Glenn's special message for Israel

I want to tell you what it's like to live in most of Israel right now.
A missile is fired by Hamas in Gaza...
A siren goes off.
You get 15 seconds to find shelter.
I want Americans to think about what that means.
If you lived in a place where missiles were fired at you...
Hundreds a day...
And you would get just 15 seconds to hide...
How would you live?
Stop what you're doing. Run to a basement. A shelter.
And if you can't make it inside...
Lie flat on the ground with your arms over your head.
That's life in Israel right now.
None of us would be willing to accept this.
None of us would have to.
Every country has a right to defend itself against terror.
But they keep telling Israel... "don't overreact!" "don't fire back!" "be careful!" "don't ramp things up!"


Let me get this straight...
If Mexico fired a missile into El Paso, you know what we would do?
If Japan fired a missile into Beijing, you know what China would do?
So why does Israel have to hold back?
Why does every country get to defend itself...
But not Israel?
Why could that be?
I think we know why.

A Jewish man was walking down the street in midtown Manhattan over the weekend.
He passed by a group of people protesting on the street.
They were holding up signs, criticizing Israel.
He was wearing a yarmulke.
So they called him a "dirty Jew."
We've seen this move before.
We've seen the terror before.
We've seen the sirens...and the bombs... and the threats.
We've even seen the insults.
"Dirty Jew."
Nothing original there.

So I think we know what's really going on here.
It has nothing to do with embargoes... or borders... or anything else that CAN be solved.
It's because Israel exists. And it's a Jewish state.
Let's be honest with ourselves.
There are some people who can't get past that.
The world's oldest hatred.
Anti-Semitism.
It's alive in our time. And it's not hiding.
It's right there in Gaza.
Gaza is the new Nuremberg.
The epicenter of Jew-hatred.
The birthplace of a million young haters.
And they all want the same thing.
Kill the Jews.
That's all they know.
All they ever will know.
In every generation that came before us,
They would beat up the Jews.
Harass the Jews.
Chase the Jews.
Kill the Jews.
Always the Jews.
And usually, they got away with it.


But not this time.
No more.
This time, we will stand with Israel.
We will stand for the truth.
We will stand for freedom.
We will stand for life.
And so I want to say something.
Something for those kids in the bomb shelters.
The kids who can't keep their sheets dry at night, they're so scared.
The kids who are just like my own kids.
They just want to play with their friends.
See them at school.
They don't want to hide in holes in the ground.
We are with you.
We will always be with you.
You have many, many friends here in America.
And this is a message for Israel's leaders.
We will not forget you, nor forsake you.
We are brothers.
The nation of Israel lives... forever.

Rumors of War III

Itamar Marcus of Palwatch.org on Glenn Beck

Netanyahu: Glenn Beck 'Fearless In Defending Israel Against Slanders'

At ZOA dinner, Glenn Beck dishes out the pro-Israel meat

NEW YORK (JTA) – The Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner is a place where conventional thinking about the liberal proclivities of American Jews goes to die. But never quite like Sunday night -- when Tea Party darling and Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachman served as the opening act and Glenn Beck was swarmed like a rock star.

Beck, who was on hand to receive the ZOA’s Defender of Israel Award, made his way into the VIP reception at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan shortly after 5 p.m. and almost instantly was beset by a crush of admirers. He found himself wedged into a corner as a crowd of well-wishers surged forward to have their photographs taken with him. Bachmann and her fellow Republican congresswoman, Florida’s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, were there, too -- but it was clear who the star was.

“Love, love, love, love, love,” Ros-Lehtinen said, extending her hand to Beck, who responded by clasping hers in both of his. All around her, an expanding mass of people pressed in closer, seemingly eager to express the same sentiment.

“I need everyone to back up please,” a photographer practically yelled as he tried to create a cordon around the VIPs to set up his shot. But despite help from Beck’s two bodyguards, an assistant, and assorted publicists and ZOA personnel, the crowd kept pushing ahead.

Crowd control proved to be a recurring problem at the dinner. After the appetizer was served, seemingly half the room converged on Beck and his wife, Tania, tying up the traffic flow in the center of the ballroom and rendering the area impassable. A succession of ZOA officials implored the crowd to sit down so servers could get dinner on the table, but with little effect.

Grabbing the microphone, ZOA President Morton Klein, raised his voice -- the first of several times he would do that over the course of the evening -- and commanded those standing around to “sit down -- NOW!”

