Glenn Beck kicked off his “Restoring Courage” week in Israel last night with a pep rally at the ancient ampitheatre in Caesarea. On Wednesday Beck will hold the main event, inside the Old City of Jerusalem.
Last time I was at Caesarea was for an Ehud Banai concert, my idol. And before that for an off-Broadway production of “A Chorus Line”.
All three shows sent shivers down my spine, yet for very different reasons.
Having Glenn Beck, John Hagee, thousands of pumped, middle-aged and above evangelicals, a few hundred settlers and an Israeli choir singing Holocaust hymns – all on your home turf – can frighten even the bravest of souls.
It was a fairly solemn event. There were the preachers, the Glenn Beck WaterWorks (“I cry so much!) and the Amens. But things only really started to pick up when they brought out Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, from the settlement of Efrat – who in my humble opinion is a wasted talent. This guy should be running a mega-church in the bible belt. Efrat is way too small for him.
But it was Pastor John Hagee who brought the Roman pillars down, with his fiery speech invoking the memory of JFK and making every one in the crowd scream “I am an Israeli!”. Here’s an excerpt of that unforgettable moment:
And here is an excerpt of Rabbi Riskin’s speech, with a teary-eyed Beck introducing him:
And here is Jon Voight, who came all the way to Caesarea to talk about Israelis who know the bible so well and dig things up all the time. Which is true. I’m going downstairs after I post this to do some digging myself.
And here’s Haggee’s speech in full, if he happens to be your cup of tea.
August 23, 2011
4:24 am
@ MITCHELL COHEN
If you noticed the subject of the article, it is about Glenn Beck & Charlatans, Inc., not about your family or Jews in America. It would have been better, as you said, not to post anything, since you’re digressing.
Going back to the subject at hand, Haaretz seems to be repeating what I had already posted here yesterday (they are late)…
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http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/with-friends-like-glenn-beck-1.380155
With friends like Glenn Beck…
Glenn Beck has used his media platforms to promote secular anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists and evangelical end-times prophets. What these two groups have in common is an obsession with Jews and the belief that Jews control and manipulate the lives and destiny of non-Jews.
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Taoist
August 23, 2011
10:19 am
Well, the next Midnight Cowboy will come from China, as things go. Not a bad thing probably. Voight should have died right after that to become a legend. It’s not his fault, it’s his brain, look at his eyes.
August 24, 2011
1:34 am
Just to put things into perspective, no more than 3,000 fools attended this farce, even after a massive advertising campaign.
August 24, 2011
2:22 am
Yet some more voices of reason from Jewish quarters.
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http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-jews-warn-israel-not-to-get-too-cozy-with-glenn-beck-1.380323
U.S. Jews warn Israel not to get too cozy with Glenn Beck
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, says Beck is very extreme and controversial even among right-wing groups in the United States.
“…Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, told Haaretz he believed that Beck was very extreme and controversial even among right-wing groups in the United States. Yoffie pointed to the Fox News television network, which had canceled Beck’s show and distanced itself from him…”
“…Seymour Reich, former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and a leading New York attorney, said Tuesday that he believed Beck was taking rude advantage of Israel in order to rehabilitate his television career and reputation…”
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But for the wingnuts in this venue, Beck/Hagee are just “friends of Israel.”
Wake up and smell the coffee.
Taoist
August 24, 2011
4:45 am
Ami –
1) “Anti-semitic remarks made by Hagee”? Can you point us to an example? Please do not cite the “Hitler was sent by God to punish the Jews” one – Orthodox rabbis have said a number of times that the Holocaust was punishment for this or that sin. I am not dealing with their claim in this forum, but please do not hold this against Pastor Hagee. Give us another one, please.
2) “People like him want you to burn in hell for eternity during the rapture” – A) Cite me just one example of when he has said this, B) What you wrote is a *theological statement*, which should not offend anyone (shall we start analyzing theological statements of Islam?), C) Even if he does believe it, I’d rather have someone who thinks *God* is going to nail me than someone who wants to nail me himself, like, say, Hamas, Hizbollah, the PA, et al. (It is fascinating how you can read Pastor Hagee’s mind; do you also believe the PA when they explicitly *say* (not *think*) that their goal is to return to cities in Israel proper?)
3) Holding one’s head in the sand seems to be de rigeur for +972. How else would you explain your magazine’s passionate support for surrendering more territory to the Palestinians, even as they continually show us what they do with “liberated” land, firing rockets on Israeli civilian populations? +972 has an astounding lack of self-awareness.
See you at Beck tonight?
Best……….AAL
August 24, 2011
7:39 am
Ami –
1) “Anti-semitic remarks made by Hagee”? Can you point us to an example? Please do not cite the “Hitler was sent by God to punish the Jews” one – Orthodox rabbis have said a number of times that the Holocaust was punishment for this or that sin. I am not dealing with their claim in this forum, but please do not hold this against Pastor Hagee. Give us another one, please.
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Yet the same unreasonable voices keep on popping up from loony land.
Guess our rapturous “rabbi” feels very much identified with nutty-head Beck’s depiction of the anti-Christ, who according to him will be gay and partly Jewish. And hey, that is not anti-Jewish, of course, because, well, Beck is a “friend of Israel.”
He would be foaming at the mouth if bunkers Beck would instead have supported the Palestinians, and uttering the same idiotic statements he gets rounds of applause from his nutty counterparts in Israel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8mdUScZxL8
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3) Holding one’s head in the sand seems to be de rigeur for +972
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Guess he can see that from the hole next door, but in the same way our delusional “rabbi” see these wingnuts as “friends of Israel,” he wishes he could see +972 as his neighbor in the sand, his vision already severely compromised.
Taoist
August 24, 2011
10:11 am
CORRECTION
In the post above, the video and the statements belong to John Hagee, not Glenn Beck, though they are both one and the same.
God creates them, and the devil joins them…
Taoist