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I AM BLOCKED FROM VOTING IN SOUTH AFRICA’S NATIONAL ELECTION

If you can vote in Ramallah and not Tel Aviv, is the ruling ANC manipulating who of its nationals abroad can vote?

By Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe

It is so disappointing to me that I won’t be able to execute my national duty to vote for my desired government on 29 May. For the first time since I was eligible to vote in the 2009 general elections, the ANC government will make it impossible for South African citizens in Israel to cast their vote to bring about much-needed change in government. I was told a week ago by Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officials that I should go to other missions outside Israel to vote, such as Ramallah, Aman or Cairo. Really? That is effectively telling me:

 “You can’t vote!”

The illogical decision to shut down South Africa’s embassy in Tel Aviv is starting to impact negatively on South African citizens studying or working in or touring Israel. I could not reach out to anyone at the IEC when the online registration was giving me problems. Although I am pleased that I finally did manage to register to vote, it worries me that without an embassy, South Africans in Israel might be prevented from taking part in the upcoming elections.

Selective Voters. South Africans queuing up at Trafalgar Square to vote in South Africa’s 2014 election, a right now being denied to prospective voters in Israel.

The IEC and the SA government are duty-bound to ensure that all South African citizens in the diaspora can participate in the upcoming extraordinary elections, which will mark the 30th anniversary of the first historic and inclusive elections in 1994 when a charismatic statesman, Nelson Mandela, led the ANC to its outright victory. I am writing this column from Israel where I’ll be based even during these important elections where I want to help escort the ANC out of our Union Building. Just as people lined up in the long queues to vote for the ANC in 1994, while in Israel I want to do the opposite by adding my name to those voting to uproot the ineptitudes and delinquents from public office.

Following a resolution taken by the ANC at its elective conference in 2017, the SA government decided to downgrade its embassy in Tel Aviv. They have since moved from a downgrade to an entire shutdown of the office. Paradoxically, while the embassy is closed, there remain some cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

Closed for Business. “It’s outrageous that South African citizens arrived at the South African embassy in Ramat Gan to find a notice stuck on the door saying, ‘This office will be closed until further notice’,” says South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) National Director Wendy Kahn.

I am a student at one of the universities in Israel where I was awarded a prestigious scholarship. This scholarship makes it possible to send between $200 to $250 to my family back in South Africa. Do we know the importance of remittances? For those who do not have an idea, remittances (money earned from foreign countries and sent to another country) are essential for every economy as it is a critical source of external finance for South Africa. This money plays a meaningful role in combating hunger and poverty, especially in African countries. I am an active economic player, not a burden like many who are dependent on the state for their daily survival.

Most African embassies are operating their embassies to help their citizens on issues that may arise while in Israel. As my country decided to pack their bags and leave us in the cold, it gets lonely when my colleagues from other African countries visit their embassies in Tel Aviv when mine is not there. What I normally do is just join them and learn about the cultural, social and political aspects of other countries because I cannot simply keep on complaining about the ANC’s hostility against Israel.

We are South Africans who went to various countries to look for greener pastures while retaining our full South African citizenship. It was through all the concerted efforts of our forefathers that we achieved suffrage. A right to vote is a pre-requisite of any democracy; we have a right to have a say on who should preside over our polity. It is therefore the responsibility of our government to work together with the IEC to ensure that we become part of the decision-making process.

The Bold and the Beautiful. Back in 2021, Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane, who defied the South African government that pressured her to boycott the contest because it was being held in Israel, told The Jerusalem Post that “If I had not come to Israel to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, I think I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.”

The ANC’s dislike of Israel has led the government to take the most moronic decisions in the past, such as attacking South African artists like Black Coffee (Nkosinathi Maphumulo) who had been booked to play in Israel, while ‘ordering’ Miss SA, Lalela Mswane not to participate in the Beauty Pageant held in Israel in 2021. Orlando Pirates was told it could not play with an Israel-based soccer team last year. David Teeger recently lost his captaincy in the South African Cricket Under 19 side for expressing, as a loyal Jew, his support for Israel.

Defying the Dopes. Despite pressure from BDS South Africa, Orlando Pirates – seen here celebrating winning the 2023 Nedbank Cup – refused in 2023 to heed calls to refrain from playing a friendly game against Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv. (Photo: Sydney Mahlangu, BackpagePix)

It is important to stress the importance of voting to all South Africans in the country and all those in the diaspora as it remains our only tool to affect positive change. We have to come to understand that there is no politician or political party that wields power as of right; it is we, the voters, who decide to whom to give this power. We have to elect competent, ethical, and incorruptible political leadership into public office. For all South Africans in the diaspora, especially in conflict-ridden areas like Israel, Sudan, and Ukraine, it should be made possible for everyone to participate in this upcoming historic election. There is a need for all citizens to participate in spearheading political change in our country. 


About the writer:

Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe is a political writer and researcher based at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.






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

“G-d’s country?”

Brisk walks and swims along Sydney’s southern stunning beachside suburb of Coogee led to intense ‘reflections’ – not only from the sun!

By Solly Kaplinski

I really didn’t want to go. I felt I couldn’t leave Israel during these times especially with three grandchildren in the army, but my brother, Benny, was celebrating his 70th birthday and with my late mom z’’l (Of Blessed Memory), Sima’s words ringing in my ears about how important family is, I made the brief trip to Sydney, Australia, 35 hours door to door! How could I not be with him? He had also celebrated my 75th birthday with me in Israel!

On the Waterfront. Away from war in body if not in mind, the writer (right) with his brother Benny enjoying Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

I had in fact been to Australia several times during the course of my work for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Charles Jordan, JDC representative and later, JDC Executive Vice President during his visit to Australia in August / September 1947 to scout out places of refuge for Shoah survivors remarked:

“They call this: God’s country, and right they are. It has about the same climatic conditions as California, and there is an attractive blend of old and new architecture and landscaping, each community striving to outdo the other in developing its environs, parks, and playgrounds. As I watch these happy people here enjoying the benefits of truly civilized living, I see before me the faces of those for whom we care and knowing as I do of the migrant need of this country for an increase in population, I wonder how many of them who need it most will find their way to this heaven”.

In fact, JDC helped almost 20,000 Holocaust survivors reach and settle in Australia post the Shoah years. Coming to G-d’s country with nothing but the clothes on their back, the survivors laid the framework and foundation for building the local Jewish population into one of the most successful, thriving Jewish communities in the world in terms of health, education, welfare, philanthropy – and a strong identification with Israel, which continues unabated – to this day. They also contributed massively to the success of Australia as a whole.