Even for a crowd that’s been known to get weak in the knees for foreign policy hawks -- including Rep. Shelly Berkley (D-Nev.,), one-time Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer and leading Bush administration neocon John Bolton -- the euphoria surrounding Beck’s appearance stood out. And even for a ZOA dinner, the night was unusually partisan: Of the five members of Congress in attendance, all were Republicans.  Anthony Weiner had been a regular attendee in past years, as were fellow New York Democrats Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel. And though Klein announced that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would attend, New York’s senior senator was nowhere in evidence.

Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Democratic officeholders didn’t seem to be missed. The polls could be right that nearly 80 percent of American Jews voted for Barack Obama and more than half believe Israel should dismantle at least some settlements as part of a final agreement with the Palestinians. But not in this room.

Bachmann’s cry of “not one inch” brought guests to their feet and prompted screams of “Bachmann for president.” In his remarks, Klein assailed the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee – “Yes, I name names” -- for their opposition to a bill on foreign funding of nongovernmental organizations. The measure has been decried by liberals, centrists and even some conservatives, in Israel and abroad, as a grave threat to Israeli democracy.

And Ros-Lehtinen, in a freewheeling and often sarcastic speech, singled out two women in the audience from the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, sardonically identifying them as the obstacles to peace.

“They look harmless,” Ros-Lehtinen said, “but you never know.”

Bachmann began her talk, which sounded much like a campaign stump speech tailored to Jewish ears -- well, certain Jewish ears -- by invoking the line in Genesis promising that those who bless Israel will be blessed. It’s precisely that sort of religiously inflected politicking that gives many American Jews the willies. But the ZOA crowd is not one to get much exercised about the confluence of God and politics. A clear majority of men in the room wore yarmulkes and speakers repeatedly invoked God’s promise of Israel to the Jews.

After a taped message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went off with only a minor technical glitch, the emcee quipped, “I think that proves that God is on our side because the video actually worked.”

As for Beck, he is arguably the most polarizing media figure in Jewish life. Hundreds of liberal rabbis signed a letter in January asking that he be sanctioned for “completely unacceptable” use of the Holocaust and Nazi imagery. He has urged his listeners to quit their church or synagogue if “social justice” is part of its mission. And in a two-part series that accused left-wing financier and Jewish Holocaust survivor George Soros of collaborating with the Nazis, Beck flirted with what some critics saw as anti-Semitic conspiracies of Jewish control of media and finance.

Occasionally Beck has apologized -- as he did after he compared Reform rabbis to Islamists -- and then gone on to offend again.

It was in the wake of the Soros spat, when several Jewish groups lined up to express their outrage, that the ZOA bucked the trend. In a news release, Klein said that Beck’s comments were “essentially accurate” and that Soros “merits no defense or sympathy from Jewish leaders.”

“Glenn Beck got in touch with me, thanked me for writing this because no one else in the organized Jewish world was defending him, and he asked if we could get together,” Klein told JTA. “We got together, I asked him if he’d be our honoree, he began to almost cry. Tears welled up in his eyes.”

Asked about the discomfort some feel with Beck’s repeated use of Holocaust analogies, Klein, a child of survivors who was born in a German displaced persons camp, claimed ignorance, saying he didn’t watch Beck’s show often enough to have an opinion.

“I just don’t know,” he said.

That Beck, an unabashed crier, became misty at Klein’s offer is eminently believable. Beck appeared to choke back tears at least four times during his hourlong speech -- and that was during his less emotional moments.

When he wasn’t battling the urge to cry, he was issuing a battle cry. With arms flailing wildly and face turning the color of the red caviar served in the VIP room, Beck portrayed the challenges facing Israel and the Jewish people in apocalyptic terms -- as the ultimate showdown between good and evil. Beck was the only speaker at the dinner whose voice reached a pitch more feverish than Klein’s.

Beck said he came to the ZOA as a brother. “It’s personal,” he said repeatedly.

And clearly he has not been chastened by the urgings of some Jewish groups to tread lightly with the Holocaust analogies. Again and again he invoked them, saying the world stood on a precipice like the one it faced in 1939 -- only this time it’s worse, as not only is the world ignoring rising evil, he said, it is actively helping it along.

“America is not a collective,” Beck thundered. “America is built on the individual. I am a man and I demand to be counted so others are not numbered again.”

