Is everything Israel haters shout not just untrue but the opposite of the truth?

How many examples do you want? Are well over a dozen enough?

But Bernie Sanders said already: “If there are so many complaints about Israel, that can’t be all made up.” Jews mean trouble, everyone knows. Well, if I show you one million books that ‘prove’ that women are ‘inferior,’ must there be some truth to it? That’s how oppression works: the systematic dissemination of false information. There have been centuries that Jews lived in peace (Spain before the Catholics invaded), and there have always been Gentile Nations that honored the Jews (and still do), and also inside hostile countries, Jews always had allies, some high, some low. The greatest tragedy is not with the Gentiles, though, but with the Jews. There are Jews to whom being Jewish only means worrying, suffering, stress, pain, the Holocaust, strict Jewish laws, customs, and recipes. Sadly!

Stop the occupation. Well, Israel liberated the West Bank, and the only group limiting human rights for people on the West Bank is the Palestinian Authority. They are the only occupying power of 40%. The totalitarian Hashemite Kingdom is holding Jordan, and the Hezbollah terrorists occupy Southern Lebanon. Egypt holds the Sinai, but we gave it to foster peace. Terrorists rule it, and it lies largely fallow, like most of Jordan. Gaza is held by a multitude of terrorist groups. Israel doesn’t hold any foreign land. ‘Stop the occupation’ is only a (false) pretext of anti-Zionists. Before Israel liberated the occupied West Bank, Sinai, Golan Heights, and Jerusalem, terrorists and other Jew-haters had plenty of accusations about Israel.

The IDF murders babies. Well, the only party in Gaza that targets civilians is Chamas (and Islamic Jihad—same thing). True, some of the murderers invading on October 7 refused to kill babies and sufficed murdering their parents and grandparents before their eyes. Any child the IDF killed is by mistake, and/or because they were used by Chamas as human shields. Jews have always been accused of being ruthless murderers; we killed the Christian god, and we killed Christian children to use their blood to make Matzoth—never mind that the Hebrew Bible forbids Jews to consume blood. These accusations are meant to defuse the staggering truth that Christians (the Crusades, Inquisition, Pogroms) murder Jews.

Israel commits genocide. Well, the only ones intent on genocide are the Jew-haters. They openly say so. They openly do so. “From the River to the Sea, Israel must be free [of Jews]” is genocide. The population in Gaza has doubled in the last decade. That’s not genocide. The IDF has killed 13,000 terrorists in battle while accidentally killing fewer bystanders than that, in urban warfare in a population of allegedly 2.3 M—that is not genocide. Calling everything you dislike about Israel genocide cheapens the concept and actually promotes genocide around the world. The accusation of genocide is to neutralize the staggering truth of the Holocaust.

I’m not against Israel, but I abhor its extremely right-wing hawkish government. Well, Netanyahu often has been called a hawk by extremely left-wingers, but the truth is that he always was the first to leave Chamas in power and work toward a truce after every military conflict with these murderous terrorists. The real Israeli hawk, Lieberman, said, time and again, he should go to the bitter end to stop their rockets at our civilians forever. But he was a small minority. Now, finally, after Oct. 7, moderate Netanyahu goes after Chamas all the way, but only at the head of a centrist unity war cabinet that spans from Left-wing Gantz to extremely right-wing Gevir. Only dishonesty or ignorance can prompt you to claim that Israel now has a right-wing government or that Netanyahu is hawkish.

Zionism is colonialism. Well, the Holy Land was occupied by many invaders, and returning less than 20% of it to Jewish rule is as anti-colonial as any other Nation acquiring autonomy after WWII.

Zionism is a reaction to the Holocaust, and why should innocent native Palestinians suffer from the results of a war they had no part in? Well, the Palestinian leadership allied with Hitler, but that’s not even the issue. Modern Zionism is 120+, and classical Zionism is 2000 years old. And the native Palestinians are Jews and Jews only. Zionists were always ready to share the land but not to abandon it. There always lived Jews in Israel.

Zionism is Racism and Apartheid. Well, the only racist regimes in the Middle East are Muslim dominated. In Israel, Muslims, Christians, and Atheists enjoy full equality before the law. Muslims sit in the High Court, sometimes the government, in the Knesset, and populate the universities and health industry on every level (from cleaner to head of hospital). Israel is the only ME area where there are full human rights and a vibrant democracy, for women, LGBTQIA+, the handicapped, etc. We have freedom of the press like in every Western country, but we have something more that the West is losing: a great diversity of the press.

Israeli Jews take revenge. We understand their anger but disagree that they should hurt innocent bystanders. Well, do I have news for you. The depiction of Jews as revengeful is an old Antisemitic myth pushed every day by many press agencies. They would never call it deterrence. And then, look at October 7, thousands committed more than a dozen different war crimes. Our reaction to the pogrom? We took more than a thousand murderers prisoner. They are peacefully awaiting trial. They’re questioned by our police, that try not to lose their cool. The IDF entered Gaza to chase Chamas only ten days later. Not in a blind rage but calmly and calculated. It says a lot that Gentiles ‘can imagine’ our rage—but that is not our rage. That’s the rage they would have. Is it so hard to hold Jews in esteem?

Israelis are nationalist, militarist, chauvinist supremacists. Well, every group threatened with annihilation will try to defend itself and be proud of every victory over death and despise their enemies. Call them human. Israel’s enemies fight from hate; we fight for freedom and life. As soon as our enemies stop hating us, there will be peace. The bullying is one-way.

Israel has no separation between the State and Religion. Well, it has. Religious traditions it honors, like Shabbat off, are just part of Jewish culture. But others, like foreign workers, get their holidays off with pay.

Israel has no marriage equality. Well, religious fanatics have been blocking that in the Knesset, but it’s coming. Meanwhile, the High Court is chipping away at heterosupremacy, gay marriages from outside of Israel are legally registered in Israel, and Muslim Gay men and feminists fleeing the West Bank’s Areas A and B are getting assistance to be safe.

The IDF rapes Palestinian women. Well, funny you’d say that. October 7, despite Islam forbidding to hurt women and children, Chamas terrorists and ensuing Gaza civilians, mutilated, gang-raped, and mass murdered women, and it’s well-documented. Unfortunately, armies raping is more rule than exception, but not by the IDF. In Arafat’s time, the complaint was IDF soldiers were racists because they didn’t want to rape Arab women.

Israel exploits its workers and nature and glorifies profit over people. It has sexists, racists, homophobes, etc. Well, tell me a country that doesn’t. Call it capitalism. It’s terrible, but Israel doesn’t have a patent on that one. And so many more allies are standing with the oppressed, and laws, lawyers, and courts are fighting for them. Why don’t you order your own house first before pointing fingers? And why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the beam in your own eye? [Matthew 7:3]

But Jews are the capitalists. They control the banks. They have all the money. Well, most Jews live from pay cheque to pay cheque. If we had all the money and power Antisemitism says we have, we would tolerate no Antisemitism anywhere and stamp it out. Haters of women also claim women secretly hold all the power. If they did, there would be no sexism.

***

Chamas is a terrorist group, oppressing and impoverishing the population, bent on Jew-hatred and genocide. Most of their loudest ‘friends’ don’t care about the population they terrorize but rather are driven by Jew-hatred.

Left-wingers and right-wingers who don’t hate Jews but stand with these terrorists who themselves claim to want all Jews dead are political idiots.

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