I thought about “G-d’s country’’ in Sydney as I took my early morning brisk walks and swims and marvelled at the sight of Bondi beach and its magnificent promenade – a haven of hustle and bustle, people of all ages, shapes and sizes, worshipping their bodies, the sun god – and the pint, a truly seductive lifestyle, with people swimming in the surf from before 6.00 a.m. till way past twilight, people of all ages involved in exercising and priming their bodies, and youngsters on the beach engaged in life-saving activities and games. The nippers – as they are called – learn beach safety and awareness skills, in a fun and healthy environment. A paradise.

This is the Life – or is it?  Beneath the veneer of ‘the good life’,  in post-Oct. 7 Australia, Aussie Jews are shaken by increasingly bold displays of hatred amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Benny lives a mere 25-minute walk from Coogee, perhaps one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – besides Muizenberg in Cape Town! We swam there several times and on the last occasion, we were lazily drying off when Benny asked me – I guess out of concern, whether given what’s happening in Israel, I would ever consider leaving and coming to live in Australia. I must admit I was momentarily thrown off balance by his question. I had never thought about this possibility even for a moment during our 25 years in Israel – except perhaps fleetingly, during the judicial reform chaos envisaging an out-of-control government with no judicial restraints. I had a flashback to a visit I had made to Israel back in the 90’s to interview prospective Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachers for Herzlia High School in Cape Town, when buses, restaurants and night clubs were blown up in Jerusalem – and all over Israel, with huge casualties. I was travelling on a bus with my daughter Tali who had made Aliyah on the day she matriculated from Herzlia – and I asked her whether she wasn’t afraid to be in Israel. She turned to me and replied:

“Dad, you see those mountains in the distance, the Judean desert, they belong to me – and I, I belong to them.”

Shifting Sands. Not far from the glorious sandy beaches, only 3 days after the massacre of Jews on October 7, protestors in support of the Hamas attack, hold a rally outside the Sydney Opera House on October 9, 2023 chanting antisemitic slogans.  (Photo: AAP IMAGE/DEAN LEWINS VIA REUTERS)

And similarly, thinking about Benny’s question, I responded to him saying:

“Everything in Israel matters for me: from the trauma and the angst and the bereaved and the mourning – and the hostages, to the words in the last letter of a soldier who fell in battle: ‘I am going into this war knowing I might not be coming back, but I believe wholeheartedly in what I am doing. We have no other country, and now it is my turn to defend it, and fight the battle of all the civilians, soldiers, babies, elderly and women who were helpless in the face of Hamas’ brutality. This is the way my parents raised me, this is what I believe in, I hope you will remember me,’ – from sheer joy at our resilience, how when the chips are down, Israelis rally to the cause like no one else on this planet; how more than 100,000 Israelis returned from their vacations abroad when the war broke out to serve in the IDF – to all the bottom-up initiatives that Israelis engage in to help our fellow citizens. I embrace all of this – a life of genuine meaning and fulfilment, like never before. I own it; I wrap my arms around it. It all belongs to me – and I, I to it. Now more than ever.”

True Colours. Australia’s Green Party have been widely condemned for failing to support a motion condemning Hamas. (Photo:  NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman)

And then I thought of how Benny, out of fear, had removed the mezuzah off his front door, how we needed to speak in hushed tones, sotto voce, when people were around us. I wondered whether I should remove my Magen David while on the beach, which I have not removed in more than 60 years. I defiantly kept this precious symbol of my proud Jewish identity on!  I thought about the explosion of Jew-hatred in Australia that just about everyone that I met in Sydney referenced to the point of being fearful. I thought about the Greens, the third-biggest political party in Australia, blatantly antisemitic with rarely an official eyebrow being raised and about the normalization of antisemitism and the future for Jewish children – and grandchildren.

Homeward Bound. Israelis abroad scramble to return to join reserve IDF units or just to help as seen here as young passengers wait in a line to enter a flight to Israel at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Athens, Greece, October 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
 

Yes, Jewish diasporas have limited life spans as per our history – sometimes with devastating and tragic effects. And while Jews in these communities act as strong advocates and lobby groups for local Jewish needs and for Israel, I thought again about Australia, or for that matter, the country of my birth, South Africa, and Europe and ‘der goldene medina’ – America?

G-d’s country? I think not.



About the writer:

Solly Kaplinski headed up Jewish Day Schools in Cape Town, Toronto and Vancouver before making Aliyah with Arleen almost 25 years ago. His professional life in Israel is bookended by working at Yad Vashem and then at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). Solly is also the author of the novella A World of Pain: A Redemptive Parable? His three daughters, their spouses and an egalitarian minyan of grandchildren all live in Israel. 





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

FOREIGN POLICY FOR HIRE

South Africa’s geopolitical influence should not be rented to the highest bidders

By Kenneth Mokgatlhe

The recent decision to drag Israel into the United Nations’s International Court of Justice (or World Court as it is known by many South Africans) has honestly divided the country; some praise their government while others are dissatisfied with the move. There is no doubt that there will be a price to pay for our actions in the international arena and sadly, the poor will pay that price.

While politicians will use human rights, justice, or equality as drivers of their country’s foreign policy direction, we know that the primary driver of such an important policy is often always self-interest of those in power. In the case of South Africa, it is the African National Conference (ANC), the governing party, which is using political means to satisfy itself and its historic allies. The nature of South Africa’s case at the World Court is not about South Africans; the government’s involvement will not have any direct or indirect material benefit to the poor South Africans.

Charge of the Light’weight Brigade. Enjoying the limelight at The Hague, who really was behind South Africa falsely accusing Israel of genocide?


South Africa’s decision to drag Israel into the World Court seems to come from a well-meaning place; a strategic political move that will remind local voters about the party’s reputation as a defender of human rights. They may be criticised for bad governance but they will always be known for their role as the defenders of the vulnerable during South Africa’s struggle for freedom from the oppression of apartheid. It is known that people are not happy with the ANC’s performance in government and this case will have a fundamental impact in the coming elections.


It also appears that the ANC-led government is subjecting itself to being used as a lackey by both Iran and Russia. Is the decision to approach the World Court solely coming from Pretoria? There are several indicators that make it difficult to say “yes”. The ANC has become cozy with the Iranian government and Hamas, a terror group supported by Iran, both of whom advocate for the elimination of the State of Israel and killing of Jews.

