Muslims are good people. But to insist that this is the central and operative lesson is to deliberately obscure the essence of the story — namely a mass murder of Jews in the diaspora, following two years of rising antisemitism and public tolerance for Jew hatred.

What, practically, does it mean to insist that “Jewish safety lies in solidarity with others“?

– That Jews require non-Jewish saviors?

– That Jewish safety depends on staying on the good side of surrounding communities?

– That the correct response to mass violence is not protection or deterrence, but reaffirmation of ideological commitments?

When pressed, “safety through solidarity” might offer moral reassurance, but it offers no operational guidance.

Most plausibly, the practical lesson of this axiom may be that we should invest in encouraging moderate discourse and education against extremism. That idea I might buy into, but I find it hard to believe that the very groups pushing the message of “safety through solidarity” will.

Are we to believe that anti-Zionist Jewish groups will now focus on amplifying moderate Muslim and Palestinian voices? Will they stop parroting extremists, or even condemn those espousing extremism?

Of course not. There will be no self-reckoning.

I acknowledge that Jews do indeed need partners outside the faith, and the aim of this piece is not to denigrate solidarity as such, an important enterprise regardless of whether it benefits one’s safety. El-Ahmed’s bravery indeed made clear the value and importance of solidarity. But I am interested in the psychological phenomenon that leads some Jews to read the Bondi Beach massacre as a lesson in the importance of solidarity. Why do some Jews see the massacre as a sign that Jews ought to demonstrate more solidarity towards other groups?

**Seeking Safety**. The writer is intrigued in the psychological phenomenon that leads some Jews to read the Bondi Beach massacre as a lesson in the importance of solidarity.

THE SHTETL ROOTS OF “SAFTY THROUGH SOLIDARITY”

Even if such a logic is sincere, even if it is instrumental as a strategy to seek security, it is a mentality that delegates safety to external goodwill rather than Jewish agency. This psychological phenomenon is actually much older than any current popularized version of the theory of the intersectionality of oppressions. The Jewish roots of this thinking are actually something that the Zionist movement more than a century ago knew to classify and condemn. Zionist thinkers would characterize this way of thinking as a form of exile mindset, known in Hebrew as galutiyut.

In classical Zionist critique, exile mindset was not merely the fact of Jewish vulnerability or Jewish dispersion across the globe. It was a psychological and moral orientation, a deeply held and practiced belief that the Jews are not and cannot be masters of their own fate — that Jewish existence must be predicated on the goodwill of others, or failing that, on divine providence. Zionist thinkers condemned the world of the shtetl as a place where Jewish powerlessness was not only accepted but sanctified.

To compare today’s progressive, secular anti-Zionist Jews to God-fearing shtetl peasants may sound anachronistic. But the resemblance is structural, not stylistic. What has changed is the theology, not the logic. It is absolutely classic exile mindset recycled for the (post-)modern age.

In the classic theological expression, Jews are meant to accept as fact their impotence. They are meant to devote themselves to piety rather than anger the ruling powers by resisting or rising up as a nation. It was explicitly forbidden for Jews to seek self-redemption in this framework. Instead, Jews were guided to seek closeness to divinity: an all-pervasive truth that is inherently and profoundly good, and which underpins all existence and events, even those that are bad. At the same time the Jewish believer is guided by a rather vague vision of a perfect world after death or after the coming of the messiah.

The majority of radical leftists today are not classically religious, but they are in a very real messianic sense — driven, often obsessively, by a vision of a perfect and unrealized world to come which they are convinced must influence all current actions. To act against this idea is even framed as secularized sin or as it is often put being “on the wrong side of history“. Their God is, much like the old one, an all-pervasive truth which is universal and good and which underpins all things and events, even the bad ones (like the Bondi massacre).

To their credit, this all-pervasive truth many leftists believe in is genuinely good: it is a universal humanism, a belief in the sanctity and value of human life. Their heaven, utopia, is a liberated, just, post-oppressive world to come. Sometimes it is pure anarchism or an end to money, property, and exploitation. In other words, leftist eschatology promises, yet again, a vague vision of a perfect world to come after the advent of universal truth. The coming of the next world follows the death of this world, which is in the meantime almost irredeemably marred by ignorance and sin.

**Sanctifying the Shtetl**. When Jewish existence was predicated on the goodwill of others, early Zionist thinkers condemned the world of the shtetl as a place where Jewish powerlessness was not only accepted but sanctified.

ROMANTICIZING POWERLESSNESS

Within this drama, the Jews are assigned a unique role, the same one as in the old shtetl construction: the righteous victim. Morally pure, historically oppressed, exemplary in their suffering. Devoted to their truth, with moral purity replacing religious piety. This is a modernization of the classic exile mindset, the same old sanctification of powerlessness as a self-justifying moral identity.

Like many other Jews, anti-Zionists take pride in the inheritance of an oppressed people, invoking Jewish participation in past struggles for justice. Anti-Zionist Jews go further than most. They express deep discomfort, even open resentment at the fact that Jews now possess real power. Perhaps even a remorse over the fact that Jews have largely achieved assimilation in America, forcing them to play a slightly different role than the ideal victim. Now, their role seems to be that of privileged — or worse, oppressive — whites.

This resentment is often framed as anger at oppression done “in our name” by Zionism, but functionally, it is rage at the loss of moral position. Zionism is intolerable to these Jewish anti-Zionists not only because it wields power badly, but because it wields power at all. The fact that it wields that power against enemies shatters the sacred identity of the Jew as powerless, innocent, and dependent.

Thus, exile becomes not merely a condition but a vocation. This acceptance of — and even consecration of — the status of exile provides meaning, coherence, and urgency to the universal humanist mission and the role the Jew can play in it. That is, as long as Jews renounce collective self-assertion and vocally reject Jewish power, especially military power, regardless of context. This psychological stance characterizes pathological anti-Zionism as something distinct from even the harshest critique of Israeli actions, which can itself be a deeply Zionist act.

In the end, the core of exile mindset remains the same: the exile-bound anti-Zionist Jew would rather sacrifice their collective and sometimes even their individual existence in this life for the sake of purity. This mindset may rationalize its position in theological or ideological terms, but in essence it is indeed, as anti-Zionists admit, a plea for safety. Now as then, that plea for safety is premised upon trying as much as possible not to anger the non-Jewish and even antisemitic society that surrounds.

This helps explain the reaction to Sydney. Faced with the massacre of Jews by Islamic extremists, these groups instinctively center the Muslim rescuer. They downplay the killers. They warn about the potential of backlash against Muslims. Even while many non-Jewish anti-Zionists are busy blaming Zionists for the massacre, Jewish anti-Zionists repeat “safety through solidarity” as a kind of incantation.

This is not accidental. It is faith in the face of events that challenge it.

Like the old theology of exile, this ideology does not require empirical testing. It does not ask whether solidarity has, in fact, kept Jews safe amid rising antisemitism. It does not ask what actually prevents violence tonight, tomorrow, for the rest of the 8 nights and for years to come.

This is why these groups can look at a massacre of Jews and conclude that the lesson is less Jewish self-defense and more Jewish dependence. Less agency, more faith. Less mastery over fate, more trust in the moral arc of history to bend only towards justice.

To Israelis, living in a society whose ethos was founded on the negation of exile and exile mentality, this logic is incomprehensible. Ironically, even many heirs of traditional exile mindset in the diaspora have also abandoned it. Chabad, often on the front lines of antisemitic violence, as in this tragic case, embraces collective Jewish self-assertion and practical security.

Only anti-Zionist Jews still sanctify weakness. Only they insist that Jewish survival must be conditional, provisional, and morally earned. Only they repeat, in modern language, the old demand that Jews place their lives in the hands of others for the sake of purity. Exile mindset is the retreat of people determined that their role is to be helpless victims, and who are actually more comfortable in that role.

That is what “safety through solidarity” means in practice.

A bloodied talit from the Sydney massacre. (Photo: social media, used in accordance with Section 27A).

*Feature picture: Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is an American Jewish anti-Zionist and far left-wing advocacy organization. It is critical of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. The group was formed in 1996, and as of 2024 had grown to over 32,000 active dues-paying members. Its chapters at Columbia and George Washington universities were suspended in 2024. (Wikipedia)

About the writer:
Zev Dever is a Jewish educator originally from the US who has worked with Australian Jewish groups in Israel for several years.

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).

WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARDS?

As the US was justified in killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, Israel is justified in liquidating Hamas leaders wherever they reside.

By Neville Berman

September 11, 2001 was a day that shocked the world. On that day 19 Islamic terrorists hijacked 4 commercial airlines and used them to attack America. 2,977 people were killed and thousands more were injured.

That evening, President George W Bush was informed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that they had identified an Islamic organization known as al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, operating out of Afghanistan, as being responsible for the attacks. After the Taliban, who governed Afghanistan, rejected American demands to expel al-Qaeda and extradite its leaders, America ordered an attack on Afghanistan.

**Justice for All**. If it was acceptable that “**Justice has been done**,” as President Barack Obama said in announcing the death of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. military operation in Pakistan, May 1, 2011, why not for the Hamas leaders who perpetrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust?

Osama bin Laden went into hiding and evaded capture. America offered a $25 million reward to anyone supplying information that would lead to the capture of bin Laden. False information poured in.

For years bin Laden managed to send tapes with recordings of his speeches from his hiding place, to the Al Jazeera TV station in Qatar. The tapes were then broadcast to the 430 million households that watch Al Jazeera broadcasts around the world. Most of the speeches promoted the Islamic concept of Jihad against the West. Bin Laden was determined to bring down the West. The Palestinians were of no interest to him and he never mentioned them.

