I’ve argued before that the State should outlaw and shut down Haaretz, just like racists in Israel cannot stand for office. Not because they lie all day long and instead of report the news, “create” (fake) news. And not even because they are anti-Zionist. Each their own convictions. But rather, because, on a daily basis, they slander the Jewish State the world over and naive readers, not familiar with the situation in Israel, must already believe all the blood libels they read – those foul Jews.
Yet, it has outdone itself again. It now brings a piece arguing prominently that there is nothing wrong with murdering Israeli soldiers.
I’m not going to discuss how heartless and vile one must be to justify any murder. That should be so obvious that it needs no analysis. Just one remark: how filled with hatred must one be to not see a solder as a human being? (I’m not talking about someone in a heated exchange. I’m referring to someone calmly writing an intellectual op-ed on his computer: an armchair murderer.)
Almost as obvious is that there is no legal or moral code in the world that justifies or calls for cold-blooded murder. The United Nations in particular, that regulates the situation in occupied territories (on which the anti-Zionist base themselves when they falsely call the West Bank occupied) does not call for or justify murder by the occupied, not on civilians brought in by the occupier and not on the occupying forces.
The author pretends that such (attempts at) premeditated murder must be just warfare, between a regular army and a guerrilla army. Like: wars are (unstated: always terrible and regrettable but they are) legitimate endeavors on the planet. Walking past an Israeli soldier, policeperson or civilian and suddenly trying to slit their throat is not warfare. It’s murder, just like many (but not all!) Arab Palestinian toddlers are taught by their parents and teachers and in summer camp: hate Jews, kill them and if they kill you in the process, you have reached your highest goal in life.
Guerrilla fighters are only heroes in the minds of violent people who learned to hate very deeply. Look at the Kurds, who really need to liberate their country. They formed and army, not bands of murderers.
By the way, that’s another despicable thing in the piece. It talks as if all “settlers” and all “Palestinians” are each of one mind. That’s not true of any group of people. Especially not in the area of ethics. There is no group of people that only consists of villains or saints. Stereotyping people as all the same is the hallmark of oppressive talk.
Back to our justifier of (and therefore instigator to) murder. One of the mental gymnastics that he tries to let us do is to go believe that these (would be) murderers would differentiate between the “occupiers” of the West Bank and the “occupiers” of the rest of the Jewish State. They don’t. It’s just harder to infiltrate into or recruit murderers within pre-1967 Israel but there are daily attempt to do so – thank G^d almost all of them foiled.
As if childhood indoctrination of hatred of millennia of certain groups could differentiate between “proper, lovable” and “despicable, dispensable” objects of hatred. Hatred of women leads to hatred of all women. Hatred of Jews leads to hating all Jews. Etc. They are forced to sing of murder and bloodshed in kindergarten. Poor kids.
As I mentioned briefly above, they don’t go after soldiers only. They often feel the most heroic in doing so, but they see border police, regular police and often any Jew, including children and bypassing women, as valid targets for their hatred and bloodlust. That’s what hatred does. Just like the Nazis, they don’t differentiate between rich and poor, religious and not religious, young and old, leftwing or rightwing, nice and nasty, smart or stupid. All Jews are fair game for them.
It is absolutely ridiculous to call them guerrillas because they also aim to kill soldiers and therefore cannot be terrorists. The author lies that the civilians they kill are just collateral damage, unintentional victims. When did you hear the PA express sorrow about Jewish civilians accidentally killed by their henchmen? (All great Jew haters lie. You’d think that hating Jews is a conviction like any other but I found that all big Jew haters are expert unabashed liars. Apparently, there are no honest anti-Semites.)
They kill indiscriminately and specifically civilians, which in a war is a crime against humanity – what is that then outside of a battlefield?
These (would-be) murderers are indoctrinated with a hatred of generations gone by, are hating all Jews. And just like their rockets, their burning kites, knives, bullets and car bumpers are aiming at all Jews.
(This short piece only re-brands these murderers as freedom fighters but let’s not forget that normally these vile killers are portrayed as driven by desperation. Driven they are but rather by hatred. And let’s not overlook that most Arab Palestinians are law-abiding citizens. Many of them may not yet successfully have dealt with indoctrination they received against Jews, but they’re getting there and they’re not all would-be murderers. NB: Portraying Arabs as the world’s only Jew Haters is racism.)
Why does Israel allow anyone to justify murder and get away with it?
And my most fundamental question is, why are chronic liars able to instigate hatred of Jews the world over every day, not from Teheran and not from Pyongyang but from the Holy Land itself? Are we that naive or numb to allow for this? Yes, apparently we are. Enough already!
(Haaretz is probably the single publication most responsible for wide-world anti-Semitism. They so make Jews flee the Diaspora as no other but at what cost! Jews will also return to Israel without widespread anti-Semitism and the world would be a much better place without it.)
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