The crowd went wild.

ZOA Recognizes Distinguished Americans For Their Contributions To Israeli Security

 “The Pentagon should prepare a war plan, as a last resort, should all else fail in preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons,” stated U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to a packed audience at the Zionist Organization of America’s Louis Brandeis Dinner held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City Sunday night.

Media superstar and best-selling author Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker and received the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award. Beck warned of the serious dangers facing Israel and the West telling the crowd of almost 800 attendees, “Things could get worse.” Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, who are among America’s most generous Jewish philanthropists, presented the award.

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida (R-FL), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, received the Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz Award. She gave a rousing speech strongly criticizing the Palestinian Authority for promoting hatred and violence against Israel in their media, schools, and speeches and stated “they should not be receiving any U.S. funds until they change.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the crowd by video, praising the ZOA as a remarkable and important pro-Israel organization that never stops telling the truth. He also strongly praised Glenn Beck and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as long-time and strong friends of Israel. He had special kind words for the Adelsons, saying that naming an award after them signals the importance of that award.

Father and son real estate entrepreneurs William and Mark Langfan received the Louis D. Brandeis Award.

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, rallied the crowd with a speech demanding, “the U.S. government, the Israeli government and Europe must begin to express their outrage at the PA forming an alliance with Hamas; never showing Israel on their maps; naming schools, streets, and sports teams after Jew-killing terrorists and openly stating that no Jew will be allowed in a future Palestinian state.”

U.S. Representatives Robert Turner (R-NY); Joe Walsh (R-IL); Dan Burton (RR-IN); and Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) also were in attendance, as well as terrorism expert Steve Emerson and Richard Stone, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

John Hagee speech at Glenn Beck event in Israel

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin at Glenn Beck event in Israel

Thousands at Inspirational Beck Rally Glenn Beck holds "Restoring Courage" rally next to Kotel Plaza, says this is where human rights were born.

American broadcaster Glenn Beck held an inspirational rally to pep up the Jewish people at the DavidsonCenter near the Kotel Plaza Wednesday. The rally was attended by thousands and viewed by many more worldwide on Beck's web-based television station.
"Everything we know about human rights and real civilization came from this place, this land," he said. "Whether you live by 613 commandments, 10 commandments, or one sweet Golden Rule, it all started here. It all started here – the throne of G-d."
"When the world turns its back on Israel and the Jewish people, the world turns its back on human rights. Without the Jewish people, humanity would never know that every single individual life has dignity, that every single life is sacred. That G-d names every star and knows every soul. That was G-d's message to Abraham. That was G-d's message to Moses. That is the message of the Jewish people to the world and by their very existence they teach it to us, every single day." 
Beck called on the viewers not to wait for others to solve the problems that occupy them. "Who will protect your rights better?" he asked with passion. "A king? A president or you? Who will protect the truth? A reporter? A producer? Or you?" 

The Journey to Restoring Courage

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin speaks at opening session of Beck's ‘Restoring Courage’ in Israel

As the sun eased it’s way into the Mediterranean horizon Sunday evening, Glenn Beck greeted an enthusiastic crowd of over 3,000 at the Caesarea Amphiteater: “Welcome to the land of milk and honey!”
Beck’s week of “Restoring Courage” events began with a religiously themed evening entitled “The Courage to Love.”
Early in the program Beck was joined on the stage by historian David Barton who told the crowd they were “sitting in the middle of history.”
Grammy-nominated vocalist Vernessa Mitchell was accompanied by an ensemble of Israeli singers and musicians.
In the first half of the program the audience heard passionate remarks by author Mike Evans and Florida pastor Tom Mullins.
Mullins challenged the capacity crowd:

“It’s time for the people of faith to stand with a courage that flows from God’s deep love and defend Israel!
We are gathered in the very spot, where, centuries ago, the faith of the Apostle Paul was put on trial.  Paul resolutely refused to compromise the truth of his faith. He stood with great courage and embraced his destiny; and his life had profound, eternal impact on the world.”

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin defined “courage” in contrast with its “fraternal twin” strength:

“Strength  is physical prowess: Courage is spiritual sensitivity.
Strength is rooted in selfish self aggrandizement, hell-bent on taking over and dominating “other” on destroying one’s enemy.
Courage is rooted in self sacrifice, Heaven-sent to give to and share with “other” to turn one‘s hated enemy into one’s beloved friend. 