For years the relentless search to locate bin Laden continued. Tens of thousands of cell phone calls were recorded and analysed. Electronic messages and aerial photography from satellite imagery were studied. After over 9 years of searching, the CIA finally believed that they had traced the courier that was delivering the tapes to Al Jazeera from a house in Pakistan. The evidence was not 100% conclusive that Osama bin Laden was actually living in the house, but was persuasive enough for President Obama to authorize an attack on the site. On May 11, 2011, Operation Neptune Spear was put into action. A team of navy seals were flown by Black Hawk helicopters into Pakistan. They managed to enter the compound, locate and kill Osama bin Laden and several of his aides and family. They also retrieved a trove of electronic discs and files that shed light on al Qaeda. Bin Laden’s body was brought back for positive identification and burial at sea. The killing of bin Laden was seen as a turning point in the fight against terror.

In 2005, Israel unilaterally demolished all Israeli settlements in Gaza, and withdrew entirely from the area. They then handed control of the territory to the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by Yasser Arafat. Two years later, Hamas violently took control of Gaza by killing the leadership of the PA in Gaza. Hamas is a militant Islamic organization that is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that aims at a world living under Sharia law. Hamas does not hide their intentions. The Hamas Charter calls for the killing of all Jews and the elimination of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian State from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

From the moment Hamas took control of Gaza they promoted hatred as a way to radicalize the population. Under the guise of a liberation movement, Hamas infiltrated every aspect of the lives of two million people living in Gaza. They infiltrated the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees. They radicalized the curriculum of all UNRWA schools in Gaza and promoted suicide bombing, jihad and martyrdom. They robbed banks in Gaza. They stole thousands of tons of humanitarian food aid and sold it to the people in Gaza at inflated prices. They collected taxes on all goods imported into Gaza. They set up monopolies that controlled cell phone services, petrol and gas supplies, and all other essential services. They built an army of radicalized terrorists, whose intention was nothing less than retaining absolute control of Gaza through force, and aimed at eliminating the State of Israel. They built hundreds of kilometres of tunnels under hospitals, mosques, schools and houses in order to hide missiles and military equipment and to be used to attack Israel. They built their headquarters in tunnels directly below hospitals. They used civilians as human shields to protect themselves from Israeli retaliation. They killed or maimed anyone who opposed them. They fired over 27,000 rockets into Israel. All of them were aimed at civilian targets. They broke every accepted norm of civilized behaviour, and ruled themselves out as ever being a peace partner. They brought death and destruction to the people of Gaza.

To the outside world they presented themselves as victims of Israeli occupation. Fake news about an Israel siege on Gaza, and Israel committing crimes against humanity, became their passport to an outpouring of humanitarian aid, especially from the gullible liberal west. Official figures published by the UN show the countries that financed UNRWA in 2023. The European Union and Britain were the largest contributors with 53%, followed by America and Canada with 38%. Japan and Australia contributed 5% and Muslim countries contributed 4%. Saudi Arabia donated $17 million out of the $1.2 billion UNRWA budget. It is clear that the West has an agenda to ensure that the Palestinians remain a threat to Israel, while the wealthy oil exporting Arab countries pay lip service to supporting Hamas. They see Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood as a direct threat to their way of life and rule.

Eight of the top leaders of Hamas, left the squalor that they had created in Gaza, and went to live with their families in Doha, Qatar. They arrived with billions of dollars that they had embezzled and stolen from the people of Gaza. They do not care at all about the poverty and destitute lives of the people in Gaza. On the contrary, the catastrophic pictures of poverty in Gaza are their passport for more humanitarian assistance to flow in. The more aid that flows in, the richer they become.

On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel. They attacked a music festival and nearby kibbutzim. They proudly filmed themselves committing barbaric crimes and openly boasting about killing, raping women of all ages, mutilating bodies, burning babies, and destroying whatever they could. They killed over 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages to Gaza. In deference to the families of those killed and taken hostage, the films taken by the terrorists have not been widely distributed by Israel. They are simply too shocking to be shown.

**Israel’s ‘Ground Zero’**. Like the site in New York where once stood the Twin Towers, the site in Israel where a massacre took the lives of your revelers at a music festival and shattered the Jewish nation.

Immediately after the attack on October 7, Israel set itself the goal of returning every hostage and eliminating Hamas. Now you cannot eliminate an ideology, but you can reduce the capacity of your enemies to be able to carry out their destructive aims. One of the ways of doing this is to eliminate their leaders. In July 2024, Ismail Haniyeh the overall political leader of Hamas who had been living in Qatar was assassinated while visiting Iran. The level of Israeli intelligence required to succeed in assassinating Haniyah in a pin point manner while in an apartment in Tehran, shocked Iran. On October 16, 2024, more than a year after Hamas attacked Israel, Yahya Sinwar the leader of Hamas in Gaza was killed. He was succeeded by his brother Mohammed Sinwar who was in turn eliminated on May 13, 2025. Both were killed in Gaza.

**Killing Killers**. Like the vow of US presidents from Bush to Obama to eliminate bin Laden, so Israel vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas after the Gaza-based terror group’s devastating October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

On September 9, 2025 Israel decided to attack the 7 remaining leaders of Hamas who were living in Qatar. These leaders are terrorists in every sense of the word. They helped plan the attacks on Israel and they radicalized the people in Gaza. The attack did not go according to plan. Instead of killing the leaders of Hamas, 5 lower-level members of Hamas and one member of the Qatari security force were killed by mistake. None of the billionaire leaders of Hamas living in Doha were killed.

Now comes the double standards of the world towards Israel. When America killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, no one accused America of attacking Pakistan. When Israel attacked the leadership of Hamas in Qatar, the whole world accused Israel of attacking Qatar. Israel did not attack Qatar. It attacked Hamas leaders living in Qatar. There is a huge difference. The double standard is obvious.

To add insult to injury, on September 25, 2025, the Prime Minister of Israel. Bibi Netanyahu, while attending a meeting with President Trump in the oval office, was ordered to personally apologise to the Prime Minister of Qatar in an arranged phone call. He was also ordered to promise that Israel would never attack Qatar in the future. It was a deliberate humiliation of Israel’s elected prime minister. In trying to mollify Qatar, Trump sent the wrong message to the world. America should not be approving sanctuary for terrorist leaders in any country, especially not Qatar. Qatar is using its bountiful financial resources to advance a very serious double game of promoting chaos across America, while pretending to be an ally of America.

**Coerced Call**. Following Israel’s attack on the leaders of Hamas in Doha, President Trump orchestrates a call in the White House on September 25, 2025 where Israeli PM Netanyahu was ordered to personally apologise to the Prime Minister of Qatar and to promise that Israel would never attack Qatar in the future. The US had no qualms about taking out the leader of Al–*Qaeda* in Pakistan.

No matter how great a friend President Trump has been to Israel, it seems reasonable to assume that in the same way that America attacked the leaders of al-Qaeda in Pakistan, Israel has the right to attack the leaders of Hamas in Qatar. What happened in the oval office does not augur well for the future of the American Israeli relationship.

About the writer:

Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award. In 1978 he immigrated to the USA to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel. He is married with two children and one granddaughter.

HISTORY DOESN’T CHANGE – PERCEPTIONS OF FACTS DO

While global pressure for the two-state solution accelerates, maybe time to apply the brakes and study the facts.

By Peter Bailey

World leaders are living in the past when they talk about two states being the only solution to the “Palestine Problem”, when in reality their real concern is the “Jewish Problem”, without being honest enough to say so. The two-state solution was applied in 1921 when the League of Nations accepted the British proposal that Palestine east of the Jordan River become an Arab State, hence the birth of Transjordan, today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Mandate Palestine west of the river was set to become the Jewish Homeland, in terms of the Balfour Declaration and the subsequent San Remo Resolution. The two-state solution which has been touted since 1967 is thus in reality, a three-state solution. First, a short history lesson, which will establish the background and basis of the original two-state solution, while confirming my reasoning that the current demand is in fact for a three-state solution to the Arab Israel conundrum.

The leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Japan and many others appeared most anxious to punish Israel by recognising a mythical State of Palestine in light of Israel’s defensive war against Gaza, following the vicious and criminal terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023. Leading the pack in this ill-timed, uninformed and imprudent quasi- recognition was French president Emmanuel Macron, who together with his partners in this folly were clearly not in lockstep with their predecessors who attended the San Remo Conference 105 years earlier. Britain, France, Italy and Japan saw no problem then in accepting the bona fides of the Balfour Declaration by including it in the San Remo Resolution dealing with the future of the Levant, an area comprising modern day Israel, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. With the exception of Israel, which had to proclaim its own independence in 1948, the other states were soon established by the Mandatory Powers in terms of San Remo in territories that had formerly been part of the Ottoman Empire before its defeat in the First World War. The establishment of the Jewish Homeland was thwarted by successive British governments.

**Conference’s Consequences**. Delegates to the monumental 1920 San Remo conference in Italy which has had far-reaching consequences for all the peoples of the Middle East not least, for the Jewish people who had been scattered across the world for two millennia. Despite the biblical enshrining into international law “the title deed to the land of Israel to the descendants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, over a century later, the very legitimacy of the Jewish state in their ancient homeland is still being challenged.

The First World War brought four unique individuals together in London between 1916 and 1918. The fabled four were British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, British Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur Balfour, South African Defence Minister General Jan Smuts and scientist Chaim Weizmann, President of the British Zionist Federation. Lloyd George and Balfour were both Christian Zionists, while Smuts, informed by his knowledge of Jewish history together with his rural religious South African background had an ingrained belief in the biblical Promised Land as the historical Jewish homeland. The association of these global statesmen led to the Balfour Declaration, which was no accident of fate, but rather a merging of ideas based on political realities, historical knowledge and religious idealism.

The essence of the Balfour Declaration, issued by Sir Arthur Balfour in 1917, was a British undertaking to promote the reestablishment of the Jewish Homeland in Palestine, considering the historical right of the Jewish People to the territory. The San Remo Declaration confirmed the establishment of the division of the Levant into several territories under French and British Mandates, which would lead to the eventual self-determination of the local residents. The inclusion of the Balfour Declaration was to ensure that one element of that self-determination would be the establishment of the Jewish Homeland in historical Israel.

