A wrong the Israel High Court will not right

We were wrong to let Ben Gvir enter is probably the hardest thing to admit

Lately, the Left tends to claim that the High Court is our brave champion. I’m not so sure about that.

Also, the Right claims the Justices are wild, anarchist activists with no respect for elected officials or even democracy and the law.

The facts show a totally different picture. Too timid, too cautious.

When Ben Gvir appeared on the electoral roll, the Court was asked to ban him since he was a known racist. The Court rather did nothing, trusting his unsubstantiated claim he had repented. This Court often acts timidly while the Mishna says: Where there is no leader, be a leader.

Today, the news abundantly testifies of his anti-Muslim, anti-equality, anti-democratic stance. Even the proactive Movement for Quality Government in Israel has not yet petitioned the Court to eliminate his political career. Benni Gantz, the upcoming PM, seems the only politician who cares, besides high-ranking police officials who want him out too.

And it’s not a theoretical thing about correcting a historic wrong. We need a clear-thinking Minister of Police, not a rabble-rouser with a racist beat.

1. After a wave of terrorist attacks, the authorities have begun a wave of arrests of suspects but now the jails are over-full. He does nothing. He only talks empty words. Instead of preventing this danger, he argues with the prison authority about poor conditions for Jews jailed. And that Jews suspected of (intention) to murder should be treated with kid gloves. He does want the ability to jail Jews behind the back of the judiciary!

2. Arab neighborhoods are poorer and less safe than ever from criminal executions. The number of murders always high is now unprecedented. He does nothing. A whole slew of Israeli rabbis and Jewish educators call upon politicians to stop this. We need someone who cares and is apt.

You’d hope he is disturbed by the loss of life. He’s not. What worries him is: “Crime in the Arab sector could very well spill over into the Jewish sector.” The answer to the Antisemitic ‘Jewish blood is cheap’ is not: ‘Jewish blood is the most precious.’ Not in a democracy. Not for Judaism.

Instead of solving those problems, he prefers to make waves with his provocative statements, souring the atmosphere here and abroad.

He reportedly said security forces need to kill “thousands of terrorists”!

3. So telling when even the right-wing Defense Minister Gallant wrote a letter to Ben Gvir against private militias under Ben Gvir’s command, which he calls euphemistically a national guard. Dangerous too is his promotion of guns. How Netanyahu supports these dangerous things is beyond me.

Ben Gvir said also: “My right, and my wife’s and my children’s rights to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria is more important than the right to movement for Arabs.” Want to know how vicious that is? Exchange the subjects: “The right of Arabs to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria is more important than the right to movement for Jews.” He should have said: “Everyone’s right to get around safely is more important than the right for everyone to free, unchecked movement.”

But the hungry-for-cameras party leader claims his critics are the inciters.

He is also upset when the head of police says he’ll obey the law over the minister’s dictates. This is, of course, the right thing to do when the law is fair and the minister an anti-democrat.

Great idea to stifle police volunteers from taking any stance in politics. This is in line with police and military personnel restraint. But to selling it as a ban on criticizing the government is too convenient and plain wrong.

I’ve said it before, going after him physically, or worse: his family, is abusive and misses the point. He needs to be dismissed.

Never forget that there are no pure racists. It’s always a package deal with other bigotry like sexism, anti-LGBTQ hatred, and xenophobia.

I know today, in many Western ‘democracies,’ ultra-right-wing politicians walk around as if that is OK. But Israel must be a Light to the Nations! It’s not enough to keep up with other Supreme Courts. We must better them.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * If you don't know the Dutch, get an American peek behind the scenes here: https://youtu.be/QMPp6h6r72M * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people who don't deserve that. He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. * One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. He loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1