Section of Ben Dror Yemini column

Maariv Friday Political Supplement, August 19 2011 [Hebrew original here] Fortune is not standing with Glenn Beck, the controversial television broadcaster, who came to Israel to hold a support rally next week. Why now? Just when the country is full of tents? Just when we are all feeling a sense of national solidarity, which we will get back to later, of left and right all being in this together? But this is not about luck or timing, but a question of principle. Should we accept support from anyone? I addressed this question many times in the last years, but from the other side. Perfectly sane left-wing bodies and individuals cooperated with blatant antiZionists. When Prof. Fania Oz-Salzberger, not from the radical left, sign the petition calling for civil disobedience, it was an irresponsible act, regardless of the contents of the protest (which in itself were completely baseless). Because the Zionist left's support of civil disobedience is like Dan Meridor supporting Baruch Marzel. But the left, even if it was sane, has begun to lose its sanity. And the question is if the right as well, which is more divided as it should be, might also be losing its sanity. Glenn Beck is a true friend of Israel. There aren't many of those. He is always on our side. He studied, he exposed, he supported. When you don't have too many friends it is a little hard to be picky. True that the international left as well as the Israeli left marches with jihadists in demonstrations against Israel. Sometimes in those demonstrations there are calls to kill Jews. The global enlightened don't give a damn. They join any anti-Israeli demonstration, whoever initiates or supports it. But the despicable acts of the left should not be the appropriate model for Israel supporters from the right, the center or even the left. Glenn Beck is a test case. MK Danny Danon, Beck's agent in Israel, insists that nothing in Beck's background interests him as long as he is an enthusiastic supporter of Israel. A well-known complex of the Israeli left, even in its leftist wing, that is willing to cooperate with the most despicable person or organization as long as they masquerade as a "human rights activists" or "anti-occupation activists." Nasrallah opposes the occupation too. Is that a reason to demonstrate with him against Israel? Noam Chomsky, the guru of a large part of the international left, thinks so. On the right, Danon thinks so too. Beck is not Nasrallah, not even close, when it comes to comparisons. But even so, Beck is on the radical right in American terms. Very far from the consensus. Very far from the spectrum of opinion that characterizes US Jewry or Israel supporters. Many names have been mentioned as expected to attend his support rally in Israel, including Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Joe Lieberman and others, known as Republicans and Israel supporters. Most if not all of them are not coming. Because Beck is criticized not only by American liberals but also by Republicans and Israel supporters. Beck propagates dubious theories, sometimes bordering on anti-

Semitism. As a Mormon, it would not be an exaggeration to suspect that his objection to the two-state solution and his support for the Greater Israel and the settlement enterprise stem from a messianic belief whose sequence is the conversion of the Jews of Israel to Christianity. There are also serious allegations of anti-Semitism. Eight of the nine people with the most negative influence on the world according to Beck are Jews. In the past Beck compared reform rabbis to radical Islam. Even the Anti-Defamation League, an organization not suspected of being anti-Israeli, condemned him. So that Beck should receive a cautious welcome. Israel has no interest in being identified with the radical right in the US. That is where Beck stands. That is not where Israel should stand.