In thinking about Israel's strike on the Houthis, I've been considering why it is that the Palestinian cause has been the reason for so much misery in the world -- including onerous airport security requirements, made necessary by the spectacular and destructive Palestinian practice of hijacking airplanes (which was perfected by Palestinian terrorists before it was taken up by Al Qaeda).
Presumably, a Palestinian advocate would retort that it was Israel that had caused so much misery -- that the reactions from Israel's enemies was only natural and to be expected, and that with Israel's disappearance, the death and destruction would disappear as well. This is a point of view that abdicates all responsibility or agency for Palestinians and the broader Arab/Muslim world.
I believed as recently as last September that there might be a resolution to all of this -- that the Arab and Muslim world were slowly reconciling with Israel, and that the Palestinians had despaired of destroying it. How wrong I was to indulge that hope or expectation. We may yet have peace, but it will only be with a crushing defeat of the evil powers that motivate and fund the hatred.
I have been thinking about a story from the Talmud, which explains the fading of the prophets from the world as a parallel movement with the disappearance of idolatry. Once the evil of idolatry was gone, there was no need for prophecy, only instruction. Perhaps Israel, as good as it is, has entered the world in parallel with the evil of Palestinian terror? Perhaps there is a balance, somewhere?
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
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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 ...
