The Write Stuff

22/09/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/09/12/goodbye-to-israels-mr-tennis/
A tribute to the passing of tennis icon and Israel Prize recipient – Dr. Ian Froman
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

A tribute to the passing of tennis icon and Israel Prize recipient – Dr. Ian Froman. By David E. Kaplan When it comes to immigrants having enriched Israel, South Africans have been amongst th…

06/09/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/08/29/farwell-to-henry-shakenovsky/
Tribute to a man of law, of reason and of community

By David E. Kaplan

Tribute to a man of law, of reason and of community By David E. Kaplan (Courtesy to the Jerusalem Report where a shorter version of the tribute was first published) “Dialogue,” is the word that I c…

16/08/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/08/11/anything-novel-about-this-novelists-antisemitism-nope/
Popular Belgium writer publicly declares burning desire to murder Jews
and world typically ignores

By David E. Kaplan

Popular Belgium writer publicly declares burning desire to murder Jews and world typically ignores By David E. Kaplan Clearly, when you kill Jews it’s not murder – something else – but not murder!!…

30/06/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/06/28/jews-not-wanted/
Jews are receiving a familiar message and its lethal

Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

Jews are receiving a familiar message and its lethal. By David E. Kaplan Recollecting a conversation I had as a youngster with my late dad in South Africa, he related how his good friend Walter Lev…

08/06/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/06/04/message-to-south-africa-and-chile/

Read More Here By David E. Kaplan :

As an ‘endangered species’, Jews have every legal and moral right to strenuously defend itself. By David E. Kaplan When the news broke of Chilean President Gabriel Boric announcing that his country…

01/06/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/05/07/beneath-the-veneer/
October 7 exposes the ‘true colours’ of people’s hate
against Jews worldwide

By David E. Kaplan:

October 7 exposes the ‘true colours’ of people’s hate against Jews worldwide By David E. Kaplan “We’re the first generation to rediscover the colour of the work,” exclaimed an exuberant Sébas…

02/03/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/03/01/shoah-casts-a-giant-shadow/
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

South Africans honour their fallen in Israel while lamenting how far South Africa has morally fallen By David E. Kaplan It was a strange feeling.  Some 150 South Africans – roughly half …

23/02/2024

An old 1940’s war romance unpacked from a suitcase in Tel Aviv’s Allenby Street By David E. Kaplan It was December 2023 and I was walking along Allenby Street in Tel Aviv. There had been air …

22/02/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/02/18/a-case-of-love/
An old 1940s war romance unpacked from a suitcase in Tel Aviv’s Allenby Street
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

An old 1940’s war romance unpacked from a suitcase in Tel Aviv’s Allenby Street By David E. Kaplan It was December 2023 and I was walking along Allenby Street in Tel Aviv. There had been air …

09/02/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2024/01/28/the-soul-of-sylvia/
Naming a lane after one of Israel’s finest field agents – Sylvia Raphael – brought back memories
about a heroic South African woman that resonates to an Israel today at war

Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

Naming a lane after one of Israel’s finest field agents – Sylvia Raphael- brought back memories about a heroic South African woman that resonates to an Israel today at war By David E. Kaplan It was…

07/01/2024

https://layoftheland.online/2023/12/31/if-gazas-chief-export-is-death-to-israel-its-no-surprise-its-chief-import-is-the-idf/
Israel’s flag unfurled in central war-torn Gaza sends a message of resilience and resolve

Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

Israel’s flag unfurled in central war-torn Gaza sends a message of resilience and resolve. By David E. Kaplan Shakespeare had it ‘dead’ right with his phrase in Hamlet “Hoist with his own petard” m…

30/12/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/12/20/the-day-after/
For Israel it’s returning to be the Lion of Judah rather than the sitting duck of October 7
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan :

For Israel it’s returning to be the Lion of Judah rather than the sitting duck of October 7 By David E. Kaplan WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Adding to the bombardment of rockets, Israelis are now being b…

22/11/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/11/19/the-south-african-government-should-be-ashamed-of-itself/
Simon Wiesenthal Center accuses South Africa’s leadership in press release of fueling antisemitism
by its outrageous lies against the Jewish state
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

