Yoel Meltzer
Yesterday I joined a large crowd at Safra Square, Jerusalem's civic center, for the public viewing of Glen Beck's live broadcast in the nearby Old City of Jerusalem.
Although I know very little about either the personal or professional background of Glenn Beck, his recent involvement with Israel has brought him into my orbit. For the last few months I've heard the various accusations and warnings from all corners of the Jewish world -- for some he's a right-wing extremist and fascist while for others his strong Mormon beliefs arouse suspicion.
With these thoughts on my mind I decided, following Dudu Fisher's stirring rendition of Israel's national anthem "Hatikvah," to just sit back and hear the man talk. As it turns out, I wasn't disappointed. For starters, the claims that the man is an extremist or fascist regarding his views on Israel are absolute nonsense. It was obvious to anyone who was there yesterday that the man was just speaking the clear, direct and honest truth. Having said that, in a world that has been heavily influenced by a biased and skewed projection of Israel in large sections of both the mainstream western media and the academic world, and where hypocrisy rules the day as Israel is routinely singled out and condemned by the international community, it should come as no surprise that Beck's words concerning Israel are difficult for certain people to digest.
Regarding the second apprehension, although I don't claim in any way to be a psychologist it seemed clear to me that his concern for Israel and the Jewish people is genuine and not part of some ulterior religious mission.
As the secular Israeli teenagers sitting behind me repeatedly shouted "ha-ish gadol!" ("the man is great!"), I kept thinking to myself "why don't we have any Jewish leaders that speak this way?"
With these thoughts still fresh in my mind, I was forwarded this morning an article called The awful, necessary truth about Palestinian terror from the blog of Larry Derfner, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post. Already known as a far left-wing columnist, in this article Derfner simply went over the edge.
Never mind his preoccupation with the so-called Israeli "occupation". This is nothing new, even if I don't agree with him or anyone else on this issue. In fact, I actually welcome opposing views and I'm always happy to discuss the issues. Derfner, however, does the unthinkable, taking his beliefs to another level in order to justify the Arab murder of Israelis. He writes:
"Whoever the Palestinians were who killed the eight Israelis near Eilat last week, however vile their ideology was, they were justified to attack. They had the same right to fight for their freedom as any other unfree nation in history ever had."
Such statements, even from a hard-core Israeli leftist, are quite shocking. In comparison Yossi Sarid, the former leader of the far-left political party Meretz and harsh critic of Israeli presence in Yesha, never advocated Arab violence against Jews and only supported active civil revolt against what he considered the illegal Israeli occupation. Or even former prime minister and current defense minister Ehud Barak, who made the supremely foolish and irresponsible statement during a 1998 interview -- "If I were a Palestinian at the right age, I would have joined one of the terrorist organizations at a certain stage" -- never actually condoned the Arab murder of Israelis.
Thus Derfner's comments are both shocking and disturbing. But in a world turned upside down it shouldn't come as a surprise when Glenn Beck, the non-Jew, is criticized by some Jews for being too pro-Israel while Larry Derfner, the Jew, writes for a mainstream Jewish newspaper despite the fact that he condones the Arab murder of Jews.
Yoel Meltzer is a freelance writer living in Jerusalem. His personal blog is yoelmeltzer.com
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saintmeat Yesterday 03:23 PM
"Whoever the Palestinians were who killed the eight Israelis near Eilat last week, however vile their ideology was, they were justified to attack. They had the same right to fight for their freedom as any other unfree nation in history ever had."The Libyans, on the other hand, apparently have every right to kill their opponents.Why not the Palestinians?
chuckh [Moderator] Yesterday 03:28 PM
I would like to read more on Beck in Israel. I must say that I watched him nightly on Fox and he was pretty spot on with his analysis of current events. I know that Beck is a deeply religious man of faith. His detractors would call him a fanatic. I call him a good man. If anyone can make it clear to Americans what is going on in the Middle East it will be Glenn Beck.
C2020 Yesterday 03:59 PM
I miss Glenn Beck's tv show, he found out the truth about so many things it's hard to recount them all. He is a good man who sees the evil in the world and is doing his best to fight it through education and discussion. Listen to what he says and do what he recommends, don't ignore the evil growing all around us.
PattyMor Yesterday 04:08 PM
Way to go Glenn Beck! I would have joined you, but I was just in Israel in March. But, I am there in spirit. By the way, Israel can't be an occupier of their own ancestral land. The Arabs are the occupiers and they have about 57 countries which they can emigrate to and live under various enimations of Sharia law.
Dean M. Yesterday 04:16 PM
I've just about given up trying to understand Jewish attitudes as expressed by Larry Derfner. The best I can do is attribute it to blind faith in Liberal ideology as a substitute religion. But such blind Liberalism is really prevalent. I stopped going to a Reform then a so-called Conservative synagogue because of the liberal politics. I couldn't believe all the Obama stickers in the syngogue parking lots. I truly wish I understood it better. Reading Norman Podhoretz's book, WHY JEWS ARE LIBERAL, really didn't help. It just rehearsed what I already knew. I guess I'm Orthodox in theory, though not in practice. (Then there's Bloomberg trying to eliminate prayer and religious expression from the coming 9/11 10th anniversary. Doesn't he see what a shameful ass he is being??? My goodness!!!) My thanks to Glen Beck. That was a brave thing to do.