Strength revels in power.
Courage reaches out in love.”
Indeed, Courage begets and demands love; the very Hebrew word for love Ahava, derives from the root verb HAV which means to give.

Pastor John Hagee spoke just before Beck’s concluding remarks:

“We have come tonight to say to the people of Israel, you are still the apple of God’s eye, you are still the chosen people, you are still the covenant people, you are still cherished the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Beck began his final talk by asking the audience to “Honor these people who have honored God for so long.”
While noting that many in the crowd had come at “great expense,“ he praised those who had come at ”great risk” to their personal safety.
Mindful that some had predicted the events of “Restoring Courage” would bring “chaos and mayhem,” Beck joked, “It’s the Middle East — how would they know!”
To make it clear that his intention that the week’s events be non-political, Beck declared, “The God of Abraham ain’t running for office.”
“Are you standing where God asks you to stand?“ Beck advised everyone present to be prepared to ”make a declaration“ in a week where he said he expected to see ”miracles.”

Glenn Beck's Caesarea Address

It all seemed carefully scripted, even down to the screens with lyrics of the Hebrew songs transcribed in English. The determination to stand by Israel and the devotion to the Jewish State was palpable, and oft declared.

Like Woodstock and Glastonbury, the headline name came last, and unlike Riskin et al, Pastor John Hagee got a standing ovation the moment he strode onto the stage. The most vehement of the speakers, he drew an analogy with JFK and his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, when he announced "Ani Yisraeli" (I am an Israeli ). He then coaxed the crowd into repeating his mantra: "I am an Israeli!" they chanted over and over.

And the evening closed with words of wisdom from the host: "We bring truth, we bring peace, we bring support, we bring comfort," Beck said of his reason for bringing his roadshow to Israel as he closed off the evening. "Let the Jewish people know, no matter what our governments may say, we are not our governments, we stand with you."

But ultimately, this was just a warm-up for Wednesday night, when around 2,000 people will join Glenn in a sold-out event at the Davidson Center in Jerusalem.

Wednesday night's event will "issue a challenge to all citizens of the world to stand with and declare their support for Israel," the handout distributed at the beginning of the evening stated.

Yisrael Medad, who was there, adds:

I would approximate that there were about 300 kippah-wearing Jews there or more. I was with Sondra Baras ofCFOIC and her husband, Shosh Shiloh of Kedumim, David Bedin and his wife from Efrat, Stuart Palmer and his wife from Haifa's ICAN & CoHaV, David HaIvri and his wife of theSamaria Liason Office, Helen Frieedman of AFSI, Martin Sherman and many other including Zalmi from the UK and Toby Willig.

There was controversy when some Rabbis had demandedthat residents from the yishuivim abstain from the event. One of the Rabbis who blessed the event, Aryeh A. Leifert, it seems, was Facebook threatened. Beck has had trouble from American Rabbis before.

But there was nothing to be uncomforatble about and afterwards, I made a point of walking around and asking.

This has the potential of marking the real beginning of the turnabout of Israel's political and diplomatic isolation on matters of morality in world affairs.

Barry Rubin - who was not there - adds:

The call for support of Israel comes at a critical moment. In addition to the terrorist attack on the Egypt-Israel border and a foiled kidnapping attempt in Bersheva, more than 100 rockets struck Israel over the weekend. Three longer-range Grad missiles were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome system which passed its first series test in combat conditions.

At an emergency meeting of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, committee, Shaul Mofaz, a retired general and the number-two leader of the center-left Kadima Party, called for Israel to hit Hamas hard in order to “topple their infrastructures and create a system of ties with Egypt in order to prevent terrorism coming from its border.”

The international crisis is overshadowing the social protest movement in Israel, another reminder that national defense spending inevitably trumps housing and other needs, a matter of guns over kosher butter. The build-up of forces and installations on Israel’s southern front is going to be costly.

Under ordinary conditions, Israel would be gearing up for at least a heavy round of airstrikes against Hamas military installations, rocket factories, and the like. But there’s a new factor in the equation and Hamas knows it.

Within Egypt the old anti-Israel hysteria is building again. An Egyptian who took down the flag from Israel’s embassy—located in an ordinary apartment building—has become a national hero. Speaking live on al-Jazira television, he said, “Millions of Arabs want to pull that flag….This is a message to Israel that we can send millions of martyrs for the good of our country,” he said. A mob burned the flag, chanting, “The path to Jerusalem leads through Cairo.”

