TV news in the Netherlands is consistently lying about and hostile to Israel

Deze Engelse blogpost wordt gevolgd door een letterlijke Nederlandse vertaling.

This blog post in English is followed by a literal translation in Dutch.

Since the beginning of this civil year, at every time Israel is portrayed unfairly or untruthfully, I complain in detail to the ombudsman of the NOS, the Dutch public service broadcaster, that has the monopoly over all of the Netherlands’ public news. The ombudsman first gives the editorial staff of the news bulletins a chance to react and when they don’t (they never react), the ombudsman is silent too.

Month after month, constantly and consistently, the Dutch public, on tax payers’ money, is incited against Israel.

Now, you should know that first, second and third generation immigrants from Turkey and Morocco are blamed for watching the news in their native news broadcasts, where they would learn to hate Israel. However, they don’t need to. The NOS provides for all Nederlanders who identify with the Palestinians and/or hate Israel all the sentiments and propaganda needed to be further indoctrinated in that direction.

Some 75 years ago, “Radio Oranje,” the mouthpiece of the Dutch government in exile in London, refused to protest the Nazi deportations of a whopping 80% of the Dutch Jews. With the same coldness of heart (really: hatred), the present official Dutch news broadcaster fosters hatred for Israel (and by extension of Jews). Ecclesiastes, millennia ago, already sighed that there is nothing new under the sun.

The only difference is that then, it was state policy to betray the Jews – now it’s the “freedom of the press” that serves this canard.

What is similar is that it’s the same widespread (the good ones excepted) under-the-skin dislike of or disinterest in Jews that let such a thing continue. The Dutch have a centuries-old dislike of Jews, unlike Germany never repented for collaborating with the Nazis, and it shows. Sadly.

However, I will change this, no matter how high the horse I need to get on.

* * *

Here follows the Dutch translation. Nu volgt de Nederlandse vertaling.

Elke keer als Israel onredelijk of oneerlijk wordt afgeschilderd, dien ik, sinds begin dit jaar, een gedetailleerde klacht in bij de ombudsman van de NOS, welke het monopoly heeft over de hele Netherlandse publieke nieuwsvoorziening. De ombudsman geeft eerst de redactie een kans om te reageren en als ze dat niet doet (en ze reageert nooit) zegt ook de ombudsman niks meer.

Maand na maand, voortdurend en consequent, wordt het Nederlandse publiek, op kosten van de belastingbetalers, opgeruid tegen Israel.

Nu moet u weten dat eerste-, tweede- en derde-generatie immigranten van Turkije en Marokko verweten wordt dat ze het nieuws volgen van hun oorspronkelijke landen waar ze haat voor Israel zouden opdoen. Dat is helemaal niet nodig. De NOS verzorgt voor alle Nederlanders die zich identificeren met de Palestijnen en/of Israel haten, alle sentimenten en propaganda die nodig zijn, om verder geindoctrineerd to worden in die richting.

Zo’n 75 jaar geleden weigerde “Radio Oranje,” de spreekbuis van de Nederlandse regering in ballingschap in London, om te protesteren tegen de Nazi deportaties van niet minder dan 80% van de Nederlandse Joden. Met dezelfde kilheid (eigenlijk: haat), kweekt de huidige officiele nieuwsvoorziening in Nederland haat voor Israel (en in het verlengde daarvan voor Joden). Prediker verzuchtte millennia geleden al dat er niets nieuws onder de zon is.

Het enige verschil is dat het toen het regeringsbeleid was om de Joden te verraden maar nu is het de persvrijheid die dit bedrog voorschotelt.

Wat identiek is is dat het dezelfde wijdverbreide (de goeden niet te na gesproken), onderhuidse afkeer voor of desintresse in Joden is die er voor zorgt dat zoiets gewoon maar kan voortbestaan. Nederlanders hebben een eeuwenlange geschiedenis van weerzin tegen Jews, in tegenstelling tot het Duitse volk, hebben ze zich nooit bezonnen op de collaboratie met de Nazis, en dat blijkt uit alles. Droef.

Echter, ik zal dit veranderen, hoe hoog ik ook in de boom zal moeten klimmen.

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