Consolation of the Isolated Broadcaster Glenn Beck recently predicted Israel would be destroyed this summer, but that

didn't prevent dozens of MKs from meeting him at the Knesset. After all, there were cameras
Nadav Eyal, Maariv, July 13 2011 [Hebrew online original here] Glenn Beck is one of the most controversial figures in American politics. His program on Fox Network was recently taken off the air, possibly because even the conservative network felt it was dangerously overdone. It's one thing to accuse Barack Obama of destroying America and to boil up plastic frogs to demonstrate how he treats the American people, and another thing altogether to start talking about conspiracy theories mixing socialism, Islamists and the US administration. His intensive use of Holocaust imagery has made the majority of US Jewry wary of him. Among other things, he accused Jewish billionaire George Soros, a Holocaust survivor whose family died in the death camps, that when he was a boy (during the Holocaust) he collaborated with the Nazis in confiscating the property of other Jews. It was not a single comment but an actual campaign, stemming from the fact that Soros supports liberal causes; Beck was condemned from wall-to-wall in the American Jewish community. Beck's critics and they are numerous, not only in the liberal left but also on the right call him a demagogue who uses dangerous rhetoric to illustrate his arguments. But a stranger who happened upon the Knesset's immigration and absorption committee the other day could have thought it was being visited by a righteous gentile of the rarest and most sacred order. That committee meeting, chaired by Danny Danon, has never been attended by more members of Knesset, who in ordinary times do not show a particularly impressive presence, but this time simply did not stop pouring in. After all, the cameras were rolling. Admiring MKs Glenn Beck himself and surprised by the intensity of the welcome, which was actually a complete worship of him. After a brief speech he made about the need "to tell the truth," our members of Knesset very happily devoted themselves to glorifying him. Some in clumsy English, others in Hebrew, they announced their admiration and appreciation of Beck. From Tzipi Hotoveli, who remembered her first meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in honor of the occasion, to Michael BenAri, who said that after he heard the guest speak, he felt that they could change places and Beck could have his seat in the Knesset. In general, the extreme right looked elated and to illustrate that, after the meeting Beck topped it off with a little schmooze with Baruch Marzel.

What Beck said, about the way the world media does not tell the Israeli side of the story properly, hits a soft spot with all of us. He specializes in building an argument and some of his arguments are fascinating. And of course, when he illustrates the delegitimization campaign of Israel, he does work that serves the Israelis. Those who deal with American politics are happy to meet him in Israel but that does not take away from his being controversial. No US congressional committee would have received him this way. In fact, no country in the world would welcome a person who voices prophecies of its destruction; less than two months ago, Beck predicted that Israel might be destroyed this summer. A proud country is not glad to have such profits. Ultimately, it was a sad sight. For our members of Knesset, it was enough for Beck to have strongly denounced the murder of the Fogel family for him to receive an intense hug, not to say collective sycophancy. We are isolated and this is the consolation of the isolated, people such as Beck. [Online version only from here on] Reading material for the more or less polite talkbackers: Glenn Beck predicts Israel's destruction: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201105260035 The Anti-Defamation League calls Beck's behavior in the Soros affair "terrible": http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/5906_52.htm Jeffrey Goldberg, one of the most influential writers in the US today, asks whether Beck has a problem with Jews and notes that out of nine people Beck defined as dangerous for America, nine are Jews: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/glenn-becksjewish-problem/69682/ Let the reader judge.