One “liberal” activist remarked, “After the revolution people don’t believe there should be concessions to an apartheid regime and what he did was take action in reshaping the official stance.”

...

The problem is that despite so many examples in the past—from the Iranian revolution’s hostage-taking to suicide bombers and September 11—many in the West still don’t believe that Middle East revolutionaries—Islamist, leftist, and radical nationalist—believe it when they say this kind of thing. They are not merely interested in material gain, higher living standards, and democracy. And the brave minority that doesn’t go along with this world view gets trampled.

Indeed.

By the way, note what name was not even mentioned by Beck.

Jon Voight tells it like it is

Actor Jon Voight, who is here for the Glenn Beck rallies, had a blunt and correct assessment of the 'Palestinians,' which he shared at a Jerusalem Holocaust event on Monday night.

"How have we come to a time when blowing up babies and cutting their throats are acceptable means to a political goal?" Voight asked. "I feel complete contempt for anyone not intelligent enough to see that the media propaganda portraying the Palestinians as victims endangers the state of Israel. We are facing a new Holocaust, and people of all faiths must demand that truth be heard. The Palestinian radicals have only one prayer on their lips: To remove every Jew from Israel."

Voight, the father of actress Angelina Jolie, received a standing ovation for saying that "We will not bend to terrorism in any way, shape, or form for the sake of peace."

The event, which was carried on Beck's new television network, featured a film about Holocaust survivor Rudy Wolf's visit to his childhood home in Germany. Speakers at the event noted the significance of holding a Holocaust-themed evening at the former Jerusalem train station after world armies did not bomb the tracks to Auschwitz in World War II.

"If you stare evil in the eye, it's a coward," Beck told the crowd of American Christians who came to Israel for the series of events he organized. "If you confront your biggest fear, it goes away. It's not enough to remember the Holocaust, because it has happened time and time again. This will be the generation that stops it in its tracks and says 'never again, we mean it.'"

Indeed. We can only hope and pray that this generation is the one that stops all future Holocausts in their tracks.

Debate on Beck Rages – ‘A Unique Gentile Who Loves Israel’

Glenn Beck is a “unique Gentile” who loves Israel and Jews, a leading nationalist says in response to charges that his supporters are missionaries.
“This hysterical rant is embarrassing and potentially damaging to Israel. True friends for Israel is not common in our history or in current times,” said David Ha’Ivri, head of the Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Office after former Jerusalem councilwoman Mina Fenton’s criticism of Beck appeared in Arutz Sheva.
Beck is holding a massive “Restoring Courage” rally at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Davidson Visitors Center, adjacent to the Western Wall. An overflow rally will be held simultaneously at Safra Square, home to Jerusalem’s city hall and several hundred feet from the popular Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem.
Fenton charged, “Holding a Christian event near the southern wall will help in strengthening the Christian ‘Returning to Zion’ project that any Christian organization that respects itself initiates. They actually say that this area belongs to them.”
Ha’Ivri, who said he will attend the rally, was incensed at Fenton's remarks.
“This hysterical rant is embarrassing and potentially damaging to Israel,” he said. “True friends for Israel are not common in our history or in current times. Glenn Beck is one of those unique gentiles who appreciates the Jewish people and our national, historical and theological goals.
“His agenda is out in the open and very clear: he wishes us well as the Jewish people preserving our Torah culture on our Holyland.
“To assault Beck for his unconditional love for Israel would be comical if it weren't so sad.”
Ha’Ivri told Arutz Sheva Tuesday that Beck is not a missionary. “I also have no problems with Christian contributions to Israel so long as there are no strings attached,” Ha’Ivri continued.
The American-born spokesman said any person, whether in religion, business or society in general, may have hidden motives but cannot be judged without evidence.
“I think we, as Jews, have to be a little wise and not make the connection” between being Christian and being a missionary. These people believe whatever they believe. The fact that they are Christians does not mean they are missionaries.”
Ha’Ivri added that righteous Gentiles saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Ha'Ivri admitted that many of them acted to convert Jews, but he pointed out that many did not. They, nor Christians who love Israel, cannot be judged as a group, he concluded.
Former MK Benny Elon (National Union), who created the Israel-Christian caucus in the Knesset to deepen and coordinate the support for Israel evidenced by Christian Evangelists, previously has criticzed Fenton's stand against Chrsitian Zionists.
In an interview with Arutz Sheva two years ago, when Fenton came out against him personally, he said that Israel needs all the friends it can get and since the evangelists are a large voting body in the United States, it is a blessing that they support Judea and Samaria as part of Israel. Having Christian friends doesn't mean accepting their religion, he remarked. When told that the evangelists are supporting Israel so that they can convert the Jews during the "Second Coming" of Jesus, he said with a smile, " We will deal with that when it happens."

