The horrific rocket attack by Hezbollah against Israel on Saturday, which killed 12 innocent children in the Druze Arab town of Madjal Shams, has prompted Israel to vow a response. But whether it is "big" or "small" remains to be seen.
"Big" equals "all-out war" (to borrow a phrase from foreign minister Israel Katz) against Hezbollah, applying the full power of the IDF to drive the Iran-backed militia out of southern Lebanon, with heavy casualties likely on both sides.
"Small" equals hitting Hezbollah targets, and perhaps even some Hezbollah-linked targets in Beirut, without triggering the full-scale conflict that many fear could devastate the region (and that others hope would resolve the situation).
Different Israeli voices have hinted in different directions. I don't believe that Israel will go for anything "big" without the full backing of the U.S., which it is not going to get from Biden, and which it is more likely to get from Trump.
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 ...
