You won’t fool us about the judicial reform

The year the population won despite 16 lies about the fight

Probably most of my almost 2,000 blog posts can be categorized under the title: ‘You won’t fool me.’ But this one especially so.

I notice that almost all of what I read about the judicial reform is untrue.

The country is terribly divided. There’s a threat of civil There is not. The vast majority* is against the reforms. The divide is between the government and the population.
Most people are for judicial reform. That is only true if you add up those for less and for more power to the High Court. That’s like saying: most people want to change the amount of meat they eat, adding up those who want to eat less and more. So dishonest.
We need a compromise. Those who reject concessions are anti-democrats and unreasonable. The status quo is a compromise already. We don’t need salami tactics chipping away at our equality.
The Knesset is elected by voters, but the courts are not. So in a democracy, the former should prevail. The police are also not elected, but they surely must be able to arrest politicians.
The majority elected the Knesset, so demonstrators against it are anarchists and anti-democrats. The government is formed with parties representing less than 50% of the votes (left-wing votes fell away due to an undemocratically high threshold) and harbors the real anti-democrats.* Demonstrations are totally legit. If elections were held today, this coalition and PM would be out, and the current opposition would get an absolute majority. Meanwhile, blocking anti-equality people from speaking is pro-democracy. Free Speech is the sole prerogative of democrats, not supremacists*.
The High Court is a bunch of lefties. People for ‘human rights and freedom for all’ are per definition left-wing. Characteristically, the right is for freedom only for the rich and other elites. It’s a miracle we allow snobs to stand in elections since they’re anti-democrats.
The protests have already cost the country a fortune. This is a know distortion. Not the rape caused damage but those who reported it?
Netanyahu will seek a compromise. No, he will not. He has no say in it. If he waters down the reform, the bigots* in his coalition will break away, which would mean the end of right-wing rule for at least 100 years. He’s just trying to weaken and break our resistance.
So many democratic States don’t let the judiciary overrule politics. Yes, but they have a Basic Law that invalidates anti-minority laws.
This government is full of crooks. There is no need to attack people. Neither the High Court Justices are saints or perfect. It isn’t personal. We’ll accomplish more when we object to policies, not persons.
People will forget. In another two months, everybody will go on vacation, and then they’ll push through their coup. No, we still protest and watch like a hawk. We want new elections, and our only compromise is a broad centrist coalition under PM Gantz. Those refusing to enter such a democratic alliance will miss out.
Most of the demonstrators don’t understand what the government wants. As if the few contra-demonstrators do understand it. This is as anti-democratic as it can be: ‘Let’s have only the arrogant elites vote.’ The People knows very well what’s going on. ‘If they’re not Prophets, they’re decedents of Prophets’ (Talmud, Pesachim 66a).
The left should just learn to forget about equality. No, it won’t. Just like the Prophet taught us that you can’t serve G^d and an Idol, in a democracy you can’t have parity and make space for bigots*. The haters* need to respect and support equality or stay out of politics.
The demonstrations and dissent need to stop because our overseas friends and mutatis mutandis our enemies are turning against us and threatening us. They don’t understand yet that we’re stronger and more united than ever. We don’t need their advice or disdain.
The situation is dangerous and hopeless. That’s only if the resistance stops. But we’re doing just fine. Hopelessness is endemic in Israel, 2000 years old, and now unrealistic. We could do with less drama.
Eventually, because of the size of ultra-Orthodox families, the left will lose. A pipedream of academics. The insulated families will need to start taking jobs, will have fewer kids, will integrate into society, and understand how democracy also can work for them. We hear already for 50 years that Muslims will overtake Jews, and they don’t.

We will not relent. The government can’t make changes against the will of 70%+ of the People. That means it will fall, and we’ll have elections, which will rescue our democracy. So, we already won. Not if we forget to take to the streets. But if we continue what we’ve done, we will win hands down.

* Seen as inferior (in order of size in Israel): women, lefties, secularists, Muslims, LGBTQ, Christians, Druze, and Conservative and Reform Jews.

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