Joe Biden is leaving for Saudi Arabia. He's going there, cap in hand, to beg for more oil production -- so that he doesn't have to increase production in the U.S., because somehow that means Democrats can still pretend to be green.
He's also going after ripping the Saudi regime for its human rights abuses. No doubt Saudi Arabia is one of the worst abusers in the world, but Democrats didn't care until the Saudis were seen to be working with Trump on policy.
Biden's old boss, President Barack Obama, even bowed before the Saudi king on his first visit in 2009, part of Obama's early attempt to deal with terror by appeasing Sunni fundamentalists (he later tried Shia fundamentalists in Iran).
Jake Sullivan, the Russia hoaxer who somehow found his way into Michael Flynn's old job after smearing Michael Flynn, tried to list what he claimed were Biden's many achievements in the region. It was all a blur; nothing was real.
Biden's only achievement in the Middle East is failing to fulfill his ill-advised promise to the Palestinians to open a consulate in Jerusalem -- which would have divided the city irreversibly -- and failing to restore the Iran nuclear deal.
Sadly, because Biden has wasted 18 months trying to appease the Iranians, the regime has bought time to produce more nuclear material -- and Sullivan was reduced to complaining about Iran supplying Russia with weaponized UAVs.
That was precisely what was wrong with Obama's Iran deal -- as Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress in 2015: it did not require Iran to stop supporting terror and rogue regimes. Biden is only reaping what he and Obama sowed.
The Abraham Accords -- a name the Biden administration is reluctant to use have not expanded since Biden took office, though Israel and its Arab neighbors have continued improving relations simply because it is in their mutual interest.
Biden hopes to secure a deal involving a couple of islands that Saudi Arabia once possessed, hoping that will entice the Saudis to join in normalizing ties with Israel. Good luck to him: he has absolutely no leverage to make demands.
The Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster; Biden's decision to delist the Houthis as terrorists was a disaster; and the choice to restore hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinians was also a disaster.
Sullivan tried to claim credit for ending last year's war between Israel and Hamas. That was was preceded by Biden's gifts to the Palestinians, and the administration began by condemning Israeli self-defense in Jerusalem.
There is nothing redeeming about Biden's Middle East policy except its failure to achieve its stated objectives, which have run up against the hard reality of Iranian intransigence, Palestinian malfeasance, and Israeli-Saudi detente.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