Wrong Side of History. Disagreeing with their government’s support of Russia in its unprovoked war on Ukraine, protestors hold placards outside the Russian Consulate in Cape Town, Feb. 25, 2022.

The ANC hosted Hamas which killed more than 1300 innocent Israelis on 7 October 2023, including a few Africans who were there for study purposes. Hamas also abducted more than 240 women, children and the elderly, and raped, tortured, burned, and maimed their victims. They were hosted and welcomed into the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House. In just a few days after the 7 October massacre, South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, also called Hamas’ leader to show and commit unwavering support to a bloody terror group. A summary of this call was flagrantly published by Iran on the official website of its foreign ministry.

Shared Values! Three days after the massacre in Israel by extermination squads from Gaza, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (l) meets his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, in Pretoria on August 10, 2023 where they expressed that they share “common views” concerning the Middle East. (Photo by Press TV)

On its own, Hamas couldn’t have the military resources to carry out their October 7 vicious attacks. The fact that they are still able to fire rockets at Israel shows that they have military backing from Iran. We know from Palestinians and Hamas leaders that Iran provides military training, logistical support and financial assistance to Hamas.


Is it a wise move for South Africa to associate with Hamas and Iran? I think not, so, why is our country not instead associating with Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or Jordan in a quest to look for a more permanent solution? None of these pro-Palestinian governments have taken Israel to the World Court.


If South Africa genuinely wants to arrest the Israel-Palestine impasse, why is it difficult to use bilateral relations to condemn what they believe goes against their moral values directly with Israel? When you get angry and disengage how is it going to positively impact the outcome? South Africa chooses to go out and make noise while Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan are looking for a solution by engaging both parties directly, not through the media or on the international stage as South Africa has chosen to do.

There are political and security concerns between Israel and Palestine that have persisted for years which means that there should be a more sustainable, permanent, and political solution. An order from the World Court is a temporary means which does not sustainably or permanently solve the problem. Many people are hypocritical because they choose to blame Israel when it is defending itself by taking the fight to Hamas, but they keep quiet when Hamas is provoking and killing the Israelis. Every country has a moral duty to go all out and protect its people against any threat, big or small.


It is hypocritical of our government that took Israel to The Hague but showed a middle finger to the International Criminal Court when it issued a warrant of arrest against Al Bashir for crimes against humanity by refusing to arrest him while in South Africa. Subsequently, South Africa ignores the acts of crimes against humanity in Ukraine by a thuggish Russia. The ANC government has never issued a statement or acted against what Vladimir Putin is doing to Ukraine. They are so fixated on Israel and would do anything to demonise it.

Bosom Buddies. Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speak during a Russia-Africa Summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Oct. 23, 2019.

South Africa is a country that borders Zimbabwe whose people have been subjected to acts of violations and terror by ZANU-PF in the full view of the ANC, and they are keeping quiet about it just as they have done for years. There are no bilateral efforts to try and fix the appalling situation in Zimbabwe or other parts of Africa. I think that South Africa’s geopolitical influence in the region and continent should not be rented to the highest bidders. Instead, we should be using our influence to address our national, regional, and continental problems. What are we saying about the political and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo?



About the writer:

Kenneth Mokgatlhe is a political writer and columnist studying Master’s at Ben Gurion University in Israel.





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

LETTER FROM ISRAEL AT WAR – WEEK 16

South Africa weaponizing International Law against Israel has proved it’s a strategic pawn and active proxy in Iran’s international Jihadi terror machine

By Harris Zvi Green

January 19, 2024

My dearest friends,

We’re still on a high from Omer’s wedding to Adi last Thursday evening. Two very special moments will remain with me for the rest of my life. These moments vividly reflect the emotional swings we, as a country and a people, are currently experiencing.

Immediately prior to breaking the glass recalling the destruction of the Temple, Omer stopped the ceremony and asked those present to remember his friends who so unselfishly gave their lives in defense of their country and their people. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

An hour or so into the wedding meal, the 10 soldiers in Omer’s combat unit surprised him by arriving in full military kit. The IDF organized a minibus to bring them directly from Gaza to be with Omer at his once-in-a-lifetime celebration. These soldiers hadn’t showered or shaved for days. They were a sorry sight but their faces carried smiles from ear to ear.

From Gaza to under the Chupah.  Not a dry eye at this wedding when the groom, the writer’s grandson, Omer, spoke of his fallen comrades.

There’s no question that Israel was humiliated on October 7. What happened should never have happened. There are no excuses. Around 1,400 Israelis – civilians and soldiers – paid the ultimate price. The media are fantasizing countless scenarios regarding the image that will best memorialize victory for one of the two sides to the conflict.

My daughter hit the nail squarely on the head with the message she posted on our family WhatsApp group.

She wrote: “As we stood under the Chuppah (the wedding canopy), I recalled that this wedding was due to have taken place six weeks earlier. However, the bride and groom elected to continue defending their country and defer their wedding to a later date. When the groom, in a voice choked with emotion, recalled the memories of his fallen comrades in battle, I realized we are the clear winners of this terrible war.”

Our enemy tried to kill us. They raped our women. They kidnapped our elderly. They continue to taunt us with fake news. They seek to throw fuel on the fire by attempting to deepen the rifts and increase the tensions between the different factions in our society. They’ve even hijacked the International Court of Justice to accuse us of committing a genocide. They’ve tried every dirty trick in the book.

South Africa’s Moral Descent. While South Africa presents its evil accusations against Israel at the ICJ totally insensitive to the hostages still being held by the murderous Hamas who South Africa warmly embraces, protesters wave flags and pictures of the hostages, including baby Kfir Bibas, outside the court in The Hague. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

Our enemy failed. They achieved exactly the opposite of what they set out to do. They brought us together. They failed to break our spirit. We know exactly who we are and what we’re fighting for.

The charges brought by South Africa against Israel for alleged acts of genocide in Gaza continue to cause me no end of frustration. In my opinion, they are ridiculous to the extreme.

I’m not a jurist or a lawyer. But I do know that for a law to be respected and upheld, it must be based on universal and ethical principles and be binding on the parties to the conflict. Provisions of the law must resonate with basic common sense. More specifically, International Law must be adjudicated by an independent judiciary and applied equally for the benefit of mankind.

The Genocide Convention was the first human rights treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly. It underlined the international community’s commitment to ‘never again’ after the atrocities committed, particularly against the Jewish people, during World War II.