The San Remo Conference was convened 105 years ago with the express purpose of deciding the future of the Middle East region that had been part of the recently defeated Ottoman Empire. Present at the conference were the leaders of Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium and Greece, as well as the leaders of the Zionist Movement.

Following the conference, the San Remo Declaration, incorporating the 1917 Balfour Declaration, was issued, providing the legal basis for the establishment of the League of Nations British Mandate over Palestine, amongst several other Mandates. Sir Arthur Balfour remarked at the time that this confirmed the “historical right of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland.” While Lloyd George and Balfour were committed to the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine, their tenure in government was unfortunately destined to be short-lived, and their promise of a Jewish Homeland left unfulfilled.

Lloyd George was replaced by Conservative party leader William Bonar Law on 23 October 1922. Bonar Law, whose primary concern was an amicable arrangement to settle Britain’s War Debt with the United States, paid scant attention to Palestine. He was seriously ill with throat cancer and resigned in May 1923, to be replaced by Stanley Baldwin on 23 May 1923. The San Remo Declaration granted had Great Britain Mandatory responsibility for Mesopotamia and for Palestine in terms of the Balfour Declaration. Our concern is with Mandate Palestine, which has two distinct regions, one east of the Jordan River, and the other west of the river, extending to the Mediterranean coast. The failure of Great Britain to honour and carry out its obligation of establishing a Jewish Homeland in terms of the Balfour Declaration lies at the heart of many of the current problems facing Israel in particular, and the Middle East in general.

Unlike their predecessors who approved of the San Remo and Balfour Declarations, contemporary politicians analysing the history of Israel and of the Jewish People without considering the facts, has resulted in a bizarre revision of that history, led by the Palestinian mythmakers and their fellow travelers.

The original sin which lies at the root of the Israel Arab conflict can be defined as the general acceptance of the Arab myth of indigeneity to the land they call Palestine, sans any verifiable historical evidence. The same land is referred to as Israel by the Jewish people, with reams of verifiable historical evidence as to their indigeneity. The time is long overdue that the 193 member states of the United Nations recognise this truth, after which they would have a solemn duty to educate the Palestinian masses that they have no prior right to the land of Israel. Acceptance by all of the rights of the Jewish people to Israel, could result in a reset of the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian leadership, which in turn, has the potential to result in a mutually acceptable conclusion to the never ending conflict.

HISTORY OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE

The beating heart of Israel is the city of Jerusalem, the holiest city in Judaism, while the Arab Muslim world claims Jerusalem as a holy city in Islam, refusing to acknowledge the prior rights of Jewry to the same city. There are two indisputable facts regarding Jewish and Muslim claims to Jerusalem. The first being that the Muslim religion came into being between the years 600 and 620 of the common era, while Jerusalem is historically confirmed as the centre of Jewish religious life and home to the Jewish Temple at least 1,100 years earlier.

Roman historian, Gaius Plinius Secundus (23/24 – 79 CE), known as Pliny the Elder described Jerusalem as by far the most famous city of the East, while fellow Roman historian, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, (c. 56 – c. 120 CE), described it as “the capital of the Jews, with a temple of enormous reaches.” The following excerpt (translated) from Historiae V, the fifth volume of Tacitus’ Histories, leaves the reader in no doubt as to the Jewish character of Jerusalem:

“But the city stands on an eminence, and the Jews had defended it with works and fortifications sufficient to protect even level ground; for the two hills that rise to a great height had been included within walls that had been skillfully built, projecting out or bending in so as to put the flanks of an assailing body under fire. The rocks terminated in sheer cliffs, and towers rose to a height of sixty feet where the hill assisted the fortifications, and in the valleys, they reached one hundred and twenty; they presented a wonderful sight, and appeared of equal height when viewed from a distance. An inner line of walls had been built around the palace, and on a conspicuous height stands Antony’s Tower, so named by Herod in honor of Mark Antony.”

While Pliny the Elder talks about the Essenes, a Jewish sect, in his history, Tacitus confirms that Jerusalem was the Jewish capital as well as corroborating the existence of the Temple, known in Judaism as the Second Temple. Neither Pliny nor Tacitus mention an Arab presence nor the existence of a mosque on the Temple Mount, simply because Islam did not exist in their era, only appearing on the world stage some 5 to 6 hundred years later. While there has been much conjecture about the existence of the First Jewish Temple, built by King Solomon according to Biblical records, there is sufficient proof placing the Jews in control of Jerusalem at least 1,000 years before the arrival of Mohammed and Islam on the world stage.

One of the results of the Roman conquest over Israel was the renaming of the region, particularly Judea and Samaria, as Palestina, in an effort to destroy the Jewish identity of the region, hence the name Palestine. One of the results of the birth of Islam was the military conquest of the entire Levant by Muslim Arab forces between 634 and 638 CE, the establishment of the Rashidun Caliphate and the subsequent Arab colonisation of the entire region. The Arab/Palestinian claim to Palestine originates from this colonisation, giving them some entitlement, while the claim of the rights that go with indigeneity can be debunked without further ado. The idea that Arabs are indigenous to Israel is of relatively modern origin, emerging around the same time as the modern Zionist movement and the subsequent birth of Palestinian nationalism, concomitant with the British Mandate over Palestine.

Apparently misinformed by the mythical contrived history of Israel, the 2025 United Nations General Assembly seemed to have a one-track agenda – the establishment of a Palestinian State in addition to the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River, popularly known as the Two State Solution. This was without any consideration for, or perhaps a lack of accurate knowledge, of the historical background. The map of Mandate Palestine below clearly indicates that in 1921, Britain divided Palestine into two separate units, the Arab entity of Transjordan, later the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, east of the Jordan River, with the clear intention that territory west of the Jordan would become the Jewish Homeland. That this was in fact the original Two State Solution has been long forgotten. The Arab Emirate of Transjordan was recognised by the League of Nations in September 1922, the first step to the implementation of the San Remo Declaration. The second step, the establishment of the Jewish Homeland fell by the wayside together with the Lloyd George government.

The small area in black with the legend – area ceded to Syria 1923 – this is the Golan Heights that were intended to be part of the Jewish Homeland, but removed.

The resignation of David Lloyd George on 19 October 1922 as the result of a financial scandal was followed by the election of a new government signaling the end of Britain honouring the terms of the Mandate. The establishment of a Jewish homeland became a very low priority, while Britain meticulously limited Jewish immigration to Palestine in order to maintain an Arab majority. Simultaneously with its Jewish immigration policy, Britain introduced a second Two State plan, while ignoring its own decision creating Transjordan in 1921 as the first step towards an Arab and a Jewish state in Mandate Palestine. The new two state plan, creating a second Arab state west of the Jordan River became the rallying cry of the Arab community. This was resolutely, and in many cases aggressively opposed by the Zionist movement, which demanded the application of the San Remo and Balfour Declarations. Trapped between Jewish determination and Arab demands brought about by its own perfidious plans, the British Government decided in 1947 to return the Mandate over Palestine to the United Nations.

The General Assembly subsequently approved a partition plan in 1947, totally ignoring the Mandate division of Palestine, rather voting for a grossly unfair partition of the Eastern half of Palestine as shown on the above map. Needless to say, the Arab world refused to abide by the U.N. vote, now calling for a single Arab State, which would include a “Jewish component”. The Zionist movement in turn reluctantly accepted the vote on the basis of:

Half a loaf being better than none.

Britain vacated Palestine on 15 May 1948, the day after David Ben Gurion had proclaimed the Independent State of Israel in the region west of the Jordan River. The nascent State of Israel was immediately attacked by the surrounding Arab States in an attempt to strangle the Jewish State at birth. The rest of the story is the modern history of Israel, together with a never-ending call for the establishment of two states following Israel’s stunning victory in the 1967 Six Day War. History also records that every offer by Israel of an independent Palestinian State has been spurned, regardless of the terms. The Two State solution with no Jewish State has become the new global cry on behalf of the Palestinian people, while the Palestinians themselves chant:

“From the River to the Sea”

This amounts to a call for a single state west of the Jordan River. Back to the future, I conclude with the all too familiar quote by legendary Israeli diplomat Abba Eban, who said in 1973:

“The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

About the writer:

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

THE ISRAEL BRIEF – 10-13 November 2025

10 November 2025 – At The Car Wall / Nova Memorial and more on The Israel Brief.

11 November 2025 – The late Hadar Goldin laid to rest after 11 years and more on The Israel Brief.

12 November 2025 – President Trump requests pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu and your headlines in The Israel Brief.

12 November 2025 – Former hostages testify at the UN. Warning: Sensitive content. This and headlines in The Israel Brief.

WHEN THE GUARDIAN OF THE FUTURE ABROGATES ITS RESPONSIBILITIES

Israel’s extreme-right leadership is failing not only this generation but future generations.

By Peter Bailey

The foremost responsibility of every government is to act as the guardian of future generations by ensuring the long-term viability and security of the state. The major concerns of the government of the State of Israel seem to be directed at the short-term future of the governing coalition, rather than the long-term future of the country. Since the October 7 attack, with barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas, followed by Israel’s predictable subsequent military retaliation, a multitude of complex emotions have been unleashed in Israel, as well as within the Jewish world globally. Amidst the fog of war and an ever-increasing concern about the fate of the hostages, another kind of hostage drama sees Israel’s prime minister voluntarily held hostage by politicians on the extreme right of his coalition, inhibiting his ability to effectively govern Israel.