Beck Tells Israelis: ‘Square your Shoulders!’

(Israelnationalnews.com) American Christian Zionist media host Glenn Beck continued his visit to Israel Wednesday with a tour of the Etzion Bloc – a part of Israel that was occupied by Jordan between 1949 and 1967.

 

He was guided by MK Tzipi Hotovely, local authority head Shaul Goldstein and Yesha Council head Danny Dayan. 

 

Beck visited “the lone oak tree,” a symbol of the Etzion Bloc’s history of courage, and also toured one of the stores owned by retailer Rami Levy. The theme that Dayan, Goldstein and Levy tried to convey to Beck was that of peaceful coexistence with the Arabs.

 

Beck, on the other hand, seemed like he was trying to give demoralized Israelis a pep talk. As he toured a Rami Levy supermarket he tried to impart the message to an Israeli shopper: “You're either a good state or a bad state. What are you doing here? Stand up. Square your shoulders. We have a right to exist, we have a right to be here. And we're good...”

Glenn Beck announces Israel rally

Glenn Beck and the 'Jewish Problem'

At a special reception held Monday night for broadcaster Glenn Beck in the Ma'ale Zeitim  home of philanthropists Irving and Cherna Moskowitz , staunch supporters -and enablers- of the rights of Jews to live anywhere in Israel, this Arutz Sheva writer observed the charismatic Beck give each of the scores of carefully chosen guests who spoke to him the feeling that he was riveted on what that person had to say to him. 

A significant number of figures in the activist pro-Israel and pro-Judea and Samaria world were there, including, the head of the Yesha Authority, Danny Dayan, several Gush Katif spokespeople, the heads of Young Israel USA, and the terror victim association Almagor. Also on the scene were the three Israel Day activists who first broached the idea of an Israel visit to Beck, Drs. Brodie and Frager and Odelya Jacobs.

The schedule for this short and unexpected visit includes traveling to Sderot, broadcasting his syndicated radio show from Israel, ascending the Temple Mount, appearing in the Knesset, visiting Yad VaShem and meeting with various Israeli figures.

Beck is a controversial figure because of his outspoken opinions on every subject that interests him, expressed on his just-ended Fox News slot, to be continued on his private media outlets .

There is no question that he goes out on a limb defending Israel and criticizing Obama and George Soros, making him stand out in this period of Israel bashing and virulent anti-Semitism and consequently making the Israeli left uneasy.

There is also no question that he is a devout Mormon, that this is the basis for his worldview and that he sees the world through the parameters of his faith, making some Orthodox rightists uncomfortable.

Consequently, Glenn Beck's visit to Israel sparked the traditional Jewish debate on every subject,  typified in the famous anecdote on The Elephant and the Jewish Problem--that is, whether "he is good for the Jews or bad for the Jews."

The anti-missionary Jewish Israel blog wrote:

"Glenn Beck is a master at portraying the Jews as a victims, and Israelis as being in deep, dark straits. Upon announcing the upcoming 'Restoring Courage' event, he declared on the Fox News "O'Reilly Factor" that, 'The Jews are in real trouble.' Beck regularly implies that a second Holocaust is in the making. Beck's concerns about the modern state of Israel appear to be sincere and heartfelt, but his presentation is problematic and inaccurate.

"Jews both in Israel and the Diaspora need to ask themselves and Mr. Beck if this approach, or  "scare tactic," is the best way to "restore courage" among supporters of Israel?  Wouldn't it be more truthful to present Israel as secure and thriving nation which is fully aware of the challenges she faces?"

The anti-missionary site suggested that he change his style, saying, "...Those who are close to Mr. Beck respectfully convey to him that many Torah observant as well as secular Zionists are naturally uncomfortable with the Christian theological direction and focus of some of his oratory.  Perhaps a more universal, and inclusive approach to his stand with Israel -  with an emphasis on morality rather than religious faith -  would be more appropriate and could heal, rather than exacerbate, political rifts and divisiveness."

