Many blog posts I have written about the decline of the once fine newspaper the Jerusalem Post. When the money was lacking, instead of closing, it fired many of the writing staff. A few excellent writers continued now writing blog posts, it threw in big pictures, and the paper was saved.
Problem is that many people still think it’s the quality paper it once was. So, they take seriously what it says. Even when it writes total nonsense about Arab-Palestinian affairs and the ‘peace process,’ places ads written as news reports, and spreads slander about the Orthodox-Jewish world.
It still has good stuff about feminism, LGBTQ, anti-racism, and the IDF.
About COVID it published good analysis alternating with total nonsense from Reuters. It maintained its old hatred for Netanyahu and Orthodoxy. And it has a headline writer who can ruin any decent piece of writing.
But now, it has fallen to a new low. It blamed, in an ‘analysis,’ Netanyahu for the dead in Meron and for the thousands of deaths from COVID! This is written by their science reporter who wrote the good articles about the pandemic and who’s a rising star at the Post. It’s embarrassing.
I’ve never seen so many negative comments under any article in any online Israeli newspaper. And those are the comments they didn’t delete. I commented on a comment and both of them were removed. Normally, the Post retains all comments. They must have learned that there is no such thing like a bad press. Well, read the JPost and see that’s not true.
I wrote that, while the dead were barely buried and the families were sitting shiva, was it so urgent to find fault? Was sowing division the price to pay for not wanting to mourn? What happened to loss uniting us?
And when 100.000 left-wing demonstrators protested Bibi during a pandemic, did it also fault the government? But when 100.000 Charedics flock to Meron after the pandemic, Bibi is at fault? And he’s also at fault when they didn’t follow scientific corona advice? What’s the last time you did anything against Charedic children not learning science in school? And how do you expect them to follow that, if they are unfamiliar with it?
And what is any PM supposed to do when large sections of the population don’t obey? Shoot them?
Screen grab of the removed editorial.
May 2nd, at 20:35, the Post expressed happiness about the High Court ruling in favor of the non-Orthodox, a full month after the ruling: “Judaism should be available for all – editorial.” Someone commented that this is so low, after the Meron disaster to write such an old item just to give the Orthodox another blow. I agreed. And then the Post completely removed the editorial. Do they read comments? After an hour, the piece returned but only for a few minutes, then being overtaken by the above editorial.
Meanwhile, its ‘religious reporter’ explained why the whole disaster at Meron was Aryeh Deri’s fault – another fall guy of the JPost for years. He had argued that corona in Israel was over so that no social distancing was needed. And then, when crowdedness led to another disaster, he’s still to blame. You just smell the hatred that such an opinion must be based on.
And in the morning, they had a long piece in which again the ultra-Orthodox were the villains. It twisted it as follows. Recently, some nationalistic-Orthodox extremists and Arab-Palestinian youths confronted each other bloodily. This, after the latter attacked ultra-Orthodox Jews for no reason. But, the Jpost’s reason for the confrontation? The ultra-Orthodox attract extremist right-wing ideas. (The Arabs and West-Bank ultra-nationalist Jews were not involved, you see.)
We already have Haaretz and Al Jazira. There is no market for the vitriol that seems to be the Post’s new course. Diversity of the press is only useful as far as the individual outlets inform. If they just incite, who needs them?
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. 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