The inevitable decision to invade Gaza had the full and unequivocal support of the Israeli public, but as the war against Hamas in Gaza unfolded over almost two years, elements of doubt and disquiet began to surface in many minds. While several hostage recovery deals have taken place, elements within the governing coalition began latching on to United States President Donald Trump’s fanciful idea of turning Gaza into a Riviera-type holiday resort. Trump’s plan meant that the residents of Gaza would have to be temporarily housed elsewhere, while his unlikely plan unfolded. The hard right in the governing coalition immediately read occupation and the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza into Trump’s outlandish proposal. Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party leader Ben-Gvir was very quick to ensure that his prized prime ministerial hostage, Benjamin Netanyahu understood clearly that any deal to end the war would end the coalition, forcing an election. The reality here is a strong likelihood that Netanyahu would no longer be the prime minister, reducing his court appearances to be like those of any other accused in a criminal case, sans the deference and special treatment accorded to him as prime minister. The bizarre determination to keep the war in Gaza on the boil with the Knesset Members of Netanyahu’s Likud Party continuing to support him, while he caves in to the demands of the far right, sets the scene for the dilemma of conscience with regard to morals, ethics and loyalty affecting many Israeli citizens.

While 47 hostages, 20 or 22 alive and at least 25 are confirmed dead, the stakes for releasing the hostages, even if it means ending the war, have never been higher for most Israelis. Similarly, for prized political hostage Benjamin Netanyahu, the stakes are at an all-time high. He has to stay in power to retain his VIP accused status, with the kid glove treatment that goes along with it. His personal political lifeline is to keep the war going, with an ever-increasing number of troops facing a deadly urban terrorist foe, while the living hostages remain subject to the whims of their cruel captors, who have no respect for the captives’ lives or wellbeing. Keeping the war going creates all kinds of challenges for Netanyahu, least of all being an outward show of being committed to the endless hostage negotiations being moderated by Qatar, Egypt and to a lesser extent the United States. The hostage families and other critics within Israel believe the government is not showing sufficient flexibility in the negotiations in an effort not to reach an equitable conclusion, freedom for the hostage captives and an end to the war. The reality is that Netanyahu, taking his own hostage status into account, does not have the political maneuverability to be flexible in the hostage negotiations.

**Groping in the Dark**. Alienating his country and causing divisions within, what is Benjamin Netanyahu really after?

The Trump Administration has been placing an ever-increasing degree of pressure on Israel to commit to a cease fire agreement, while the coalition government is doing its utmost to delay such an eventuality. The current deal on the table, presented by the U.S., puts Netanyahu on the spot. Refusal to negotiate will anger his friend and ally Donald Trump, negotiating in good faith and bending to Trump’s demands will alienate his political captors, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, leaving him very little wiggle room. It would seem that the creative solution he, or his advisers, came up with had the potential to kill two birds with one stone. Give flesh to Trump’s threats of “all hell breaking loose” on Hamas by taking a calculated risk with a precision military strike on the Hamas leadership in their safe haven in Qatar. The prize, a potential breakdown in negotiations without angering the U.S. looked inviting, while a collapse of the negotiations would keep Ben Gvir and company smiling. The jury is still out on the end result of the attack

Being a former South African who lived through the 40 years of National Party rule with government politicians judging loyalty on the degree of support given to the ‘Nats’, despite all the attendant dangers. The identical situation is unfolding in Israel, with those not supporting the right-wing government line being labelled as “traitors”, so similar to South Africa between 1960 and 1990. Zionist identity is being redefined in that those who question the extreme Revisionist line being taken, are declared to be unpatriotic at best, and anti-Zionist anti-Israel leftists at worst. The original Left Right political divide where the left-wing traditionally favoured progressive social policies through government intervention, while the right-wing sought individual liberty through limited government intervention, has become totally blurred in Israel. Israelis who favour some form of accommodation with the Palestinians, not necessarily two states, are labelled as leftists. Those who call for the annexation of Gaza, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) are the new right wing, who also see civil liberties as being discretionary and subject to government intervention, the exact opposite of classic right-wing beliefs.

Many Israeli citizens, myself included, have spent countless hours writing articles, answering criticism in foreign media and defending Israel however and wherever possible. We consider ourselves ardent Zionists and defenders of the State of Israel. The reality that more and more of these ardent traditional Zionists are questioning their determination to defend an Israel that is becoming increasingly indefensible. The majority of Israeli citizens accept that there is no widespread deliberate starvation in Gaza, but at the same time, many are beginning to understand that there is a hunger and potential human rights problem, which requires honest acknowledgement and intervention. With the viciously barbaric Hamas terrorist attacks on 7 October in the background making this exceedingly difficult, Jews and Israelis must never allow themselves to be lowered to imitate the inhuman and inhumane standards of the terrorist. We must continually bear in mind that Hamas are vicious terrorist murderers and not freedom fighters, while striving to maintain our own high Jewish ethical and moral values. This does not make those who maintain Jewish standards traitors, but rather labels those who call for the halting of aid and enforced starvation as Jews who do not fully subscribe to Jewish laws and morals as to how we are expected to treat our enemies.

Added to the disquiet over the way the war is being waged is the manner in which the hostage negotiations are being conducted, as well as the attempts at partisan appointment of officials to critical senior positions in the Judiciary and the Security Establishments. There is thus great concern about many aspects of life in Israel, from the attacks on the judiciary to an unequal military draft system with financial rewards to Yeshiva students for not doing military service, while reservists are expected to serve ever-increasing periods fighting in Gaza or elsewhere, causing long-periods of separation from their families, many with young children adding thus adding unbearable strain as well as financial concerns. Here again, any criticism of the unfair and unjust systems in place, labels the critics as “unpatriotic leftists” and even “traitors” to Israel.

Having said all this, let me clarify that criticism of the current right-wing government is not criticism of Israel, but rather the democratic right of the citizens of Israel to object to what they find abhorrent and totally unacceptable in everyday government policies.

*Feature picture: Troubling Triumvirate. Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s Minister of National Security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich, Minister in the Defense Ministry.

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

A FEMINIST BETRAYAL

Women’s groups champion the rights of all victims of gender-based violence…. unless they are Jews!

By Grant Gochin

As a gay Jewish immigrant from South Africa, raised by three extraordinary women – my grandmother, Bee Smollan, my biological mother, Sandra Gochin, and my aunt, Valerie Smollan – I write this with great hesitancy as a man. In our household, the lines of motherhood blurred – each was equally and fully my mother. Growing up in a misogynistic, paternalistic society, these women were unyielding in their strength, instilling in me an unshakable belief in feminism as a lived truth. To me, women’s excellence in intellect, resilience, and compassion was self-evident, save for brute strength. I reject any claim to the contrary. Yet, I feel compelled to speak out because women’s groups, entrusted to champion the rights of all victims of gender-based violence, have let everyone down. By failing to unequivocally condemn the horrific sexual violence against Israeli women and men during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, these groups have effectively abandoned current and future victims of sexual violence, undermining the very principles they claim to uphold.

**outRAGE**. Protesters hold placards and wave Israeli flags as they take part in a “Rape is not resistance” demonstration in London on Feb. 4. (Photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)

Feminism was as natural as breathing, yet its history revealed the profound role of Jewish activists. My Jewish friends shared my instinctive support for women’s rights, unlike some non-Jewish peers. Jews built feminism’s foundation, pioneering equality in secular, religious, and scientific spheres, only to see Jewish feminists especially betrayed, kicked when they were down by feminist movements, the United Nations, and global NGOs aligning with narratives that vilify Israel, attack Jews, and dismiss their suffering. The British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on UK-Israel’s 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report, chaired by Lord Andrew Roberts and released on March 18, 2025, meticulously documents these atrocities, including sexual violence against both women and men, yet global feminist organizations remain silent. By prioritizing virtue signaling for Islamist ideals over condemning gender-based violence, these organizations undermine the progress Jewish feminists fought for, erasing their legacy. This article celebrates the Jewish legacy in feminism, highlights Israel’s strides toward gender equality, laments the antisemitic betrayal of Jewish feminists and male victims, and calls for accountability.

**Selective Morality**. Exposing the racism of the MeToo movement, if you are Jewish, and you are sexually assaulted, it’s acceptable because you are Jewish!

JEWISH PIONEERS OF FEMINISM

The feminist movement is inseparable from Jewish contributions, driven by a tradition of justice and tikkun olam – repairing the world. Jews were among the first to champion women’s equality, breaking ground in government, science, religious leadership, and anti-apartheid activism, setting precedents that feminist organizations later betrayed by ignoring Jewish victims and aligning with anti-Israel narratives.

In government, Jewish women were trailblazers. Bella Abzug, a U.S. Representative in the 1960s and 1970s, known as “Battling Bella”, fiercely advocated for women’s and civil rights, instrumental in establishing Women’s Equality Day. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Supreme Court Justice, reshaped gender equality law, ruling on landmark cases like Obergefell v. Hodges for same-sex marriage. Elena Kagan, appointed in 2010, became the fourth woman and eighth Jewish Supreme Court Justice, marking a historic moment with three female justices on the Court. Their leadership transformed American governance, advancing justice for all.

In science, Jewish women outpaced their peers. Vera Rubin discovered dark matter, revealing it constitutes 27% of the universe. Rosalind Franklin’s work on DNA’s molecular structure laid the foundation for the double helix model, though her male colleagues took credit. Ruth Arnon, with Michael Sela, synthesized the first synthetic antigen, revolutionizing immunology.

Jews also led in religious equality. Rabbi Regina Jonas, ordained in 1935 in Germany, argued for gender equality in Jewish law with her thesis, “Can a Woman Hold Rabbinical Office?” She served Berlin’s Jewish community under Nazi persecution and in Theresienstadt before her murder in Auschwitz in 1944, setting a precedent for female clergy that feminist groups later ignored.