In other words, the legal convention developed in the wake of the Holocaust to protect humanity from a repeat performance, is now being applied against the victims of that Holocaust.

By its actions, the South African government appears to be completely unaware that on October 7, 2023, Hamas perpetrated a heinous act of savagery in which around 1,400 Israelis were murdered. Women were gang raped, children were brutally killed and elderly people were murdered in their wheelchairs. Others were butchered simply because they were Jewish. One hundred and thirty-six Israelis remain in hostage. Their captors have denied them their rights under the Geneva Convention to visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In addition, over the past 15 weeks, at least 11,000 rockets were randomly fired from Gaza into Israel. This figure doesn’t include hundreds of rockets launched by Gazan terror groups that misfired and landed in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas Charter is nothing less than a call for genocide against the Jewish people and their nation state. The actions of Hamas since taking control of the Gaza Strip amplify their total commitment to their charter.

Yet, Israel has been summoned to appear before the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide while the leaders of the Hamas politburo continue working out in the gyms of Qatar’s leading hotels.

Something has gone very wrong. I feel insulted to the core.

The government of South Africa is, by its actions, complicit in the Hamas massacre perpetrated on October 7. By weaponizing International Law against Israel, the South African government has proved it’s a strategic pawn and active proxy in Iran’s international Jihadi terror machine.

Hunting for Jews. Hamas killers, who South Africa supports now as its “legal arm”, ignores the October 7 massacre where Israelis were butchered and shot at random like the Israeli civilians in this car attending a music festival for peace.

Genocide is defined in Article II of the Genocide Convention as a crime committed with the intent of destroying a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. It does not include political groups or cultural genocide.

So, let’s consider the following data published by the US Census Bureau International Database. The population of the Gaza Strip grew from 245,000 in 1950 to 394,000 in 1967 to 1,100,000 in 2000 to 2,100,000 in 2023. Do these numbers support the claim that Israel has committed an act of genocide in the Gaza Strip? Of course, they don’t.

The aim of the exercise at the International Court of the Justice is not to find Israel guilty of committing genocide. The aim is to slander and to demonize Israel in order to justify the multitude of war crimes perpetrated by Hamas against Israel.

My condolences to those mourning their nearest and dearest. My wishes to the injured for a complete and speedy recovery. May God protect our brave soldiers. May the hostages soon be reunited with their families.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and better times ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Harris Zvi Green.



About the writer:

Harris Zvi Green was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Aged 77, he made Aliyah 53 years ago. An accountant by profession, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for a number of Israel based hi-tech companies. He is married to Phyllis. They have 3 married children ,13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Harris Zvi Green is a founder member of Truth be Told, an organization engaged in public diplomacy on behalf of Israel.




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

LETTER FROM ISRAEL AT WAR – WEEK 10

While Israel fights to survive, the world votes at the UN to support those who want its demise.

By Harris Zvi Green

December 15, 2023

My dearest friends,

This week began with the Brit (circumcision) of our great-grandson, Achiah Chaim. It was a particularly emotional event for both Phyllis and I. All our tribe members, with the exception of our serving grandchildren, Linor and Omer, were present. Being able to celebrate together as a family at this stressful time was wonderful. It showed us that every cloud has its silver lining.

The Brit was performed in a unique garment made by my grandfather in honor of my father’s Brit 113 years ago. Since then, it’s been used at the Britot of all the males born into my father’s dynasty. This garment now spans five generations.

Generational Garment. The Brit (circumcision) this week of the writer’s great-grandson, Achiah Chaim, was performed in this garment made 113 years ago by the writer’s grandfather, a tailor by profession, who arrived in Cape Town, South Africa in 1902 from Poland via Leeds, a major textile center.

Later in the week, Omer was home for a 24-hour break. It was great catching up with him and hearing his experiences of the past few weeks. Both he and Ori have since returned to their frontline units.

There’s been no movement on the release of the hostages. The fighting has intensified. Casualties continue to rise.

As predicted, the international community, through its multitude of irrelevant and corrupt institutions, has made a conscious decision to ignore the October 7 massacre which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis.

At this time, 129 hostages remain in captivity. Their state of health and well-being remains unclear. The Red Cross hasn’t visited them since they were taken hostage. One of my readers branded them, the “Red Double-Cross”. Indeed, an appropriate description for such an impotent and politically motivated organization. The Red Cross has become an integral part of the Hamas terror machine.

Red Cross Disappoints. There is much anger against the Red Cross at its failure to protect the lives of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity. Seen here is Israel’s Foreign Mister, Eli Cohen together with families of Hamas hostages at the Red Cross in Geneva on November 14. Israeli relatives of hostages have complained that the Red Cross has refused to bring medication to their loved ones, with some even claiming Red Cross personnel told them to sympathise with the Palestinians.

Of course, the humanitarian aid being poured into Gaza doesn’t include life-saving medication for the hostages. It does, however, include ammunition for Hamas wrapped in packages of rice and transported in UN humanitarian bags.

Unfortunately, none of this bothers any of the 153 member nations of the United Nations General Assembly who voted in favor of imposing an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza. If implemented, this resolution will only serve to fuel the Hamas war machine. Implementation of the resolution will prolong the conflict. It’ll also enable the genocidal Hamas leadership to escape punishment for their war crimes and make future, bloody rounds of the conflict inevitable.

The resolution may not be enforceable but it does empower the proponents of terror. It gives them the moral ground to redefine the narrative and continue their acts of terror.

France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many European countries were amongst the countries who supported the resolution. Shame on them.

An amendment to the resolution proposed by the US condemning Hamas for its attack on Israel was rejected.

Nothing UN’usual. In a predictable vote, the UN General Assembly voted again with an overwhelming majority for an immediate ceasefire that if implemented would only serve the Hamas war machine and prolong the conflict. No less predictable, was the rejection of an amendment to the resolution proposed by the US condemning Hamas for its attack on October 7 that began the war.

As Abba Eben, one of Israel’s legendary diplomats, said more than 50 years ago, “if Algeria introduced a resolution declaring the earth was flat, and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions”. The numbers have barely changed.

What’s become of the Judeo-Christian values that were once fundamental to our civilization? I can only conclude these have been blown away by the Jihadi tornado howling across our planet.

The international community has betrayed Israel. Their acquiescence is a crime. They are complicit in fueling the tidal wave of antisemitism engulfing our world.

