Apologies for my delay the last 48 hours… it has been quite a whirlwind! Thus far we have toured Tel Aviv on the coast, and the settlement of Ariel in the interior. I have also taken the liberty of visiting the port city of Haifa for dinner last night.
A few reflections:
1. Israel is still a vibrant, dynamic, beautiful place, regardless of whatever is going on politically.
2. Tel Aviv is a wonderful mess — crowded and chaotic, but also brilliant and innovative. The new subway is incredible. The beach is, well, awesome.
3. The fault lines over Netanyahu’s judicial reform are not entirely ideological or cultural. Some on the right oppose him just because of the division it has provoked within Israeli society (familiar, perhaps, to the emotions evoked by Trump in the USA).
4. The Palestinians want jobs and the chance to earn a good living more than they want a state. If anything, attempts at peace — or struggle — have complicated their lives. Judea and Samaria are a maze of roads and boundaries and there seems no easy resolution — nor, perhaps, any urgent one.
5. Palestinians do not generally understand why Jews want to come to Israel and support Israel. To the extent that face-to-face interaction is possible, it can help break that barrier of understanding.
6. It’s good to remember that in addition to the religious connected Jews have to the land, a big reason Israel exists is because of the cultural revival that Tel Aviv represents. That Israel counts, too; it is the Israel that many on the left want to preserve, and not because of partisan politics.
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
- The state of the economy
- The fight against crime
- The midterm election fight
- The struggle for peace between Russia and Ukraine
- The airstrike on the Venezuelan drug cartel
- The attempt to sink Kennedy
- The war in Gaza
- The case against Harvard
- The Trump presidency
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...