The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, killing 146 mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women, was a turning point. Jewish union organizer Clara Lemlich rallied for better wages and safety. Rose Schneiderman’s speech – “We have tried you good people and found you wanting” – spurred labor and feminist reforms. Ernestine Rose, a Polish-Jewish immigrant educated in Talmud by her rabbi father, won a legal battle at 16 to secure her inheritance, rejecting an arranged marriage. Arriving in America in 1836, she advocated for women’s suffrage and abolition, declaring, “It is not enough to assert a right; we must exercise it.” Betty Friedan’s 1963 The Feminine Mystique ignited second-wave feminism, while Gloria Steinem, influenced by her Jewish father, co-founded Ms. magazine. Emily Gross, a Jewish philanthropist, supported Susan B. Anthony’s suffrage campaigns. Hannah Greenebaum Solomon, founder of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) in 1893, accompanied Anthony to the 1904 International Council of Women in Berlin, advancing global women’s rights. Fannie Rosenberg Bigelow, president of the Rochester NCJW, bolstered Anthony’s local efforts. Jewish men like Herbert Marcuse critiqued capitalist patriarchy, and Saul Alinsky’s strategies empowered feminist groups. Scholars like Nehama Leibowitz and Blu Greenberg aligned Jewish practice with equality. Yet, modern organizations like the NCJW, which now align with anti-Israel narratives, betray the legacies of Rose, Solomon, and Bigelow, ignoring Jewish victims’ suffering.

HELEN SUZMAN: A FEMINIST FORCE AGAINST APARTHEID

Helen Suzman, a Jewish South African MP from 1953 to 1989, was a feminist icon who fought apartheid’s racial and gender injustices. As the sole Progressive Party MP for 13 years, she opposed discriminatory laws, including those restricting black women’s rights, and advocated for gender equality through prison visits exposing brutal conditions and support for abortion rights. Her relentless criticism of apartheid, including the Sharpeville massacre, and visits to prisoners like Nelson Mandela were pivotal to black liberation, galvanizing global sanctions and aiding the ANC’s 1994 victory. Her Jewish feminist principles of tikkun olam made her indispensable, yet feminist organizations betray her legacy by ignoring Jewish victims.

JEWISH FEMINISM’S GLOBAL IMPACT

Jewish feminists shaped global feminism, especially in Israel, where Zionist ideals embraced equality. The Yishuv granted women voting rights in 1919, second only to New Zealand. Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi and Hannah Maisel-Shohat organized agricultural collectives, promoting women’s economic independence. Marcia Freedman brought second-wave feminism to Israel, challenging sexist laws. Mizrahi feminism, led by Henriette Dahan-Kalev, addressed ethnic discrimination. Women in Black, founded by Jewish and Palestinian women, championed peace and equality. Hadassah built hospitals in Israel, empowering women through healthcare. These efforts redefined feminism as a universal fight for justice, making the betrayal by global movements – prioritizing Islamist ideals over Jewish feminists’ suffering – all the more painful.

FEMALE EQUALITY IN ISRAEL: A NON-SEXIST SOCIETY

Israel is a beacon of gender equality in a region where women’s rights are suppressed. Its 1948 Declaration of Independence promises equality for all, manifested in women’s leadership, military roles, and societal influence, making Israel a non-sexist society despite the betrayal of its feminist allies.

FEMALE LEADERSHIP IN ISRAEL

Golda Meir, prime minister from 1969 to 1974, led with strength. In 2008, women held top roles: Dorit Beinisch as Supreme Court president, Dalia Itzik as Knesset speaker, and Tzipi Livni as Kadima leader. Today, women like Sharren Haskel and Orna Berry shape politics and tech. Women comprise 30% of the Knesset, surpassing many Western democracies.

WOMEN IN THE IDF

Israel, the first nation to conscript women in 1949, integrates them into 90% of IDF roles, including combat since 1995. Female pilots flew bombing missions in the 2025 Iran war. Leaders like Lt. Col. Oshrat Bachar and Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai broke barriers. Programs like Aluma support religious women’s service.

A FIRM GRIP ON SOCIETY

Israeli women dominate education (70% of teachers), healthcare (over 50% of doctors), and the judiciary (over 40% of judges). Tech leaders like Kira Radinsky drive innovation. The 1951 Women’s Equal Rights Law and anti-discrimination policies cement equality. The 2018 Tel Aviv protest of 30,000 women against domestic violence shows a society confronting gender challenges. Israel’s progress, unparalleled in the region, makes the feminist betrayal – sacrificing Jewish feminists’ progress for Islamist virtue signaling – unconscionable.

ISRAELI MEN: THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS OF OCTOBER 7 SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, was a calculated assault on human dignity, targeting Israeli civilians with unimaginable cruelty. The 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report, released by the British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on UK-Israel on March 18, 2025, confirms systematic sexual violence, including rape and mutilation, against men and women across attack sites, corroborated by UN document A/HRC/58/NGO/223. Yet, feminist organizations, the UN, and NGOs have largely ignored male victims, abandoning them to silence that compounds their trauma.

In Gaza, Hamas persecutes gay men, with documented executions, reflecting its misogynistic ideology. Yet, on October 7, Hamas operatives engaged in homosexual sexual violence against Israeli men, using rape and torture to dehumanize victims, as detailed in The Roberts Report. This hypocrisy reveals Hamas’s use of sexual violence as a tool of terror, regardless of gender or orientation. Feminist groups’ failure to condemn these acts sends a devastating message to future male victims: their suffering may be ignored if it misaligns with political agendas, perpetuating a culture of silence and stigma.

**Shame on Silence**. To shouts of “Shame on you!” at a rally in London against UN women for their silence, actress Maureen Lipman (center), told the over 1,500 rally-goers: “The silence from our sisterhood is just deafening, especially from the UN. They are utterly silent over gang rapes, pelvises being broken. Why? Because Jewish women don’t count.”

THE BETRAYAL: FEMINISM’S ABANDONMENT AFTER OCTOBER 7,2023

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, was a horrorscape of violence: Israeli women and men were raped, tortured, and murdered. The Roberts Report and UN document A/HRC/58/NGO/223 document “credible” evidence of systematic sexual violence, yet feminist organizations, the UN, and NGOs, built on Jewish contributions like Regina Jonas’s rabbinate, Bella Abzug’s legislative victories, Vera Rubin’s scientific breakthroughs, and Helen Suzman’s fight for justice, have especially betrayed Jewish feminists, kicked when they were down by aligning with narratives that vilify Israel and dismiss Jewish suffering. By failing to condemn this gender-based violence, women’s groups undermine the principle of “believe all women”, prioritizing Islamist ideals with a double standard: “believe all women – unless they are a Jew.”

**Blood on the Pants**. Standing before the statue of prominent suffragist Millicent Fawcett in London’s Parliament Square, a group of women wearing clothes stained with red paint around the crotch to replicate the images of women who were raped on October 7, hold posters which said “ME TOO UNLESS UR A JEW”.

FRANCESCA ALBANESE’S ANTISEMITISM

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, embodies this betrayal with antisemitic attacks cloaked in UN legitimacy. She accuses Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid,” endorsing Hamas’s narrative while dismissing its October 7 atrocities. Her rhetoric, condemned by the U.S., France, and Germany, undermines Jewish victims’ testimonies, amplifying feminist abandonment.

UN COMPLICITY

The UN’s response was delayed and inadequate. Despite A/HRC/58/NGO/223 and The Roberts Report documenting sexual violence, a March 2024 UN report confirmed rapes but failed to condemn Hamas unequivocally. Antonio Guterres accused Israel of “misinformation,” undermining Jewish victims. UN Women’s eight-week delay for a tepid statement, contrasted with rapid reports on alleged Israeli violations, betrays Jewish feminists, contradicting “believe all women.”

NGO’S AND FEMINIST COLLUSION

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch fixate on accusing Israel of “genocide” and “war crimes,” ignoring Hamas’s sexual violence. Code Pink uses feminism to spread anti-Jewish hate, excusing Hamas’s atrocities. Women Deliver and the International Women’s Health Coalition (now part of Ipas) failed to condemn October 7. The Women’s March, which ousted Jewish co-founder Vanessa Wruble in 2017 for her perceived Zionism, remained silent. Jewish feminists Elyssa Schmier, who resigned from the DC Abortion Fund for supporting Israel, and Allison Tombros Korman, Senior Operations and Strategy Director at DCAF, who detailed her resignation due to antisemitic treatment in a Tablet Magazine article, exemplify this bigotry. Schmier stated on social media, “Intersectional feminism does not apply to Jewish women.” Korman founded the Red Tent Fund to advance abortion access rooted in Jewish values. Jewish women in reproductive rights coalitions reportedly face an anti-Zionist litmus test, sidelined for raising Israeli victims’ issues, betraying the feminist legacy of Rose, Franklin, Suzman, and Korman.

CALL TO ACTION: REJECT BETRAYERS’ FUNDING

The betrayal by the UN, Amnesty, HRW, Code Pink, Women Deliver, IWHC, Women’s March, Me Too International, V-Day, NWSA, and the Palestinian Feminist Collective demands accountability. These organizations, cloaking anti-Israel bias in feminist rhetoric, have abandoned Jewish feminists, undermining their contributions by prioritizing Islamist ideals. Jews and feminists must scrutinize charitable dollars, research recipients and refuse to fund betrayers who exclude Jewish victims and align with Hamas’s messaging.

CONCLUSION: RECLAIMING TRUE FEMINISM

As a gay man who cares desperately for women’s rights, I feel abandoned by feminist organizations that have forsaken Jewish feminists and male victims of the October 7, 2023, atrocities. Their silence demands a reckoning: Have these groups only ignored Jewish victims, or destroyed their integrity by prioritizing political agendas over justice? An investigation into their funding, leadership, and statements is essential. Jews and feminists must reject these betrayers, ensuring no dollar supports hate, so true feminism – rooted in justice for all – can be reclaimed.

*Feature picture: Sounds of Silence. Israeli women protest outside UN Headquarters in Jerusalem, in November. Finally, yet months too late, a UN team investigating the sexual violence against women in Israel on October 7 found “reasonable grounds” to believe that such violence did indeed occur. (credit: FLASH90)

DEDICATION

Schelly Talalay Dardashti, my cherished friend, advisor, and mentor, passed away on August 16, 2025. She was a woman of profound significance, whose wisdom and warmth touched countless lives. It was my immense honor to know her and call her my friend. I bow my head in deep respect and reverence, grappling with the unbearable truth that one of the greatest among us is gone. We remain but a shadow of her brilliance, forever inspired by her legacy. This article is written in her honor and memory.