It seems I wasn’t the only person appalled by the statements and attitudes expressed by the Presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT at last week’s Congressional hearing. One of the Presidents has since resigned her position.

What a pity the US Congress doesn’t have the authority to summon heads of nations and those representing international institutions to similar hearings.

The UK advertising company commissioned to manage the campaign aimed at promoting awareness for release of the hostages was forced to renege on its agreement with the organizers after receiving thousands of complaints and personal threats to its staff. After just six days, the campaign was terminated with immediate effect. I was convinced that releasing a baby aged less than a year not to mention the 80-year-olds and the women, represented a value that would resonate favorably with the British people. Apparently, I was mistaken yet again.

Obviously, terror, or whatever the BBC wants to call it, works. The British people may not want to be involved in Israel’s problems, but for their own good, they need to understand these are their problems just as much as they are ours.

Freedom of speech in the UK has become yet another victim of Jihadi terror. There’s no such thing as selective freedom of the press. It’s either black or it’s white. There are no compromises or exceptions.

It doesn’t end there.

Jewish communities in Europe are becoming increasingly isolated. Places of worship and Jewish schools require special security. Displaying Jewish religious artifacts in public is considered dangerous. Who would have believed that less than 80 years after the Holocaust, our world would, yet again, sink to this depth of moral bankruptcy?

The Danish government announced it intends calling up military reservists to protect its Jewish community of around 6,000 souls.

The skies are grey. The sun has stopped shining. Even the horizons have distanced themselves. But we will prevail, even if we have to do it on our own. We only have ourselves to rely on. Sadly, the world has failed us.

My condolences to those mourning their nearest and dearest. My wishes to the injured for a complete and speedy recovery. May God protect our brave soldiers.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and better times ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Harris Zvi Green



About the author :

Harris Zvi Green was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Aged 77, he made Aliyah 53 years ago. An accountant by profession, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for a number of Israel based hi-tech companies. He is married to Phyllis. They have 3 married children ,13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Harris Zvi Green is a founder member of Truth be Told, an organization engaged in public diplomacy on behalf of Israel.






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

IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF HUMANITY

Evil again descends on the land and Jews feel alone in a hostile world

By Justine Zwerling

I would like you to look into my eyes and my daughters’ eyes. Please.

In the darkest days of humanity, you need to make some decisions, take a deep breath, and check your moral compass

This is my voice day on day 67 of this war. I am a mother, wife, sister, daughter in a war zone with two kids, one with special needs.

Since Saturday morning 7th October; we are alive, not ok, not safe – and my husband has been serving on the front lines since that first morning saving lives. Before you form an opinion or express outrage at Israel, you need to remember the following:

  •  240 innocent civilians were abducted from Israel into the Gaza Strip by HAMAS. They ranged in in age from a 9-month baby to 85 years of age, 40 children under the age of 18. These innocents were kidnapped in the midst of a vicious attack against Israel during which thousands of children, elderly, women, children with special needs, and men were slaughtered, raped, gang-raped butchered, burnt alive, and severely wounded.
  • The hostages held captive by Hamas have faced not only the threat of physical harm but also the imminent risk of sexual violence, and torture – tools of terror and humiliation. We know from testimony from those released that at least 10 male and female hostages were sexually assaulted. The psychological trauma they endured  is more than we can bear. 137 men and women, including 10 men over the age of 70 remain hostage.
  • The international community’s failure to condemn these acts unequivocally and pressure Hamas to release all of the hostages is a gross betrayal of these innocent victims.
  • Over 1,200 people have been murdered, 378 soldiers have fallen, and 5,400 people have been wounded.
  •  Over 20,000+ enemy rockets and countless hostile aircraft intrusions have occurred and continue to. As I type, the ground  is shaking.
  •  Hamas terrorists are walking around Gaza with CHILDREN as human shields.
  •  My life and every breath have always been about co-existence and still is – this horrific war is about terrorist savages, not about Palestine and Israel. Each day I support and speak to my Palestinian, Druze, Christian, Sikh, Hindu friends, Emirati, Bahraini, Moroccan, Jordanian, and beyond not just the incredible Abraham Accords Countries.

Many of you on social media have always asked me to lean in and help on multiple campaigns from Black Lives Matter, Neurodiversity, Women’s Pay Gap, and the list goes on.

I always did.

Where are you now?

World, where is your outrage?

“Decolonization” necessarily implies a Jewish genocide, thus it is unacceptable to any reasonable person – if you do support that you are agreeing to murder me and my children.

It means you have chosen to support the dark side. The evil side.

You may be reading this while you drink your tea, comfortably, scrolling through which football game to watch, which item of clothing to wear/buy, which holiday to book, or which tickets to buy for your next theater performance.

This is not our reality.

This is not my family’s reality.

This is not the Jewish and Palestinian people’s reality right now.

You have a choice to make.

But it is not about choosing a team It’s about choosing between evil and humanity.

Now that you’ve looked into our eyes, please go to a mirror and look into yours.

And tell me whose side you’re on.



About the writer:

Justine Zwerling, Head of Middle East Shore Capital, supports companies with their growth journey and to raise capital on London Stock Exchange; listing on AIM, and the Main Market. Her career centres around entrepreneurship combined with a life purpose to develop the support structures surrounding women on their journey and neurodiversity. She founded the Jewish Women’s Business Network, Co-Founder of Gulf Israel Women’s Forum, Founding Member of UAE Israel Business Council. Volunteer for SAHI, Vibe Israel, Athena Fund, Autism awareness and Avi Solomon, blind runner, running with vision. She is a lucky mum of two lovely girls and a wonderful patient husband.





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).

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Time to shift from Reason to Rough when confronting mass murderers – a letter from Israel

By Harris Zvi Green

October 10, 2023

My dearest friends,

Yet again I find myself sitting in the same armchair, watching the same television screen, listening to the same panelists and wondering if the periodic rounds of violence with our Gazan neighbours will ever end. The Bold and the Beautiful has passed the 9,000 chapter mark. We’re on our way.

But this isn’t simply another round of violence. This round is much more serious. Last Saturday, hundreds of young people enjoying an open-air party were brutally murdered by a frenzied brigade of the Hamas terrorists. Kibbutzim were invaded and occupied by another group of fanatic Hamas militants. Entire families including women, octogenarians and children were either murdered, seriously wounded or taken hostage. Others were abducted and are currently imprisoned in underground tunnels in the Gaza area.

