Netanyahu has defended himself against the recent legal threats to his political career by saying, ‘The was nothing, there is nothing and there will be nothing’ [criminal to be found]. After reading the latest interview with Trump’s peace negotiator I say the same. There never was any viable peace process, there is not a hint of it, and there will be none. As graffiti read on the side of the main church at the center of the former Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam in the ’80s, ‘There is no way to peace; peace is the way.’ And peace is not on the mind of the Palestinian Arab leadership.
Arutz Sheva spoke with outgoing US White House Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt, the outgoing major architect of the latest peace plan. The questions were sharp and critical but there were no follow-up questions about anything shaky in the answers. Of course, most of its readers are very able to detect flowery language, phony arguments, and fake visions.
I will take this chance to point out some basics that are still wrong.
“[N]obody can force this vision upon anyone. When the [peace] plan is released, it will be up to both sides to decide how to proceed.”
Sounds very nice but is not Israel’s experience. As soon as there is another peace plan, Israel is held to follow it, even by its allies, and the Arab Palestinians generally are not.
This lack of memory is not shared by the Israeli public. It’s an ominous sign that a major architect of this plan has no recollection of the past.
“[W]e hope that both parties will read it carefully and not make any hasty decisions.”
Again, history has shown that this is idle hope. Nothing has improved on the Arab Palestinian side so there is no reason to believe that the PA (and even more so, Chamas or ISIS) will suddenly be reasonable.
It’s simply unreasonable to expect such reasonableness.
One of the main reasons why there is no peace with Palestinian Arabs, in general, is because there is no reasonableness among their leaders. Only hatred, anger, jealousy, and greed. It works for them. And — like with any dictator — they don’t care about the people they claim to represent. So, their well being is not part of the discussion.
Of course, it will be better for the whole family if the abuser stops abusing but that has never stopped a violent spouse or parent. Such people must be cornered with no escape route. (Just like Germany needed to be defeated twice and utterly before it got the message.)
Sadly, any peace plan that’s based on reasonableness ‘on both sides’ is a no-brainer, dead-on-arrival.
Any peace plan that doesn’t deal with is the underlying cause — hatred for Jews — is doomed to be just a band-aid and will fail utterly.
I’m now going to sidestep reasonable Christians and Muslims, non-fundamentalists, people who don’t preach hatred of Jews to their children. They never have been the problem. They’re holy and good.
Sure, Muslim anti-Semitism is a bit different from its Christian sib. Many Christians don’t really believe in conversions so they hate Jews for their roots — its racism. Muslims stop hating Jews when they convert to Islam. Their hatred is more religious and not racist. But equally murderous.
NB: There is nothing that ever obligated any Christian or Muslim to hate Jews. Every one of them has free will to stand with the Jews — despite indoctrination from the cradle. As, in every generation, individuals have shown. Christian anti-Semitism has kind-of shamefully nose-dived after the Holocaust, the defeat of Nazi-Germany, and the erection of the State of Israel. Muslim hatred for Jews has not yet. And we Jews again have a problem with agreeing to another Holocaust to teach them too.
Then it doesn’t matter how fair and smart the rest of the plan is. Any treatment plan [peace plan] that doesn’t aim to remove or kill the cancer cells [anti-Semitism] will lead to death soon.
“[W]e believe our plan can significantly improve the lives of millions of people.”
Yet another appeal to reasonableness — and American dollar signs in the eyes. Not everyone is for sale. Even evil ‘principles’ like hatred of centuries cannot be bribed away.
“[C]hanging the conversation about the conflict has been an enormous priority for us.”
As long as the bedrock of any peace plan is reasonableness and not education against Jew-hatred, the conversation is not changed.
Even speaking of a ‘conflict’ is an unjust equivalence. Jews have as little problems with Palestinian Arabs as they had with the crusaders or the German Nazis. As in every oppression, the deadly bigotry is one-sided.
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
