Don’t get me wrong. Often the rich and powerful are deeply anti-Semitic while populations of the countries they control are much more mellow towards Jews. (Though, not in the Middle East. You can’t count King Hussein and Presidents Sadat and Sisi among the Jew-haters of the world but their populations largely are.) Meanwhile, the United Nations continues to preach against us. Which countries stand up for us?
Canada declares the Wailing Wall Palestinian
Suddenly, on September 19, longstanding pro-Israel ally Canada joined the anti-Israel circus at the UN by voting for “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.” It seems that Canada has ambitions inside the Treaty Organization and has thrown Israel under the bus. One of the nasty things it undersigned is that the Wailing Wall is Palestinian-Gentile.
The Jerusalem Post aids the US campaign against Pollard’s release
The New York Times continues the US campaign to slander Jewish spies and question the national loyalty of US Jews to the US in order to not have Jonathan Pollard released to Israel.
They now ‘reveal’ (Why now?!) that another US-Jewish spy gave the USSR the A-bomb. He was reportedly part of the same spy ring that also had Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — who were executed by the US and later found to be wholly innocent. The Jerusalem Post calls them “notorious” — who needs anti-Semitic literature with such a ‘Jewish’ periodical?
How can Trump, supposedly the biggest friend the Jews ever had in the White House, who pardoned numerous people already, believe the stream of slander that is meant to keep Pollard in the US? He even didn’t believe the international myth that Israel is ‘occupying’ the West Bank. (It rather liberated it from Jordanian occupation.)
But if we Jews can’t trust Trump, why should we trust his Peace Plan, his friendship with Bibi or rely on any other foreign politician?
The Dutch finally on Israel’s side?
Contrary to popular myth, the Holocaust onslaught in The Netherlands was exceptionally enormous (compared to neighbor Belgian) with 75% of its Jews murdered. The hiding of Anne Frank is world-famous but so should be her betrayal. The largest cause of this failure wasn’t rabid antisemitism of the Dutch but rather its Gentiles not really caring for Jews (and Gypsies).
Against this background, the Dutch were very pro-Israel after WW II. Based largely on a guilty conscience. That sentiment disappeared like snow in summer when Israel won the Sex-Day War. It was no longer the underdog — the Dutch had found new sympathy with the Palestinian Arabs who now supposedly were the new victims. This lasted 50 years.
But in the last decennium, a large minority has formed in the Low Countries of Muslims from Arab countries, consisting of (abused) migrant workers and their united families and Syrian refugees. The Dutch got to know the ugly side of Islam, intolerance and supremacy thinking. And now, after so many years, the attitude under the Dutch population is changing. One doesn’t malign the Jewish State so quickly anymore. And suddenly we see some real changes. Suddenly, something had snapped.
The Dutch railways had obediently (and for a fee paid by the Nazi occupiers) transported the Dutch Jews to the transit camps and on to the death camps. Hardly any railroad worker had refused or questioned this. Just now, the Dutch railroad company has decided to pay a nice sum of money to survivors of these transports and if they are deceased already to their children (but not grandchildren) if they had any who are still alive. Partly to return what they were paid for this genocidal collaboration and partly to acknowledge how wrong they had been. They will also invest in the new Holocaust museum that is erected in Amsterdam shortly, etc.
We are waiting still for any acknowledgment of guilt by the Dutch police and military police. It was they who rounded up the Jews and kept them interned, and not Nazis or Germans. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.
After years and decades hiding behind ‘we don’t want to disrupt European consensus,’ Dutch Parliament suddenly decided, to hell with the special labeling of products from Israel’s liberated territories. Led by the Christian caucus, it declared that it would only permit the European directive if also produce from disputed territories of other countries would be labeled distinctively. This is a major departure of the past.
Ten days later, the Dutch Parliament again spoke up for Israel. It halted its very large payments to the Palestinian Authority over its Pay for Slay abuse: monthly rewarding murderers of Jews and the family of the murderers relative to the number of Jews murdered. Unprecedented!
All the Israeli media that I saw reported that soccer star Van Basten had said to a life mike “Sieg Heil” (gasp — the German Nazi greeting). This was incorrectly reported as if the sporting legend had revealed some apparent hidden Nazi sympathy. Nothing was further from the truth. He said this after an interview in German to make fun of that language and Germans — the Dutch of our generation still have anti-German sentiment from WW II.
Together with some 30 heads of state from around the world, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands will attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, taking place on 23 January 2020, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. This would be such an excellent opportunity for the King to say what his mother, Queen Beatrix, never managed to utter: “We acknowledge and we’re sorry for the utter failure in WW II of the Dutch State to stand by our Jews.”
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. Of the 15 (!) books he has in mind, the next two are about homosexuality in Judaism and new rabbinics. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2600 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 that also may contain updates to Times of Israel posts, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
He's getting ready to publicize books on: "Free Will, "Judaism and Homosexuality, "His parents in the Holocaust, "Judaism, "A New Torah Translation and "A New Hebrew Grammar, "Co-Counseling, "Vegan Facts, "Immortality, and more. *
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 agrees that in a post-truth world, that's irrelevant, but then this is for the record. 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. His posts are spell, grammar, and style polished by AI, but all written by himself. *
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