To crown it all, missiles are now raining down on towns and cities in south and central Israel. Hezbollah forces are engaged in provocations along the Lebanese border while Iran continues to pursue its dream of developing a nuclear weapon. Israel’s armed forces are now fully mobilized.

Yes folks. Israel has now joined the elite group of countries who have suffered a 9/11 experience.

Like all the previous rounds of violence, this round of violence needs to end but it needs to end very differently than the way in which the previous rounds ended. Israel will prevail. We have no choice. We have no other country. We are proud of what we’ve achieved. We’re back in our ancestral homeland and we’re here to stay.

We aren’t interested in more ceasefire agreements with meaningless “guarantees”. We are tired of trying to defend ourselves with our hands tied behind our backs. We’ve been there. We’ve done it. It simply doesn’t work. What also doesn’t work for us is what the International Community refers to as International and Humanitarian Law.

Legal systems can only work when their regulations are respected by both sides to a conflict. The provisions of International Law may be relevant to conflicts between Switzerland and her neighbours or to conflicts between the United States and Canada. They have absolutely no relevance in the Middle East. Applying the noble principles enshrined in International and Humanitarian Law to the Middle East conflict will only increase the number of civilian casualties.

Under International Law, the principle of proportionality requires that even if there is a clear military target it is not possible to attack it if the expected harm to civilians, or civilian property, is excessive in relation to the expected military advantage.

In the context of the Arab-Israel conflict, this is completely outrageous.

Hamas continues to exploit International and Humanitarian Law to its advantage by deliberately building arsenals of lethal weapons and bunkers for its military operatives under hospitals, schools and mosques. Missile launchers are positioned in the heart of civilian neighbourhoods. Their “innocent” civilians serve as human shields.

So how exactly does the International Community, the out-of-touch jurists at the International Court of Justice, the pompous academics in their ivory towers and the misguided self-styled “Human Rights” activists suggest Israel deals with its animalistic neighbours?

Is it reasonable to expect that Israel deploys its foot soldiers to wander through the booby-trapped streets of Gaza to collect the stockpiles of arms and ammunition, dismantle the rocket launchers and free those taken prisoner?

Why should Israel be expected to put the lives of their soldiers at unnecessary risk? Surely these innocent lives are more important than those of the “innocent” Gazan civilians who celebrate the murder of Israelis and provide economic support and shelter for their terrorist brothers.

The time has come to destroy the entire military and civilian infrastructure in Gaza – all the symbols of sovereignty – from military to police to banks to public transport to electricity to water and sewerage. Rebuilding the infrastructure must be conditional on the release of all the prisoners including the bodies of the soldiers held hostage by the Hamas regime for the past 9 years. We’ve exhausted the options of blockades and switching the electricity on and off. They never worked.

I’m not seeking revenge. What I’m saying is anything but politically correct. But being politically correct won’t bring peace or even co-existence. I know this sounds drastic. Some of you may even consider it barbaric. Others may want to redefine their relationships with me, but can any of you suggest a more effective way to deal with a genocide of this proportion?

The penny needs to drop. The International Community must recognize that the noble principles enshrined in International and Humanitarian Law are not relevant to the Middle East conflict.

Sincerely yours,

Harris Zvi Green.



About the witer:

Harris Zvi Green, born in Cape Town / South-Africa. Graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B. Com. degree and immigrated to Israel 51 years ago. He served as the Chief Financial Officer at a number of Israeli hi-tech companies. He is now retired. Married with three married children and is the proud grandfather of 13 grandchildren.





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).

SATURDAY MORNING

A day that changed the world for Israelis forever

By Larry Butchins

Saturday morning, October 7, dawned quietly, with cooling breezes and the dawn chorus of birdsong greeting the new day. Then, within minutes, the phones started ringing, text messages started coming in and our world was turned completely upside-down. Saturday morning, Shabbat, Simchat Torah, became a hell-hole for communities in proximity to the Gaza Strip, and a violent, shocking, sickening wake-up for the rest of the country: 50 years and a day since the last time we were caught completely off-guard, completely complacent and despite our highly advanced security and surveillance equipment, weapons and defensive systems, literally in the dark.

Nothing was the same, nor ever would be again: nothing made sense anymore – not the social tension within Israel, which disappeared in a nanosecond and became national unity; not the political upheaval of the past 10 months, not the right or left or in-between, not peace efforts, not ridiculous mouthings by out-of-touch rabbis and far right-wing activists, or the hundreds of thousands of concerned Israelis demonstrating for nine months, for democracy. Nothing makes sense.

Be’eri bloodbath. More than 100 bodies recovered from kibbutz Be’eri as Hamas makes Israel hostages death threat. One tenth of the kibbutz’s population was exterminated by the killers from Gaza.

The numbers keep rolling in, first 100 dead, then 250, then 500 then 700 (update 11/10/23 – more than 1200) and still climbing. Then came the horrific discovery by ZAKA of more than 260 bodies of people fleeing from the desert festival…

Over the years, we were lulled into a sense of false security: “Hamas is managing to keep a lid on terrorism; at least Hamas has taken responsibility for the Gazans; Hamas doesn’t want a war right now….” More platitudes and inaccurate analyses flowing from sources that should have known better. But now is not the time for pointing fingers and demanding answers. That time will come…that time will come…

It is believed that more than 1,500 terrorists – a vile pus erupting from the Gaza carbuncle – oozing into Israel, created the most horrific scenario of death, destruction, torture and abductions unseen since the Holocaust. Wrap your head around that for a minute – THE MOST HORRIFIC BRUTAL AND BESTIAL ACTS OF MURDER, CARNAGE AND DESTRUCTION perpetrated AGAINST JEWS in their homes and towns, in their gardens, in their beds.

If this was a movie, critics would have slammed it for being “over-the-top”. Yet it was real: families slaughtered in their homes in a way that would make Nazis proud; young adults, men, women, children, at a peaceful “rave” festival in the desert, gunned down as they dashed for safety.

More than 150 Israeli civilians, foreign nationals, soldiers, children, elderly, dragged into Gaza as hostages against the time when Hamas decides to sue for peace offering these captives in return for the release of thousands of security prisoners in Israel’s jails.

We are collectively, as a nation, going through the early stages of Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I very much doubt whether we will get beyond number two any time soon.