About the writer:

Grant Arthur Gochin currently serves as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Togo. He is the Emeritus Special Envoy for Diaspora Affairs for the African Union, which represents the fifty-five African nations, and Emeritus Vice Dean of the Los Angeles Consular Corps, the second largest Consular Corps in the world. Gochin is actively involved in Jewish affairs, focusing on historical justice. He has spent the past twenty five years documenting and restoring signs of Jewish life in Lithuania. He has served as the Chair of the Maceva Project in Lithuania, which mapped / inventoried / documented / restored over fifty abandoned and neglected Jewish cemeteries. Gochin is the author of “Malice, Murder and Manipulation”, published in 2013. His book documents his family history of oppression in Lithuania. He is presently working on a project to expose the current Holocaust revisionism within the Lithuanian government. Professionally, Gochin is a Certified Financial Planner and practices as a Wealth Advisor in California, where he lives with his family. Personal site: https://www.grantgochin.com/

INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDE

Succumbing to Hamas propaganda, South Africa’s government is part of an immoral minority on the wrong side of history

By Derek Arnolds

(recently retired senior intelligence analyst in South Africa’s Secret Service)

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7^th, 2023, South Africa has emerged as the most vitriolic opponent of Israel over the latter’s military actions in Gaza. This article posits that Hamas’s propaganda war has fundamentally shaped South Africa’s policy vis-à-vis Israel. Employing discourse and deconstruction techniques, it unpacks the motivations for this negative trajectory trend. Despite a less-than-sanguine prognosis in resetting Israel-South Africa bilateral relations, renewed hope is possible if the South African government withdraws the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case against Israel in The Hague.

**Dressed to Kill**. The war between Israel and Hamas has exposed deep divisions in South Africa, with the government’s one-sided support for the terrorist group as reflected by President Ramaphosa and his ANC collogues attired in Palestinian headscarf’s and colours.

Pretoria, then under the leadership of Hamas’ acolyte, the rapacious and morally bankrupt African National Congress (ANC), took the Kafkaesque step to charge the only Jewish state with genocide in the ICJ. Apart from the genocide case being meritless, it is the timing that reveals the extent of Hamas’ influence on South Africa’s foreign policy viz-a-viz Israel. Shortly after Hamas’ genocidal attacks on Israeli border communities, the South African government, under the direction of Naledi Pandor, former minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), used various platforms to issue the vilest statements against the Israeli government for purported “genocidal actions”, while providing moral succour to Hamas leaders such as the late Ismail Haniyeh. Pandor initially denied engaging with Hamas leaders, only to admit it later. Most disturbingly, Pandor and the ANC leadership failed to immediately condemn the perpetrator of the October 7^th massacre despite Israel exercising its right to self-defence according to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

**Pandor pandering to Terrorists**. Ten days after Hamas launched its deadly attack resulting in a massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, did not call Israel’s leaders to offer condolences for the mass killings but phoned instead the leader of Hamas to offer support.

South Africa’s cabinet then took the reckless decision to close its embassy in Tel Aviv, disrespecting officials of the Israeli embassy in Pretoria, which prompted Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recall Ambassador Eliav Belotserkovsky, and laid a genocide case against the Jewish state just a few months after October 7. This is not isolated and fits a familiar pattern:

Hamas and its principal patron, Iran, have gradually captured South Africa’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Hamas and Iran have done this through disinformation campaigns, messaging, imagery, symbols, and media narratives, thereby controlling the narrative ecosystem in South Africa. This predates October 7. Pandor’s successor, Ronald Lamola and the puerile Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister in the presidency, continue to spew anti-Israel venom to the delight of Hamas and Iran supporters in South Africa.

South Africa’s AND government support for Hamas goes back in time as seen here of Hamas officials, Khaled Mashaal (left) and Moussa Abu-Marzouk (right) at a press conference with officials of South Africa’s ANC party, in Pretoria on Monday, October 19, 2015 (screen capture: YouTube)

It is abundantly clear why Israel views the South African government as the most antisemitic following the genocide case. Since the war, South Africa has intensified its hackneyed broadside against Israel in international forums. This also resonates in statements, speech acts and policy positions of the South African government. The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, were influenced by South Africa’s hostile anti-Israel policy. Subsequent threats by Israel’s staunchest allies, France, Canada and the United Kingdom, to recognise a Palestinian state in September 2025 if no solution to the Gaza war is found, are a corollary of South Africa’s extremist anti-Israel policy. The timing of the genocide case warrants special scrutiny. The threshold for proving genocide is high, yet it took South Africa’s legal team less than four months to present its initial charge in The Hague. A case not in South Africa’s national interest, Israel’s allies in South Africa’s coalition government should pose the following necessitating an appropriate reply:

– When, where, and why was the egregious decision taken to charge Israel with genocide?

– Was it a coterie of ministers or a whole cabinet that deliberated on the matter? If so, was it a closed meeting? If it were not a closed meeting, then the minutes of that meeting should be made available to the South African public as per Section 32 of the South African Constitution, which guarantees the right of access to information. This is apposite since, in terms of the law of armed conflict, Israel has taken reasonable steps to prevent genocide during the initial stages of the conflict. The genocide case does not advance peace between Israel and Palestine, and only emboldens Israel’s enemies, like Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen’s Houthis and the homicidal Iranian regime.

**Hamas at home in South Africa**. Chief of Hamas Politburo, Khaled Mashaal addressing the media following bilateral meeting with ANC leadership in South Africa in 2015.

While historically, Hamas maintained close ties with the ANC under the pretext of being fraternal liberation movements, Hamas is not a liberation movement but an armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood hellbent on obliterating the State of Israel. Although Hamas’s military capabilities and senior leadership have been eliminated, it remains intact relying on – as Netanel Flamer masterfully explains in his new book, The Hamas Intelligence War Against Israel – geospatial, human, open-source, signals intelligence and cyber warfare against Israel. This was laid bare on October 7^th.

Another dimension – although not addressed by Flamer – is Hamas’ influence on countries like Algeria, South Africa, Qatar and Türkiye. It is known that Hamas has ‘declared’ and ‘undeclared’ officials abroad, who promote the organisation’s extremist ideology as defender of the Palestinian resistance. According to open-source information, the movement has no official representation in South Africa. However, since October 7^th, ANC officials and senior government members have openly met with senior Hamas leaders. In addition, Hamas’ propaganda war against Israel has emboldened extremism in some circles in South Africa. On a casual drive through some of Cape Town’s Muslim suburbs, one would be astounded by the sheer number of mosques festooned in the colours of the Palestinian flag as well as the flags of terrorist organisations – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. Pro-Palestine groups like Africa4Palestine have been leading the campaign to delegitimise the Jewish state, impose sanctions and prosecute South Africans who serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Social media is abuzz with imams glorifying the October 7^th attacks, and one useful idiot even uttering:

“We are all Hamas”.

**‘Gunning’ for Jews**. Jewish-owned businesses are being targeted by BDS SA for purported links to the Israeli government and the IDF such as this branch in Cape Town of Cape Union Mart, an outdoor gear retail chain founded in 1933.

Jewish-owned businesses are being targeted for purported links to the Israeli government and the IDF. Hamas’s messaging is clear: Most Jewish-owned companies aid and abet the “genocide” in Gaza. This is a fallacy since South African Jews are part of our society and have made a remarkable contribution to the Republic. It has always been recognised in South Africa that Israel, as the ancestral home of the Jewish people, is central to Jewish identity. However, useful idiots under the direction of Hamas and Iran have turned the Israel-Palestine conflict, which is a political conflict over territories, into a religious conflict. Scornful terms, notably, “apartheid”, “baby killers”, “occupiers”, “war criminals” and “genocidaires” are bandied about and have been normalized resulting in the “New Antisemitism”. Despite several countries taking steps to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation, the movement nevertheless enjoys strong support in South Africa. This threatens South Africa’s Jewish community as well as the country’s national security. Recent findings by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-money laundering watchdog, reveal that South Africa is a central regional hub for terror financing. It should be noted that South Africa remains on the FATF grey list pending progress in compliance. However, the relevant South African authorities have been ineffective in combating this scourge. It behooves law enforcement and the civilian intelligence agencies to monitor suspected Hamas financiers, institutions and their modus operandi. More importantly, the State Security Agency, a once rarefied institution, turned into a Potemkin agency by the feckless Ntshavheni, who is also responsible for state security, should immediately investigate if there are links between DIRCO officials and Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood members in South Africa and abroad. In this context, the South African government often deploys ANC loyalists and demagogues to key postings, instead of career diplomats. In April 2017, Ambassador Ashraf Suleiman, then South Africa’s head of the Ramallah Liaison Office, met Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in Gaza. The meeting took place in the same year that the ANC passed a resolution to downgrade the South African embassy in Tel Aviv to a liaison office. Suleiman’s meeting with Hamas terrorists drew condemnation from Jerusalem. The liaison office’s riposte was that the mission is mandated to meet with all Palestinian political entities. The same ambassador is now serving as South Africa’s Head of Diplomatic Mission in Syria, which is governed by génocidaires and terrorists. South Africa’s ambassador Ebrahim Rasool’s expulsion in March 2025 from Washington, DC, was hardly surprising when, over and above his public antipathy towards Israel, it was revealed that Rasool had expressed during a webinar that Trump was “mobilising a supremacism” and trying to “project white victimhood as a dog whistle” as the white population faced becoming a minority in the US. Hardly an astute choice of words for a prospective diplomat to Washinton, DC!

