Isaiah 45:7 says exactly this: “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” He never said He “created” evil
Disaster and darkness are not the same as evil. God did not create evil- we did that. One of the hardest things for man to do is accept the fact that evil (as we understand it)exists because it is what we demanded. We CHOSE to know good and evil, to be “as gods”. This was not God’s original plan for us, but He gave us free will, and pride brought us the rest.
It's possible that you and I are talking past each other, but I don't think you understand the point of the article (or at least my interpretation of it, which may be incorrect). Some people believe that evil is a creation of an evil "gxd" or an evil counterpart to G-d (G-d forbid!). But this is not so. The very creation of a being with free will and given a code of conduct makes evil possible, and thus is ultimately responsible for the existence of evil. Furthermore, G-d created HaSatan and gave him his assignments which he faithfully carries out (he is not a "fallen" or "rebellious" angel, G-d forbid).
It seems to me (and please forgive me if I am wrong) that you are simply saying that G-d does not force people to be evil, and indeed, we are all given free will (though after the primordial sin our nature has changed to such an extent that resisting temptation can be very difficult). What I am trying to say (and what I think Rabbi Cardozo is saying) is that evil is not an unforeseen force created by an outside entity but was built into the world from the beginning and in some mysterious way serves G-d's ultimate purposes. (There is a midrash that the first sin was actually committed not by man but by the ground when it brought forth `etz `oseh peri instead of `etz peri `oseh peri as G-d commanded in the first chapter of Genesis.)
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto G-d: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
10 And G-d saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and G-d repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
G-d did not do the evil that he said he would do....interesting side note, the people of Nineveh were forgiven through prayer and repentance. No animal sacrifice, no shedding of blood.