Robert Haymond Yesterday 04:18 PM
Strangely enough (to me), Larry Derfner writes for JPost, the same news outlet which hosts the great Carolyn Glick. I make it a practice of skipping over Derfner's works, however, he is so continuously mediocre.
dougbeischel Yesterday 04:30 PM
The Jews could trade present day Israel for any of the goat pasture countries currently occupied by Muslims and within a generation it would be the envy of the Moslem world. Without big oil and emmigraion to other nations expousing the Judeo-Christian work ethic, the majority of the world's Muslims would still be living in nomadic tents, burning camel dung to warm their teapots.
amerigal1 Yesterday 04:33 PM
I used to watch Glenn Beck (we gave up TV) and he made me laugh heartily when he did his "academic elitist prof with a pipe" tongue-in-cheek routine. I think it's great that he, as an American patriot and supporter of Israel, is bringing the spotlight with him! There are more Americans who support Israel than what the Marxist media tries to spin. What I particularly appreciated about Beck was that he never talked down to his audience. He used charts and good teaching aids to help get his point across. Doing that clarified some very detailed and numerous government shenanigans and devious, behind the scenes characters. This is Beck in Israel, using his own brand of "turn about is fair play" to negate obama and obama's nefarious, anti-Israel, Alinsky cattle prod. Good for Israel and Good for Beck!
RODVAL Yesterday 05:20 PM
Thank you Yoel Meltzer for some insight I didn't know.
As an early Beck follower and a Catholic I have to tell you that the American Jews have mystified me. When Obama first appeared I had great fear for Israel and the American Jew. It was so easy to see where he was headed. The Jews who supported him were the usual suspects.
One evening I saw a group of elderly Jews in Florida with tattoos on their arms supporting him and their local Jewish representative (who claims his residence in Florida as his parents home in order to run in that district.) They were so disconnected from reality that the hair on my body literally stood up. It terrified me. I turned to my wife and asked, "Do they think they are exempt? Didn't Hitler actually have people examine the males examined to see if they were circumcised?"
God bless you and God bless Israel. And may God awaken the Jews to fight now before it is too late. And may God awaken American from it's stupor to fight now.
riverdan Yesterday 05:27 PM
C2020, I was also missing Beck on Fox and became a member of his new GBTV. Initially it was to be able to see the Israel events. Now I am enjoying watching the radio show and his videos more than television. Love him or hate him...Beck is never boring.Also, thanks to Yoel for reporting on the reaction in Safra Square. I understand there were 8,000 people there in addition to the 1,700 in the Davidson Center audience (near the Western Wall).
kiltmaker Yesterday 05:28 PM
He is a person that truly puts his money where is mouth is. He financed, organized, the whole event. That is a lot to ask any one person to do. I know that he is a business man and will make money on his enterprises, but he is a man of his word, I believe.
It is ironic that an American Mormon is speaking out louder about saving, protecting Israel than just about anyone else. But I guess the Mormons understand bigotry and hatred better than most.
I still cannot understand the visceral hatred for the Jews and the Jewish nation. Is there any analogically similar situation? I know they are different, chosen to stand apart, to be holy. I know there has been continual war from the foundation with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the conflict with the descendants of Ismael. I have my own theories. The roots of the present conflict and hatred go back to that Biblical, historical time, but it is still so extreme as to be difficult to understand.
Peace would be nice, but until then, I support Israel.
Indioviejo Yesterday 07:34 PM
Glenn Beck is doing a great thing by standing with Israel when even leftist Jews aren't. I miss his tv show and I barely watch FNC any more.
Hitchhiker Yesterday 10:02 PM
In some countries, the people are truly oppressed and yearn for freedom. They should be pitied and supported. The Palestinians have as much freedom as they want and deserve. They use their freedom to launch rocket attacks against a neighbor and explode bombs to kill their neighbor. They are oppressed only when they do such things and the level of proportionality exercised by Israel is heroic due in large part to such idiots as Mr. Derfner. I suppose Mr. Derfner would support the freedom fighting activity of a Native American who launches rocket attacks against an American City from the safety of the reservation to protest the loss of land he rightly believes is his due to some weird guideline that his great great grandfather once lived there and killed and cooked a buffalo upon that very spot. I see some liberals in the back clapping with glee at the prospect.
Btw, some research into Mormonism would tend to make one believe that naturally firmer supporters of Israel could never be found. Most feel closer to Judaism than probably any other religion. New Jews if you will. The level of persecution is almost the same.
Mean Gene Yesterday 10:16 PM
Glenn Beck is doing the world a great service. On the contrary this Derfner is no different then the Jewish kapos who used to guard the death camps for the Nazis.
GodsDotr Yesterday 10:44 PM
I,too, am Mormon and understand where Mr. Beck is coming from. We honor the teachings of the Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon helps us have a deeper and more profound understanding of the Holy Bible. We are commanded to stand behind God's chosen people and will be accountable if we don't. It's amazing that their own don't even stand behind them. God bless you, Glenn, for opening minds and hearts all over the world. May you be safe wherever you go! Do not forget to take off your shoes and shake them if you come to a place that will not welcome you.
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