Germans prove that hatred for Jews can be unlearned; Muslims must follow

Safety for Jews is not a privilege. It’s an innate right. Its violation reflects more on the perpetrators than on the victims.

Aversion for Jews from other monotheists is the ultimate sin. It’s like denying their parent religion, violating the commandment to honor one’s father and mother, the universally accepted fifth of the Ten Commandments! War and senseless bloodshed will not stop covering the Earth until hatred for Jews will be almost universally rejected, in the first place by all monotheists.

As soon Jews can be safe, protected and cherished anywhere, there will be peace in the Middle East and world peace.

Don’t tell me that a hatred of hundreds, or of thousands of years cannot disappear so quickly. Germans have proven that it takes one or two generations — that’s it. The success of the Germans is an accusation for the Muslims. The latter must follow suit.

Even in conservative America, it took two generations only, to go from universal hatred for homosexuals to widespread protect and fondness of them. The struggle against bigotry seems to need centuries, but this is proven untrue.

To understand religious tradition differently and repent for mistakes might be a theologically hard nut to crack, but Theologian Hans Jansen, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi and Pope John XXIII show that it can — and it must — be done.

Germans had to go through the Holocaust — more than the Shoah hurt the Jews, it was a total embarrassment for European civilization — and we hope that Palestinian Arabs and other Muslims can be spared from further killings of Jews that disgraced Islam so much, before they will say: Never Again — the buck stops with us.

Germans as a people have repented. Until recently, half a century after WW II, Germany was one of the safest places in the world for a Jew to be. And it was proud of that and rightly so!

Hatred is not inborn, nor is prejudice. Hatred of Jews is never in the DNA. It’s introduced into innocent young people, who can later still disavow it, oppose it and not transmit it to the next generation.

No, it’s not enough to say: “Christianity stands for love,” so being a devout Christian clears me of any suspicion of anti-Jewish sentiment. Many devout Christians killed Jews, not just despite being Christian, but because of being Christian.

Likewise, it’s not enough to say: “Islam stands for love,” so being a devout Muslim clears me of any suspicion of anti-Jewish sentiment. Many devout Muslims killed Jews, not just despite being Muslim, but because of being Muslim.

No, it is not enough to say: “I’m Christian or of Christian heritage, but I reject those bigoted parts of my religion or background, so don’t confront me on this.” Any Christian needs to acknowledge from where his tradition comes, and denounce anti-Semitism and agree to help uproot it from all Christian denominational fractions.

In the same vein, it is not enough to say: “I’m Muslim or of Muslim heritage, but I reject those bigoted parts of my religion or background, so don’t confront me on this.” Any Muslim needs to acknowledge from where his tradition comes, and denounce Jews’ hatred and agree to help uproot it from all Muslim denominational fractions.

I understand that President Trump is helping. He is driving Jews and Muslims in the US closer together than ever before. That is great news. But it needs spreading — in non-paternalistic, non-imperialistic ways throughout the world. Correction: Lots of Jews already felt very close to everyone else, but now many Muslims are returning the honor. And an honor it is!

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. * 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 over 1600 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