Israel Matzav

Beck's not an anti-Semite, he's anti-Liberal

This has got to be a first. Moshe Feiglin and l'havdil elef alfei havdalot (that's a way of saying I'd rather not mention them in the same sentence), the despicable MJ Rosenberg, both believe that Glenn Beck is an anti-Semite. Feiglin doesn't call Beck an anti-Semite, but that's the implication of saying that Beck believes in 'replacement theology.' Here's Feiglin.

I must admit that when a friendly non-Jew starts to quote the Bible, I get a bit nervous. It is not just the long history of anti-Semitism that has developed a genetic mutation in the noses of Jews, giving them great sensitivity to anything that smells of Christianity - but also my own personal experience with avowed lovers of Israel and the settlers who took great pains to mask their Christian motives.

As Glenn Beck is not in the process of conversion to Judaism, it is impossible to understand his quote from the Scroll of Ruth as meaning, "I am joining you." Apparently, the real meaning of his words is "I am replacing you."

A quick study of Glenn Beck's speeches before non-Israeli audiences and a simple internet search of his biography show that he is a believing Mormon who is motivated by a deep religious consciousness. In a live broadcast from the Temple Mount, Beck theatrically shows his audience how in that very place, Jesus turned over the tables of the Jewish money-changers who served the pilgrims to the Temple. He forgot to mention that with this act, that man created one of the most blatantly anti-Semitic Christian legends that lives on to this very day.

The problem is not Glenn Beck's beliefs. Beck is a good person who believes in what he is doing. The problem is that the most loyal Jewish public is giving him its support without thoroughly checking his message. They are unwittingly abetting a very gentle and heartwarming type of modern crusade. From a religious point of view, there is no difference between the Western Wall and the Southern Wall, where Beck's event is planned. They are both walls of the Mount of G-d's House. Would we allow a group of Christians to spread its message at the Western Wall? [No, of course not. But is Beck planning to spread a message of Christianity there? Not as far as I know. CiJ]

As long as Glenn Beck and his friends support Israel from the outside, understanding that your nation is your nation and my nation is my nation; that your god is your god and my G-d is my G-d, all is well and good and it is important to cooperate with them. But when it turns out that the agenda is actually replacement theology; a theology that aims to bring waves of Christian aliyah here and to use the Jewish renaissance in Israel as a springboard to a Christian renaissance – I cannot lend it the legitimacy of Manhigut Yehudit. [Beck has never said anything about living here or encouraging Christians to live here that I have heard. CiJ].

Glenn Beck speaks a lot about our obligation to tell the truth, so let us do just that: The Temple Mount is the home of the Holy Temple of the Jews – exclusively. All the non-Jews who understand that are invited to come to the Temple Mount (in the area where they are permitted according to Jewish law) to pray to the Master of the Universe, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Esau and Ishmael have their own holy places. Please honor our exclusive sovereignty over Jerusalem, including our spiritual sovereignty, just as we respect your spiritual sovereignty in your lands.

Now don't get me wrong. I agree with Feiglin's interpretation of Judaism. I don't agree that Beck is doing what Feiglin thinks he's doing. I don't believe Beck's that sophisticated. And even if he were doing it, are Jews going to bite for it? (I know that I have a commenter who will be happy to answer that question for me...). Beck strikes me as someone who sincerely wants to help and doesn't quite know how to approach us in a way that we won't find to be an attempt at missionizing. Would Beck contest Feiglin's assertions about the Temple Mount? I doubt it.

For MJ Rosenberg, on the other hand, Beck is quite simple. He hates liberals and therefore he's an anti-Semite. After all, most Jews are liberal, including Rosenberg's favorite kapo, George Soros.

The particular Beck installment to which Goldberg alluded revealed as much about Beck's attitudes toward Jews as anything he has ever said publicly. He listed the nine people — an "intelligent minority" — who infected the 20^th century with the view that the masses are "animals" who can be controlled through propaganda. According to Media Matters, Beck named AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, as well as:

• Propagandist and ad man Edward Bernays, who revolutionized 20th century public relations.
• Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, who was Bernays' uncle and influenced his method.
• George Soros, who Beck claimed shared Freud and Bernays' philosophy that people are "animals" who can be "experimented with."
• Cass Sunstein, who Beck insisted "is Edward Bernays" and has called "the most dangerous man in America."
• Former SEIU president Andy Stern, who Beck said is part of a self-proclaimed "intelligent minority" of powerful men trying to manipulate the "bewildered herd" of America.
• Walter Lippman, a prominent columnist of the mid-20th century, who Beck accused of viewing government "as a way to control people."
• Frances Fox Piven, professor at CUNY, who Beck accused of "sowing the seeds" of revolution.
• Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania, who Beck said thinks of himself as "one of the elites that are there to guide the herd."

Of the nine, Trumka is the only non-Jew; the other eight are Jews. Other than their ethnic backgrounds, the Beck 8 have little in common. Ed Rendell and Sigmund Freud? Andy Stern and Walter Lippmann?