**Talking Heads.** Former South African President, Jacob Zuma (left) engages in conversation with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. (Photo: Reuters/S.Sibeko)

It is palpable that Hamas is ascendant in the information operations domain, as antisemitism across the globe has increased dramatically, as evidenced by the magnitude of violent attacks against Jews. The South African government is now part of an immoral minority on the wrong side of history. It chose to pursue a case that elicited opprobrium from the American administration, its second-largest trading partner. This is the unintended consequence of siding with extremist entities such as Hamas and Iran. The best South Africa can do to extricate itself from an unfavourable situation – both morally and financially – is to withdraw its genocide case against Israel which is anyway grounded on fallacious reasoning. In the main, most South Africans have an affinity for Israel, and let it be known that the ANC’s position on Israel does not represent all South Africans. It is a position that reeks of “ideological necrophilia” – blind fixation with dead ideas. In a related vein, the media landscape is seemingly dominated by leftists or liberals who have abandoned classical liberalism to direct hateful scorn against the Jewish state. Contrarian or alternative perspectives are deemed as Zionist and pro-Israel. A Derridean approach of recent analyses by so-called pundits fits this pattern. On August 4^th, 2025, Ziad Motala, professor of law at Howard University in the United States, penned an article in the Sunday Independent, titled “Propaganda masquerading as strategic realism”, wherein he took broadsides against the Sunday Times, a venerable South African newspaper. The central plank of Motala’s thesis is that the Sunday Times’s editorial integrity and journalistic objectivity had been compromised through its overt support for Israel and America and the Sunday Times had always welcomed diverse opinions. Motala further took umbrage at the newspaper’s journalists, who have advocated for improved bilateral relations between Israel and South Africa. Scornfully, Motala highlights a recent trip to Israel – sponsored by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) – by one of the newspaper’s staffers. The newspaper initially did not disclose the fact that the SAJBD sponsored its staffer’s trip; it later acknowledged the omission. Motala remained unforgiving and insisted that the paper’s editorial integrity had been captured by pro-Israel and pro-American apologists. What Motala failed to mention was that the SAJBD paid for the staffer’s trip to observe the objective reality on the ground, without fear of favour. Liberals who share Motala’s perspective have forsaken classical liberalism.

**Situation at Knife’s Edge**. Addressing a rally in Hamas’ honor in Cape Town, South Africa in 2015, Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal told a crowd of several hundred supporters waving Hamas’s white-and-green flags that the wave of knife attacks against Israelis would continue “until freedom is achieved and the land is for Palestine ….” (Photo: AFP/Rodger Bosch)

The renowned American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama, deftly defends classical liberalism, based on limited government, the rule of law, and individual rights, and criticizes those on the political right and left that have pushed its core tenets to the extreme. In essence, the crisis of liberalism is not a failure of the classic variant, but rather the tolerance of authoritarianism, ethno-nationalism, extremism and bigotry under the guise of liberalism.

At the time of writing, Israel is about to launch a major offensive on Gaza City to eliminate any vestige of Hamas, ensure a steady supply of humanitarian aid to Gazans, and allow the enclave to be rebuilt and governed by a non-Hamas entity. Despite the entreaties of its sponsors, Hamas refuses to disarm and leave the Strip. As Hamas will eventually be eliminated in Gaza, it still poses threats abroad. Qatar and Türkiye continue to host Hamas leaders, who, by extension, were complicit in the October 7^th attacks on Israel. These leaders, including Khaled Meshaal, Bassem Naim, Mousa Abu Marzouk and Khalil al-Hayya, should be brought to justice as designated terrorists. South Africa should take a noble step to designate Hamas and its parent, the Muslim Brotherhood, as terrorist organisations. Several countries, like Switzerland and Britain, have banned Hamas activities in their territories. While Hamas’s military capabilities have been degraded, it is almost a Sisyphean task to destroy its extremist ideology, which permeates the globe. Therefore, its activities in South Africa should be closely monitored.

Israel should not abandon South Africa, as the country cannot be blamed for a venal ANC that is on life support and afflicted with political atrophy. Despite strained diplomatic relations, South Africa remains Israel’s largest trading partner in Africa. Thus, Israel must intensify a sustainedstrategic communications campaignto counter Hamas and Iran’s grey zone operations in South Africa and beyond. David Saranga, Israel’s special envoy and seasoned diplomat, recently undertook an outreach and fact-finding mission to South Africa to open a dialogue channel between the two countries. This Israeli initiative is commendable, yet the biggest obstacle is the ICJ genocide case. The Israeli government can rest assured that it has allies in South Africa’s coalition government, who should exert pressure on the ANC, which initiated the ICJ case, to withdraw the lawsuit. Article 88 of the Rules of the ICJ makes provision for parties to withdraw a case “either by jointly notifying the Court of their agreement to discontinue the proceedings or by the applicant state informing the court that it no longer wishes to pursue the case”. The said Court may then direct that the case be removed from the list. Continued lawfare against Israel militates against dialogue between Israel and Palestine, is costly to the South African taxpayer, and only advances the extremist ideologies of Hamas and Iran.

About the writer:

Derek Arnolds is a freelance writer and corporate intelligence specialist. Educated at the universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, he previously held a teaching position in strategic studies at the South African Military Academy. He later served as a senior intelligence analyst for Africa and the Middle East in the South African Secret Service (later the State Security Agency: Foreign Branch). He retired from the Agency in May 2025.

Disclaimer: Although I previously served in the South African defence department and intelligence services, the opinions expressed in this article reflect my independent, open-source research. They are not intended, in any way, to reflect the views of the South African government.

JEWISH SECURITY IN BELGIUM – AT A ‘KNIFE’S’ EDGE

How secure are Jews in Belgium after recent court decision relating to “sharp knife” threat?

By David E. Kaplan

Following this week’s outrageous Belgian court acquittal of hate speech by the country’s novelist, poet, playwright and columnist Herman Brusselmans, chairman of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin WARNED in his condemnation of the ruling:

“It legitimizes calls for the murder of Jews without legal consequences.”

The violent verbiage that the case revolved around was Brusselmans’ penning that he wants to:

“…shove a sharp knife into the throat of every Jew.”

**The Untouchable**. Belgium justice, Herman Brusselmans who wanted to ‘ram a knife down Jews’ throats’ acquitted in Ghent court. (photo: James Arthur Gekiere/Belga MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

One can hardly take issue with the European Jewish Association chairman’s warning considering that only last year, in July 2024, the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found in a survey that^:

97% of Jews in Belgium claimed to have encountered anti-Semitism in their daily lives
70% of them hid their identity in public due to lack of safety from rampant antisemitism
68% of Jews in Belgium have encountered online anti-Semitism. This is higher than the EU average of 61%
40% of Jews claimed to have avoided Jewish events due to feelings of insecurity
54% of Jews in Belgium claimed to have avoided certain locations for fear of being attacked

With this frightful scenario for the Jews in a country that saw of its 66,000 Jews in May 1940, around 28,000 murdered during the Holocaust, the Belgian court, not only against Brusselmans dropped charges, it for the Jewish community dropped a bombshell. That “bombshell” is the frightening realization that Jews are not welcome, and their continued stay in Belgium is:

“At your own risk”

Who will protect them? Not the courts!

The case against Brusselmans was that In August 2024, the Belgian novelist published a controversial column in the Dutch-language magazine Humo in relation to the rising tension from the Gaza war , where he threatened:

“I want to ram a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I meet.”

Note that Brusselmans does not specify any specific Jews that he might have quarrel with but “every” Jew he meets, in other words those within knife-reach. Brusselmans’ column was rightly condemned by the head of the Brussels office of B’nai B’rith International as a “blatant incitement to violence against Jews, in one of Belgium’s largest magazines.”

The concern was justified when only a month later, in September 2024, Belgium’s federal equality agency reported a 1,000% increase in antisemitic incidents in the two months following the outbreak in October 2023 of the Israel-Hamas War when compared to similar periods in previous years. In the wake of these staggering statistics, the issue of education came into play when the International Movement for Peace and Coexistence (IMPAC) raised concerns of bias with regard to how the Palestinian-Israel conflict is presented in Belgian schools.

Condescendingly, the court acknowledged that “certain members of the Jewish community may have been offended by some sentences in a few columns.”

“Some sentences” and “may have” offended!!!! The words of the judge are as dangerous and most certainly as despicable as the words of the accused.

**Poison Pen**. Arabic for Intifada, this image from the “Knife Intifada” resonates with the words of legally unshackled Belgium writer, Herman Brusselmans.

We are talking about words that amounted to a threat to murder Jews in a manner very popular by Palestinian terrorists – the knife! There was in recent history a period of intense violence against Israelis that was referred to as “The Knife Intifada”. Today, knife attacks are again in Israel on the rise. Nevertheless, the court found the words by Brusselmans that he wants to “…shove a sharp knife into the throat of every Jew” mere “…expressions of opinion,” that are “protected by the right to freedom of expression”.

The court further held that:

“The texts also do not show that the defendant wanted to incite hatred and violence against members of the Jewish community…He only wanted to present an opinion piece or a value judgment in his well-known writing style.”

Defying any other explanation other than a judiciary tainted by antisemitism – hardly an unexpected trait in European history – Michel Kotek, the chairman of the Jewish Information and Documentation Centre, called the ruling “a disgrace to the Belgian judiciary.” In this same interview with the European Jewish Press (EJP), European Jewish Association chairman, Rabbi Margolin accurately warned that

“By issuing such a verdict, the Belgian judiciary sends a dangerous message: incitement to murder and hatred can be reinterpreted, excused, and ultimately legitimized — at least when the targets are Jews.”

Brusselmans is now free to continue his vicious verbal attacks against Jews. The “Belgium constitution” is protecting him and now others, so who will protect Belgium’s increasingly vulnerable Jews? This court verdict will amplify the call for antisemites to join the crusade against a terrified community that “70% of them” hide their identity in public. The unprotected Jew has seen this all too often before in Europe – they are, in the single word of Rabbi Margolin, “targets”.

**Jaundiced Justice***. “It legitimizes calls for the murder of Jews*,” responds European Jewish Association chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin to the Belgium court acquittal of Herman Brusselmans.