As I write this, I get a lump in my throat. My thoughts go immediately to the families of those killed, to those who are missing. It seems that large numbers of dead and wounded are almost impossible to process – but the story of a single family, a recounting of horror by one person, is totally resonant and shocking. The yearning of families and friends for any information, waiting for a phone call, waiting for someone to identify a body, begging for knowledge of their loved ones – resonates with our family from our experience of the Dizengoff Center suicide bombing of Purim 1996. We lost two beloved members of the family in that attack; Marlyn’s mother and sister, Sylvia and Gail, among the 13 killed. The waiting, the hope, the expectation of the front door opening and them dragging themselves in, tired, frightened, but alive…It never happened like that; it resolved into a bizarre scene at the Abu Kabir mortuary.

Watch and cry – Kibbutz Be’eri 9\10\2023

We can’t be unrealistic. As impersonal and harsh as it sounds, it is destined to end this way for hundreds of families, for parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, children, friends…We will be reeling from this for years to come.

The response is expected to be of Biblical proportions. In Gaza, hundreds, if not thousands, will die and be injured. This will be tragic for the people of Gaza, but we cannot concern ourselves now with enemy citizens, because that is what they are. For all our humanitarian instincts, for all our caring, for all our altruism, for all our yearning for peace, let us not forget that Hamas has brought this on its own citizens, on people whom it, as a so-called “responsible” governing authority, has thrust into the pit of fire and destruction. Hamas, which set up its command centers in the basements of hospitals, mosques, schools, residential buildings, cynically hoping for maximum destruction and death of its citizens, which it can use to squeeze sympathy and money from soft-hearted Western and European states.

Does that sound callous? Probably, but I’m in no mood to be conciliatory right now. I’m mad; I am feeling sick to my stomach, I want response; fast, hard, furious and downright painful.

Celebrating Murder.(right) Elderly Israeli woman dragged off as a hostage by Gazan killers. (left) Delirious with joy at the news of the killing of Jews, Palestinians, including young children brandishing firearms in the West Bank city of Ramallah, celebrating the massacre of Jews in the south.

The reverberations throughout the region will be enormous. We cannot predict the outcome, except we can certainly expect world condemnation of Israel for responding “disproportionately”; for having fewer dead than the Gazans, macabre scoreboard; for being the “sophisticated power” against literally the “sticks and stones” of an oppressed people. When that comes, we’ll deal with it. We have enough evidence, provided by Hamas themselves through their hubris of filming and documenting their “victory” – as did the Nazis in WWII – to hold them totally accountable for the destruction they caused.

Capture of Civilians, Soldiers After Hamas Attack on Israel | WSJ News

What do we learn from this? That there HAS to be peace between Israel and the Palestinians. They MUST come to the table; WE must come to the table: with ideas, initiatives, plans, opportunities, benefits. There MUST be a halt to antisemitic propaganda in Palestinian schools; there MUST be a halt to the rhetoric and hatred spewed by our right-wing religious fanatics. We must find an equilibrium, a level playing field on which neither side will be totally satisfied, but with which we both can live.

I’d like to end by paraphrasing the opening lines of “War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells published in 1898:

“No one would have believed in the early autumn of 2023 that this country was being watched keenly and closely by an evil entity; that as Israel busied itself about its various concerns, we were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency we went to and fro about our little affairs, serene in the assurance of our country’s security…”

(read the original on:
https://www.capgeox.org/uploads/1/3/1/9/131934518/the_war_of_the_worlds-_paragraph_1.pdf)



About the writer:

Larry Butchins – I was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and started my journalistic career as a cub reporter on Durban’s morning newspaper, The Natal Mercury, covering fires, accidents, shipping and beach news. I then moved to the Sunday Tribune’s Johannesburg branch office, covering everything from visiting celebrities to political scandals and student anti-apartheid riots. At a protest at Wits University, I was arrested along with student protesters and spent the weekend in a cell in Johannesburg’s notorious John Vorster Square.
Eventually lured into Public Relations, I opened my own PR firm in Durban. On moving to Israel with my family in 1987, I branched from classical PR into Marketing Communication, running a small English-language agency promoting Israeli products abroad, working with Israeli hi-tech enterprises. Five years ago, I self-published my novel Train in the Distance based on my actual experiences as a journalist working under (and often against) apartheid’s rules and regulations.
In addition to professional writing, I write articles and stories, travel blogs – The Offbeat Traveller – and children’s books, two of which have been published in the US and South Africa. I am now entering my third career as a screenwriter and producer for an international TV series based on my novel.
My wife, Marlyn, and I live in Tzur Yitzhak , north of Kfar Saba; have three grown children and four  grandchildren who all live in Mitzpe Ramon.


Email: larrybtrain@gmail.com






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

Lay of the Land Weekly Newsletter- 04 May 2023

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

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

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Articles

(1)

LOOK WHO’S TALKING

Nearly the whole country – but who in Israel is listening?

From ‘Left’ to ‘Right’. Voices on the streets against (l) and for government proposed judicial overhaul (r).

There is a dramatic change in the political landscape. It is no longer only the opponents of the government’s policies protesting. Government supporters have joined the fray in protest and as such, a conversation – albeit raucous – has begun. The future character of the Jewish state is on the line.

LOOK WHO’S TALKING

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(2)

A KING FOR OUR TIMES

The Eyes of the world on the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla

By Rolene Marks

Crowing Moment. A new era for UK and Commonwealth as Charles and Camilla ascend to the throne.

While Israel’s President and First Lady Isaac Herzog and Michal will join with the 2000 honoured guests in Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the writer will join with the rest of the world, glued to their television sets enjoying a 1000-year tradition of royal splendor and pageantry.

A KING FOR OUR TIMES

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(3)

GUARDIAN’S POISONED PEN

By his grotesque caricatures of Jews, UK cartoonist signs off as an antisemite

By Adam Levick

Rowson on a Roll. Once again Guardian cartoonist indulges in stereotypical antisemitic imagery.

The Guardian was again caught off guard as it published another antisemitic cartoon by its award-winning cartoonist, Martin Rowson. The offensive caricature incorporated a high-profile Jew in British society with an enlarged nose, carrying a Goldman Sachs office chest stuffed with gold and an octopus representing the antisemitic canard of Jewish control.

GUARDIAN’S POISONED PEN

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(4)

“RUSSIA IS NOT HEALTHY FOR JEWS AND OTHER LIVING THINGS”

With first foreign correspondent since Cold War to be detained for alleged spying being a Jew, is it coincidence or out the Russian playbook?