How can anyone, other than someone with a real hang-up about Jews, produce a list of the people who epitomize the "era of the big lie" and come up with this list of American Jewish writers, college professors, labor leaders and a governor of Pennsylvania! I mean, think of the some of the 20^th century's monstrously criminal liars...

They also just all happen to be liberals or the forebears of 21st century liberal political thought. Maybe that's why Beck went after them?

So what does Beck himself have to say (Hat Tip: Israellycool).

In an interview with Israel Hayom, Beck says that he can't understand how a nation still facing the danger of extermination, this time at the hands of Iran, does not receive sympathetic and encouraging coverage in the world media.

"Someone has to speak the truth," Beck said. "If someone can tell it better than I can, then by all means, please do. In the meantime, I'll do it myself. But today, if someone is horrified about someone else telling the truth, then Israel, and the entire lifestyle of the West is in trouble."

...

Is the rally's timing in August somehow related to the U.N. General Assembly vote on Palestinian independence which worries many in Israel and is planned for September?

"It worries me. September is a critical month for the state of Israel." So the timing is not coincidence.

"You can't always be reactionary. You can react but you should also be the one to lead, the one who gets the ball rolling. Why is everyone in Israel playing defense? Why do those who believe in freedom always have to be on the defensive? We have the high ground so why should be playing defense? Start paving the way." Beck said.

"August 24 could be just another event or the beginning of a movement in which people worldwide begin to understand that Jews won't be kicked around. If someone in the world has a problem with the Jews – then they got a problem with me, I'm a Jew in this regard."

Could that be the explanation to Beck's citation from the Book of Ruth that made Feiglin (and - okay me too) feel a little queasy?

"If we show fear and tell each other, listen it can't get any worse, then we will quickly find out that it can, much worse. The only difference is that this time, contrast to World War II, the U.S. isn't an industrial powerhouse just waiting for a reason to act. Back in those days America said lets show the world. It's no longer the case today. Today we don't have people like Winston Churchill either, people who said 'never give up, never surrender.' "

"So who will defend us? Who will be our messiah? China? The world is heading towards dark times, unless people begin to act."

Should I conclude from your words that the world is playing the same defensive game with the Iranian threat?

"I don’t want to talk about my country, but the West has buried its head in the sand – just as it did with Chamberlain on the eve of World War II." If someone came up to you everyday and told you 'I am going to kill your wife,' would you go back to your wife and say its nothing, or would you act?"

Do you think we are in a situation today in which Iran believes that an attack against it is not even an option?

"Four years ago, I told your prime minister, 'watch out – they're pulling one over on you.' I think they're pulling one over on my country, the U.S., as well. They aren't going to do anything. They will continue with this game, because nobody really wants to take real steps on this issue. Israel will have to attack by itself, because in the end the train cars will fill up again.

The big question that you need to ask yourselves is if you are going to climb aboard the train cars again - and you know how that ends – or are you going to say, excuse me, Israel has the right to live, Jews have the right to live, and the Holocaust is not going to happen again. I don't know when Iran's point of no return will come, but God help all of us if you or someone else is forced to attack there."

I was raised in Israel and taught to trust the American president almost like the Israeli prime minister. Is that still true?

"Even if Bush were still president today, I would give you a similar answer: look, I'm coming from a place in Poland where the king once granted the Jews a place to live. He said to them, here you will be protected. And they were protected – until one day he died, and then they weren't so safe anymore.

Don't trust anyone except yourselves. Israel needs to demand from the world the right to defend itself. Don't trust us or anyone else to protect you, because at some point, tomorrow or a thousand years from now, you will be let down, because everyone else has different interests than yours."

Every time I see Jewish criticism of a bible-quoting Christian, I look where it's coming from. If it's coming from the liberal left, I usually regard it with deep suspicion. I grew up on the liberal left, and I know how paranoid the Jewish liberal left is about anyone else quoting the bible. Including Jews. The Jewish liberal left is willing to set Israel up to be annihilated (God forbid) by the Arabs, but it's paranoid about any vestige of religion in American schools. It's funny how no one seemed to mind when Bill Clinton - then in his first term before he became a moderate - came to the Knesset and quoted his pastor and the bible. In fact, I recall one of the Haredi party representatives saying that he wished that the Prime Minister (Rabin at the time) would quote the bible as much as Clinton did in the Knesset! But let an American conservative come here and quote the bible and that raises all their hackles.

Beck seems to be saying all the right things to us. Is it too good to be true? Maybe. If Feiglin wants to confront him over the Temple Mount or anything else, I believe that he should. I'd love to see Feiglin confront Beck one-on-one on these issues. Of course, he'd have to get out of the car to do that.... But I don't believe Beck has the evil intent that Feiglin is ascribing to him. And I certainly don't believe he's an anti-Semite like Rosenberg claims.

Labels: anti-Semitic stereotypes, anti-Semitism, Glenn Beck, MJ Rosenberg, Moshe Feiglin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:39 AM