The ironclad proof on the rightwing youth that’s really shoddy

I blogged already about the idea that the Israeli Secret Service allegedly nowadays has it in for rightwing Jews. But now, information about the supposedly robust proof against one has been released and the theory is full of holes, make-believe stories and jumps to conclusions.

Allegedly, a youngster left his studies, went to a high place overlooking a road, saw a car with an Arab license plate pass under it at 100 km per hour and threw with great force a two-kilo rock aimed at its windshield to kill people inside the car. It killed the woman sitting next to the driver, his wife and mother of the girl in the back and of eight other kids not in the car. Of one youth, possibly his DNA was found on the killing stone.

The driver told from that start that he heard Hebrew speaking from the place above him. But the indictment now says that he continued driving.

He also initially declared that he heard voices but he didn’t see anyone. Now he’s claiming that there certainly were more than four people there. Usual Mideastern variations on the truth, I would say.

And now for the facts.

You don’t need any force to have a stone kill someone in a car driving at great speed. In this case, if the car were hit by a steady stone, it would have had a speed relative to the car of 100 km an hour. No force needed. This “great force” was no doubt added for drama. Bad sign.

Also, you can’t “aim” at the windshield with cars that drive so fast.

Talking of drama, reports that the rock thrower “first ascertained that the car in question had Palestinian Authority license plates” are certainly not accurate because from an oncoming car, you can only see one license plate. Only after it passed, you could have seen both.

So far, there are no people who claim to have witnessed anyone do this.

If Hebrew was spoken there, it’s unlikely to have been one person alone.

It looks like the prosecution has been so happy to be able to pin the blame on one suspect that they dropped finding out who else was there – as co-conspirators and/or witnesses. This shows a lack of motivation to find out the truth as long as one person would be convicted.

His lawyer claims that his client had been hiking in the area and that from that, his DNA could have been on the stone. Go repute that.

But even if he were there and handled the rock then, that doesn’t prove that he threw it. There’s no other DNA on it except for that of the driver and his wife. That doesn’t exclude someone throwing it with gloves.

Murder or manslaughter convictions can’t be based on just a plausible story.

His alibi that he couldn’t have been there doesn’t seem to hold up. But that cannot convict him too. A proper alibi can only prevent conviction. Further, claims that all the arrested youths were tortured explain enough any lying in their testimonies. It is well-known that, if you really want the truth, you befriend suspects, not hurt them.

The best we can conclude about this guy is that he might have been there when the rock was thrown. But even if he was, he was probably not alone. And nothing indicates that it was him who threw the stone.

In conclusion, there doesn’t seem to be enough proof to convict him on anything in a fair trial.

If you really want racist rightwing murderers to be found and caught, don’t use people to catch them who hate the right, hate fundamentalist Jews. Hatred is never a source of great progress.

In all innocence (pun not intended) I ask, why are all these heads of the Israeli Secret Service always such leftwingers? I don’t get it. (Not that a standard-religious Jew would do any better vis-D-vis so-called ultra-rightwing Jews because he might be too motivated to clear the name of “his kinds of religious Jews.” Our only hope is for integrity only.)

Last but not least, life is not a TV series and law is not a cop or judge show. Not all crimes are solved, not all guilty people receive what they deserve and not always the proofs come in that are good enough to convict someone about whom everyone thinks he’s done it. That’s life.

PS: All the reporting on this case (nothing wrong with that) makes the almost total silence on murder attempts on Jews stand out even more tartly. (The argument that the few attacks (Reuters reports that they went up 50%. This probably means that they went from 2 to 3 attacks a year. Equating that, as Israeli’s Secret Service does, with dozens of attacks a month from within the Arab minority is ridiculous. And that’s not even taking into account the weekly mob and the Junta violence from Gaza and Iran’s dreams to wipe Israel from the globe.) on Arabs are only carried by an extremist tiny minority of West-Bank Jews is in my mind bogus until the vast majority of them condemns these attacks – just like the fast majority of Arabs in Israel must begin to condemn Arab terrorism.)

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. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * 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 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, 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