Alert! Last night, the Dutch Government and House turned hostile to Israel
Hatred and fury against Israel parading as righteous concern for Gazans
Last night, the Dutch House of Representatives ‘debated the situation in Gaza’ at the initiative of the Muslim Party. This was no success.
The night before, after six months of fiery negotiations, four parties agreed to form a new Dutch government. The evening after the day before, most of the political leaders did not show up for this debate, including some of our staunchest friends, including demissionary PM Rutte, though in the afternoon he had been seen in the building and he was specially invited.
Previously, Rutte had announced that the IDF entering Rafach would be crossing a red line. Now that it did, what will be the Dutch repercussions?
Timeline
But first, briefly, some historical context is in order.
On October 10, the Dutch House of Representatives briefly reflected on the violent events of three days prior. The next day, a commemoration took place in the presence of Israel’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Modi Ephraim, and outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The ultra-left-wing Chair of the House, Vera Bergkamp, said: “Today we commemorate the victims of this brutal violence, and we express our support to the relatives. Our thoughts also go out to the civilian victims on the Palestinian side and their relatives. The aftermath of these horrible events has only victims.” Of course, that was untrue. Besides victims, there were tens of thousands of perpetrators, but she meant well, we may hope.
After a short word by PM Mark Rutte, the House held a minute of silence. The MPs could then offer their condolences to the ambassador.
Half a dozen ultra-left-wing and Muslim MPs left the Chamber in protest as soon as solidarity with Israel was pronounced, as underlined by the Chair.
Later, on October 11, the Foreign Affairs Committee held a committee debate.
Humanitarian Law
On November 17, there was a round table discussion in Parliament on humanitarian law with experts from the military and scientific world.
National Elections
On November 22, the PVV, the anti-immigrant political pariah party of Geert Wilders won enormously, and became the largest fraction. Part of the last-minute jump in numbers is seen as caused by the violent and Antisemitic anti-Israel demonstrations unrelated and held just prior.
Gaza Strip
The next day, the Foreign Affairs Committee held a debate on the situation in the Gaza Strip, still with the ‘old’ MPs. (The new House would be installed on Wednesday, December 6.)
Twelve speakers and three ministers showed up.
Antisemitism in the Street
Just recently, in another debate, 149 out of 150 MPs expressed zero tolerance for the uptick in Jew-hatred in the Netherlands.
Incensed was the House again about the open Jew-hatred and other violence at the recent opening of the Holocaust Museum and the ‘student’ demonstrations in the Netherlands.
Last Night’s Debate
It was terrible.
A bad omen was that earlier in the day, the new Chair had objected to calling the PVV extreme-right-wing because that smacks of fascism, and you can’t call MPs fascists. Yet, in this debate, within the first 12 minutes, Netanyahu was called extreme-right-wing, and there was no protest.
Most of the thirteen MPs and three outgoing ministers (Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, and Defense) looked furious. Israel’s policies of not giving up on neutralizing Chamas, as the West had done with ISIS, and the suffering as reported by Chamas, the UN, and the national press had ignited their rage. They seemed unaware of how hateful they came across. The initiator of the debate volunteered a whole slew of half and whole lies, followed by some eight useful idiots who brought the lies of Israel-haters without any nuance or reflection.
Some four speakers brought nuances, but two of them pleaded for a Two-State Solution. The Israeli consensus (Muslims and Jews) is now that that is a pipedream that will never happen—unless Jordan becomes Palestine.
The Speaker for the VVD (Rutte’s party) added insult to injury when he calmed the angry MPs by explaining that the clause in the new coalition agreement about returning the Dutch Embassy to Jerusalem is bogus because it lists four preconditions that won’t be met any time soon if ever.
Only two speakers (most notably the last one for the PVV) understood what was going on. The rest were just angry at Israel, being confident that they were reasonable and Israel and the IDF not. It was very unsettling.
However, most Dutch Jews were already preparing for Shabbat, and who knows how long it will take before they discover that most of their staunchest allies in Parliament had decided, with the government, to see if they could move the EU to cancel all cooperation with the Jewish State!
Next Tuesday, voting will take place, but I’m afraid it’s too late to stop this. Bad stuff. The Netherlands will celebrate two days of Christian Pentecost.
Bottomline
Though every comparison is flawed, I like to explain the Jewish situation by comparing it to better-understood oppressions.
Fierily protecting local Jews against Antisemitism while rejecting, just after Israel’s Independence Day, the sovereignty and goodness of the democratic Jewish State, that is like doing everything that women can walk the streets safely and are talked to and about with respect while saying that feminism must be restrained because feminists are going too far.
It’s understandable (but unacceptable) that the MPs see the splinter of Jew-hatred in the eyes of the indecent protesters but not the beam in their own decent eyes. Someone needs to make them aware of this supremacy.
Next Tuesday, voting will take place, but I’m afraid it’s too late to stop this.
About the Author
MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. 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 generated by the new bore on the block, AI. *
As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. *
This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 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 too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, 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 when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) 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 - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), 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. *
Chronologically, his most influential teachers 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. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. 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. When he can, 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, for Zionism, Intersectionality, 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. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. *
He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his 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, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. *
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, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. 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 a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. *
His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors 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