It pains me to say this, given how much I believed in the place, and the fact that I have family and friends there, but South Africa's presentation at The Hague today against Israel was so bad, so false, and so antisemitic that all hope is really gone for that country.
I know there are Jews who will tough it out there, but I can't really see the point. The place is corrupt, dangerous, and can barely keep the lights on. Now it has hit Israel with false charges of "genocide" in what can be described as a classic display of antisemitism.
Maybe no one cares about antisemitism anymore. But they should. It has brought down every society that has been infected with it.
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).
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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 ...