By Jonathan Feldstein

‘Cover’ Up. While the Beatles album presented one story, for Abe’s family it was a different ‘tune’.

Distraught at reading about Evan Gershkovich the US Jewish Wall Street Journal correspondent detained in Russia, brought back memories for the writer who in July 1985 visited then detainee Abe Stolar in Moscow. What do both US detainees have in common? Their Judaism!

“RUSSIA IS NOT HEALTHY FOR JEWS AND OTHER LIVING THINGS”

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

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

THE FOOLISH PRICE ISRAEL PAID TO RESTORE SCHOOL TRIPS TO POLAND

Will our kids really be taught the Polish government line that no Poles helped murder their Jewish neighbors?

By Dr Efraim Zuroff

(First appeared in Times of Israel)

After reading the draft agreement between Israel and Poland on the resumption of educational trips to Poland for Israeli high school students, I understand why there was little publicity in the Israeli media on its specific details. In fact, if Israel was willing to sign such a terrible agreement, one which did not solve the two important reasons that the trips were stopped (besides Corona), one has to wonder why it took so long to “surrender” to the Poles.

Nazism Derailed. Israeli students symbolically block the track into Auschwitz Concentration Camp with the flags of the Jewish state. (Photo: Giora Smolansky)

Originally, the two major points of contention between Israel and Poland about the trips were regarding security and educational content. From the very beginning of the trips, and in fact, for decades, Israeli students were accompanied by Israeli security personnel, and everything went smoothly in that respect.

Once the right-wing Polish political party “Law and Justice” came to power, they began insisting on Polish security guards for Israeli students, a demand that normally Israel would have rejected.

A second highly problematic demand further complicated the situation. The Poles demanded that a meeting of Israeli and Polish teenagers be included in the itinerary of every delegation. This was driven by the Poles’ feeling that the Israeli teachers, survivors, and guides were often promulgating a very negative narrative about the role of the Polish neighbors during the Shoah. 

Polish Propaganda. Museum of Cursed Soldiers in Warsaw which includes honoring Poles who murdered Jews in the Holocaust, is one of the suggested sites the Prime Minister of Poland – seen here laying a wreath at the museum – wants Israeli students on group trips to visit.

Why the Polish officials thought that the Israeli students’ Polish contemporaries could convince them otherwise, makes little sense, but that was one of the demands, both of which the Israeli government rejected.

So why did the current Israeli government sign an agreement which included both demands? Very simple, because the government that initially rightly rejected them was headed by Yair Lapid, and the current government that signed such a shameful document is headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has time and again, apparently for political reasons, refused to combat, or even criticize, dangerous Holocaust distortion by post-Communist countries. And indeed, Lapid lashed out at the agreement saying he was “ashamed of the Israeli government for giving up on its morals and principles.”

What is clear to anyone who reads the text of the agreement, is that it is based on two totally false assumptions. The first is that of symmetrical historical narratives, as if Jews and Poles had wonderful relations ever since the former arrived in Poland, and that during World War II, both peoples were equally persecuted by the despicable Nazis. This assumption ignores centuries of Polish antisemitism, especially during the thirties, which paved the way for collaboration with the Nazis in the destruction of Polish Jewry. 

In that respect, a central tenet of the lies regarding the latter period is that numerous Poles supposedly did everything possible to save their Jewish neighbors and that none, G-d forbid, helped murder Jews or turn them over to the Germans to be executed. According to recent research, however, by scholars of the Holocaust in Poland, such as Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, the number of Jews killed by Poles and/or who were turned over by Poles to be murdered is at least 200,000. The second false assumption is that many young Poles visit Israel, which has never been the case, so insisting on meetings of young Israelis with their visiting Polish contemporaries is meaningless – it was only apparently included to be able to claim that the demands from each side were symmetrical.

Polish Pressure. Research by Holocaust scholars Barbara Engelking (l) and Jan Grabowski (r) reveal that the number of Jews killed by Poles and/or who were turned over by Poles to be murdered is at least 200,000. Both scholars have been harassed by the Polish authorities who believe that discussions of Polish wrongdoing is unfair to Poles. (Photo Yad Vashem via AP / courtesy)

And if genuine symmetry is the issue, all one has to do is compare the lists of the places recommended for visits by the students. The Polish list consists of 29 museums dealing with Polish history, and only three in any way related to the history of Polish Jewry. Even worse, is the fact that some of the places listed commemorate Poles who murdered Jews during the Shoah, such as the Museum of Cursed Soldiers in Warsaw, and the Museum of Remembrance of the Inhabitants of the Land of Oswiecim, which according to former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydio is a “counterbalance to the Auschwitz Museum.” 

Polish Sidetracking. While young students in the annual ‘March of the Living” participate in the yearly Holocaust remembrance march between the former death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland, the present Polish government prefers to sidetrack the focus to include other sites that glorify Polish conduct during WWII, whitewashing the collaboration that took place in the murder of Jews.(photo Czarek Sokolowski / AP)

But what is really shocking is the list prepared by the Israeli team, for reciprocal visits from Poland to Israel – more a pretense as few believe it will ever happen – which is almost completely made up of tourist sites, with only one (!) Holocaust museum (Yad Vashem) listed, despite the fact that we have numerous museums and institutions dedicated to the Shoah, such as Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, Massuah Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, the Yad Mordechai Museum, Shem Olam Faith & the Holocaust Institute for Education, the Kiddush Hashem Archive, and numerous memorial sites dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. Even more shocking is the omission of Anu (Beit Hatfutsot), if we are truly interested in teaching young Poles about the Jewish people.

Unearthing the Truth. Archaeologist Yoram Haimi talking to young people from Israel’s Dror School on his findings at the former German Nazi death camp of Sobibor, in eastern Poland in 2012. (photo credit: AP/Czarek Sokolowski)

Having participated as a scholar in residence in several educational tours to Poland, I am an enthusiastic supporter of such trips. I also believe, based on ten years of reserve duty, 30 days a year, for the IDF’s Speakers’ Bureau, that the trips to Poland have made a highly significant contribution to the participants’ knowledge of Holocaust history, and a strong feeling of identification of Israeli youth with the victims of the Shoah, two highly important aspects of contemporary Jewish identity. One can only hope that the positive aspects of the trips will not be lost because of this foolish, one-sided agreement.



About the author:

Dr. Efraim Zuroff is the chief Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the director of the Center’s Israel Office and Eastern European Affairs.





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).