We are hours away from the International Court of Justice ruling on whether Israel's actions in Gaza could amount to "genocide." It is so absurd... but I am not optimistic and I am worried that Israel will be ordered to stop fighting just at the moment it has Hamas beaten.
I think we know there will be a split decision. The Chief Justice is from the U.S. and there is one Israeli justice (as a courtesy). There are justices from Arab countries who cannot return home alive if they vote in Israel's favor. The question is: a split favoring whom?
South Africa's case was based on garbage propaganda and citations (often inaccurate) of Israeli officials saying offensive (or simply misunderstood) things. Israel's case, as even (informed) South African observers admitted, was very strong on the law itself.
I predict that the court will probably agree with Israel that the case was improperly brought -- but go on to address the merits anyway. It may not accuse Israel of "genocide" but will recognize some kind of vague genocidal potential and issue some non-binding rebuke.
This will be enough for Israel's critics to claim that the ICJ agreed that Israel was on a path to genocide, even if it may also allow the Israeli war effort to continue. South Africa, which actually supports Hamas's genocidal agenda, will claim victory and go back to sucking.
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
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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 ...