Today’s Israelis are all too familiar with the shrieking and terrifying sound of the ‘AZAKA’ – the siren. It’s a warning to seek immediate protection from incoming missiles. This Belgium court decision is no less a ‘siren’ – a warning to Jews to seek secure shelter in a Europe that is returning to old but nefarious habits.

Herman Brusselmans may be the “most famous writer in the Low Countries” but he is also responsible for bringing his country’s judiciary to one of its lowest point in its history.

PEOPLE ASK; WHAT DO YOU ANSWER?

The immeasurable effect the horror of October 7 had on the people of Israel

By Forest Rain Marcia

One year after October 7th, it is still October 7th. Every day is that horrible day when Gaza invaded and changed everything.

It is a feeling I don’t know if people outside of Israel can understand. So many seem to assume that October 7th is an event that the people of Israel should just “get over” – that time has passed and it is possible to move on.

It’s not possible. Every day will be October 7th until we deal with the problem the Hamas invasion made it impossible to ignore…

It was a few months after the invasion when a visiting American politician asked me how much October 7^th affected the people of Israel.

I tried to explain what it’s like to live in a country with one degree of separation. For anyone coming from a large country like America, it is hard to comprehend just how small Israel is and how connected we all are.

My friend’s daughter was murdered at the Nova.

**Michal Murdered**. A daughter of a friend, the writer had known Michal since she was a child. Then came October 7, “and I was attending her funeral.”

I’ve since become friends with families of people who were taken hostage and gotten a glimpse of what it is like to walk in their shoes.

On October 7, my younger son’s army unit was called to Nir Oz. He described the kibbutz as being a place of fire and brimstone. Every house was broken into and the cars were on fire. They had to step over bodies to get into the kibbutz to pull survivors out of their homes and take them to a safe place. He guarded them while others searched the kibbutz to see if any terrorists remained in the homes. There wasn’t a lot to do but watch, wait, and listen to the most horrific conversations imaginable:

“Where is my mother/sister/neighbor?”

“Taken to Gaza.”

“Have you seen my husband/brother/friend?”

“Yeah, they murdered him.”

My son’s friend, a boy, he did a year of voluntary service with before enlisting; a boy he lived with in a commune (so they got to know each other very well) – that boy’s brothers, twins, were both killed on October 7. They had seen that our people were being slaughtered, so they took their personal firearms and drove to the south to save whoever they could.

BOTH of them were killed.

**Bloodied Bunkbed**. This is where the killers from Gaza stood and slaughtered children at a home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

At this point in my description, the American who asked the question stopped me. He couldn’t take in more.

I didn’t tell him about my friend’s family in Be’eri who were slaughtered. Her husband, his sister, and her twin grandchildren. I didn’t describe what it was like to walk in the places where they were murdered. Or tell of their family members who I met after and the trauma they carry.

I didn’t tell him about my friend in Alumim who survived, but carried the burden of those she knows who did not. Of her descriptions of being evacuated from her home. Or about her husband who died not long afterwards. It seems he died of heartache but who can say?

I didn’t speak of my friend Adele who survived the slaughter in Nirim and has spent much of her time since advocating for the hostages, managing her online platform and speaking for Israel abroad. Or of her neighbor Motti Bluestein who showed me some of the damage in their kibbutz and told me the stories of what happened that day.

I didn’t speak of the soldiers whose funerals and shivas I’ve been to – our neighbors, sons of our friends, soldiers who served with our friends’ sons, families we’ve known for years, and families we met for the first time in the worst moments of their lives.

It was before our other son’s very good friend Dor was killed by a Hezbollah drone.

**Facing the Faces**. Many public places in Israel are now filled with stickers honoring and memorializing the dead, usually with their photo and a sentence or saying that captures the essence of their personality. These are spontaneous displays, a sign of many people motivated in the same way to retain something of people they loved. On this wall in a Tel Aviv train station, I see many faces I know well.

It was before I sat down and talked to my friend’s son, Eitan Halley about what it was like to be in the shelter from which Hersh Goldberg Polin was taken hostage, where Hersh’s best friend Aner stood in between the invaders and the innocents cowering behind him and threw back grenade after grenade until he couldn’t anymore. Eitan, who watched Aner and told himself:

“I have to learn how to do what he is doing because, if something happens to him, I have to step into his shoes”.

And then when Aner died, he saw. And he stepped up and fought back. Miraculously he survived when so many others did not. What is it like to be in his head now?

I didn’t describe our friend who lives in on the northern border who refused to be evacuated and how every time the red alert notifies of missiles being shot at her community, we brace ourselves until we learn that something else blew up and not her house, not her.

Can a stranger to this country understand the experience of talking to someone you don’t know and, in a few minutes, them telling you their trauma from October 7? Of friends who messaged them as they were being killed. Of not knowing if their son or daughter was alive or hostage. How are you? isn’t supposed to be a terrifying question to ask…

My friend’s children who are fighting in Gaza, and friends of our boys are an extended circle to worry about. That tension is always in the background, so much so that it’s not even something we mention. It’s just there. All the time.

As is the horror of there still being hostages in Gaza. People we know, or people we know, they know. People whose stories we connected to through the TV so much so that it feels like we know them – because we do. They are us. Children and grandparents, young people at a party, sons and daughters serving in the army. They are all of us.

**Barbarism at Be’eri**. The hoards from Gaza came through Kibbutz Be’eri leaving in their wake death and destruction. (Photo: Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

And that doesn’t even begin to describe the panic of being bombarded by ballistic missiles from Iran, watching the missiles rain down live on TV (or outside as happened to some of my unlucky friends), and seeing the missiles from our air defense system rise up to intercept them – not enough to keep them all away, and incapable of preventing huge pieces of shrapnel falling and smash everything in their path. There are no words to describe how infuriating it is to hear that Iran’s attack, spraying the country with missiles the size of buses “caused no damage” knowing that hundreds of homes were damaged and that the fact that no Israeli was killed was an absolute miracle.

Or the new terror of soldiers, our sons, and fathers, brothers and friends, having to go into Lebanon to remove Hezbollah Radwan commandos from our border – Hezbollah’s highly trained soldiers, a thousand times more deadly than the gleeful murderers of Gaza.

There are not enough words to explain how much October 7 has affected the people of Israel. It is everywhere. With every breath we take.

And even those who ask how we are, don’t really want to hear the answer. It’s too much. Perhaps the real problem is that if you understand the depth of the horror, you cannot look away. You learn what evil looks like and you have to act. You cannot stop until it’s destroyed.

This picture encapsulates a fraction of what it is like to be in October 7th every day. To carry it with us, everywhere. McDonald’s in Israel. While the employees prepare food, while people consider what to order, the faces of the hostages, on after the other, silently watch from the tv screen.

About the writer:

Forest Rain Marcia is an American-born Israeli who lives in northern Israel. She’s a branding expert and storyteller. Her passion is giving voice to the stories of Israel illuminating its profound events, cherished values, and exemplary role models that transcend borders, casting Israel as an eternal wellspring of inspiration and strength for a global audience.

Forest Rain made Aliyah at the age of thirteen. After her IDF service, she co-developed and co-directed a project to aid victims of terrorism and war. These activities gave her extensive first-hand experience with the emotional and psychological processes of civilians, soldiers, and their families, wounded and/or bereaved and traumatized by terrorism and war (grief, guilt, PTSD, etc). Throughout the years, she has continued to voice the stories, pain, and strength of traumatized Israelis to motivate others to provide support and counter the hate that threatens Jews in Israel, around the world, and Western civilization itself through the understanding that what begins with the Jews never ends with Jews.

Inspiration from Zion: https://inspirationfromzion.com/

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 21 July 2024

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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THE ISRAEL BRIEF- 15-18 July 2024
(Click on the blue title)

Lay of the Land’s image of the week

Flames over Yemen
Israel strikes back sending powerful message – “We Can Reach You!”

**Painful Payload**. Yemen’s Hodeidah Port engulfed in flames after Israeli F-15 jets flew over 1,800km (1,118 miles), following Iran’s backed Houthi regime’s drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday, killing a 50-year-old Israeli.

Articles

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

(1)

What the ICC Gets Wrong about Israel

With modern war increasingly urban, the ICC ruling against Israel has in fact criminalized the very act of war itself in its current manifestation.
By Major (Ret) John Spencer

**Front Line Up-Close**. “*Gaza, I think, is the most fiendishly difficult urban setting of any since 1945*
*and that includes …major urban battles of Vietnam*,” says the writer, who is seen
here (l) with Brig. *Gen*. *Dan Goldfus (r)* and Israeli troops in Gaza.

What the ICC Gets Wrong about Israel
(Click on the blue title)

(2)

A SALUTE TO McDONALD’S ISRAEL

**What’s Cooking?** McDonald’s is buying back all of its Israeli restaurants over local franchisee’s
public support for Israel or is that truly the reason? The writer seen here at a McDonald’s
in Ra’anana, looks beyond the food-giant’s menu to the real meat in this evolving story.

A SALUTE TO McDONALD’S ISRAEL
(Click on the blue title)

(3)

HOW LAVENDER SAVED ISRAEL!

Instead of breathing death, they could breathe in lavender – a rescue solution in the face of unbearable reality
By Forest Rain Marcia

**Loving Lavender**. “Farmer Dan” at home on his moshav ‘Kanaf’ on the Golan Heights with his cultivated lilac lavender. How would this scented evergreen plant help a dire situation created by the horrors of the October 7 massacre?

HOW LAVENDER SAVED ISRAEL!

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

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Category: Uncategorized

WHAT DID ANTI-ZIONISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT SYDNEY BESIDES PRAISE FOR EL-AHMED? NOT MUCH.

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A FEMINIST BETRAYAL

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INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDE

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JEWISH SECURITY IN BELGIUM – AT A ‘KNIFE’S’ EDGE

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PEOPLE ASK; WHAT DO YOU ANSWER?

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Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 21 July 2024

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