Two big clues appeared Wednesday that the Saudi-Israeli peace process may not just be a political gesture -- or, if it is, it is one of those rare imaginative gestures that has established its own reality.
One the one hand, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appeared to contradict his foreign minister, telling Bret Baier of Fox News that he wanted to see a "good life" for the Palestinians as part of a potential deal, but stopped short of calling for a Palestinian state.
On the other hand, the White House readout of the long-awaited Biden-Netanyahu meeting mentioned the need to maintain the "viability" of the two-state solution, but did not call explicitly for a Palestinian state as a result of a deal.
This is an acknowledgment of reality. Netanyahu cannot reach a deal, and survive in power, if he accepts a Palestinian state. And the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas is too corrupt and violent to be a successful state, never mind a peace partner.
But it is the first real sign that the parties are serious about peace. Hold on: this could get very, very interesting in the coming weeks. I don't know what's driving it, but the chances just got a lot better.
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
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- 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
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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 ...