MKs and guests in the packed Knesset's Monday meeting with Beck chaired by MKs Danny Danon (who ascended the Temple Mount with Beck) and Nissim Ze'ev (who came despite his son's marriage Monday night) had no such qualms, breaking into warm applause, talking to him as an old, trusted friend to whom they can explain their take on Israel's problems. 

A hareidi-religious Israeli partner in a hi-tech firm hired a crane to post a gigantic banner thanking him down the street from the Knesset. The Hebrew words said, "The left is correct in being afraid [of his influence, ed.]" Present at the meeting, he explained that he had to show his gratitude because whenever he is asked abroad by clients to explain Israel's actions, he tells them to watch Glenn Beck and they turn pro-Israel.

MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) said that he wished that Israel's mainstream media would sound like Beck.  MK Yulia Shamalov (Kadima) said that he gives Israelis hope.

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), seated next to Baruch Merzel of Hevron, told Beck that to understand the miracle of Israel, one has only to read Mark Twain's 19th century description of the barren country he visited and then thank G-d for his being stuck in the nation's endless traffic jams.

MK Dr. Aryeh Eldad (National Union) explained that the real problem is the 300-year-old occupation of Israel by the Arabs, not the other way around, while Jordan is the real Palestine. A physician, he recalled the Arab woman whose life he saved at Siroka Hospital, who was caught with a bomb on her body when she came for a follow up visit.

MK Einat Wilf (Independence) said that the entire Zionist idea is being negated by the world today. Marina Solodkin (Kadima) reminded Beck of Jonathan Pollard's continued captivity, as did leaders of Zionist organizations that were present.

A MyIsrael Organization representative talked about college students' work to present the varied face of Israel to the world.

MK Hotovely (Likud) quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu's remark that the truth can only win out if it is said loudly and often, and that Beck's being religious makes him uniquely able to realize that the conflict is not territorial, but religious.

Glenn Beck at Knesset: Biblical Esther and Ruth Guided Me

American news personality Glenn Beck told the Knesset Aliyah and Absorption Committee Monday that the Biblical Esther and Ruth have guided him as he stands up for Israel.

“Esther knew she had no choice but to come out and speak,” he said, referring to Queen Esther’s risking her life to save the Persian Jewish community. "I knew I had no choice but to speak the truth. I came here in 2002, looked for the truth, and when I got home, I received my first death threat."

Speaking of Ruth, a non-Jew who followed her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi from Moab to Israel and then converted, Beck said, “Your people are my people and I will go where you will go. Your G-d is my G-d. I invite the People of Israel to stand with your G-d."

”We have to believe in common decency, link arms, and G-d will do the rest.”

Beck spoke at the committee hearing at the invitation of committee chairman Danny Danon (Likud) and Shas Knesset Member Nissim Ze’ev. The panel wanted to hear Beck’s views on fighting the worldwide campaign trying to make Israel seem illegitimate.

“The world has changed. People now have power,” Beck told the committee. He explained that the Internet has allowed people to be more accessible to the truth, which he said has been censored by mainstream media.

“The world is being changed by a few guys in the basement writing on the Internet. The truth will set you free. Forget the [mainstream] media,” Beck added.

“Rulers want to control, and that is where there is trouble,” Beck told the committee and guests. “I am truly humbled and disturbed by what people say to me on the street… People sincerely thank me for saying the truth. What is disturbing is that if a guy just gets on television or radio and says that [and gets thanked for telling the truth], Israel and Western life is danger.”

Before delivering his message, Beck thanked Dr. Joseph Prager, Dr. Paul Brody and Odeleya Jacobs, three Zionist figures in the United States, for their support.

He said that the demands of the Palestinian Authority are another excuse for the world to continue a centuries-old campaign of anti-Semitism, which he said is “going through the roof. The United States has an economic problem and the Jews will be blamed.”

The Arab-Israeli conflict is “about the end of West and the destruction of Israel,” according to Beck.

He asked Israelis to join him in Jerusalem on August 24 when he is scheduled to hold a “Restoring Courage” rally, similar to the Restoring Honor rally in Washington last year. The rally next month will be views worldwide on at least 700 remote viewing stations.

Glenn Beck's Stand with Courage tee shirts