Simon Wiesenthal Center accuses South Africa’s leadership of fueling antisemitism by its outrageous lies against the Jewish state By David E. Kaplan In South Africa, the best are its people, the wo…

05/11/2023

I never thought as a liberal I would ever subscribe to the 15th century counsel of Niccolò Machiavelli but then came October 7 By David E. Kaplan Times have changed; a threshold has been crossed. H…

19/10/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/10/18/israels-day-of-infamy/
ISRAEL’S “DAY OF INFAMY”
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

Death squads from Gaza murder, mutilate and r**e before carrying off its Jewish hostages. They carried off as well any chance of peace for generations By David E. Kaplan My inclination is to retch …

24/09/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/09/20/its-risky-being-alive-these-days/
Lay of the Land reports on the 2023 World Summit on Counter-Terrorism (10-12 September) at Reichman University
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan :

Lay of the Land reports on the 2023 World Summit on Counter-Terrorism (10-12 September) at Reichman University By David E. Kaplan When Israel’s minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, said from the podi…

13/09/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/09/07/battling-with-the-basics/
While confidence in Netanyahu’s government drops, consumer prices rise

Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

While confidence in Netanyahu’s government drops, consumer prices rise By David E. Kaplan At last Saturday night’s demonstration against the governments judicial reform in Kfar Saba, a friend of mi…

24/08/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/08/23/is-there-even-just-one/
Where is the one in Netanyahu’s coalition who is going to finally stand up and say – “enough”?
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan :

Where is the one in Netanyahu’s coalition who is going to finally stand up and say – “enough”? By David E. Kaplan “And in the naked light I sawTen thousand people, maybe morePeople talking without …

15/08/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/08/13/protests-are-the-people-speaking/
How else to message Jerusalem before it’s too late?



Read More Here By David E. Kaplan

How else to message Jerusalem before it’s too late? By David E. Kaplan Late last Wednesday afternoon, I was at the kid’s playground at Tel Aviv’s popular Sarona market, expecting little more than a…

08/08/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/08/06/farewell-mr-beth-protea/
Walter Robinson was a giant of a man with a giant personality and giant visions who overcame giant challenges
Read More Here By David E.Kaplan:

Walter Robinson was a giant of a man with a giant personality and giant visions who overcame giant challenges By David E. Kaplan Each person’s passing is customarily marked by a stone revealing nam…

31/07/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/07/27/a-homeland-that-no-longer-feels-like-home/
Netanyahu’s Israel is becoming unrecognisable with each passing day
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

Netanyahu’s Israel is becoming unrecognisable with each passing day By David E. Kaplan It was light relief; a fleeting moment of illumination before darkness. A “heartwarming” video clip went viral…

25/07/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/07/21/from-running-to-ruining-israel/
It is not too late Mr. Prime Minister, to avert a catastrophe
Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

It is not too late Mr. Prime Minister, to avert a catastrophe By David E. Kaplan “At long last…” began The Jerusalem Post’s editorial on Joe Biden’s long-awaited invitation to Israeli PM Netanyahu.…

16/07/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/07/13/bibi-and-his-bills/
As Bibi’s ‘reasonable bill’ advances in Israeli Knesset, country retreats into the abyss

Read More Here By David E. Kaplan:

As Bibi’s ‘’reasonable bill’ advances in Israeli Knesset, country retreats into the abyss By David E. Kaplan If the US is reassessing its relationship with Israel’s leadership, they are only follow…

12/07/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/07/05/i-cant-breathe/
It’s getting suffocating, Israelis need to attack the country’s issues, not each other
By David E. Kaplan:

It’s getting suffocating, Israelis need to attack the country’s issues, not each other By David E. Kaplan Every Saturday night, while walking amongst hundreds of flag-bearing protestors towards Kfa…

10/07/2023

https://layoftheland.online/2023/07/06/till-the-end-of-time/
Israelis may protest against each other but the message to its enemies is we are here to stay

By Yair Chelouche and David E. Kaplan:

Israelis may protest against each other but the message to its enemies is we are here to stay By Yair Chelouche and David E. Kaplan In his political treatise – ‘The Prince’ – Renaissanc…