Glenn Beck in Caesarea: Singing, praying, love for Israel and more than a few tears
U.S. commentator attracts crowd of some 3,000 people at Caesarea amphitheater; show includes guest speakers historian David Barton, Efrat founder Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and author Mike Evans.
By Sara Miller Tags: Jewish World Glenn BeckSome 3,000 people, mostly American Christians, filled the seats at the amphitheater in Caesarea on Sunday night for 90 minutes of a show hosted by Glenn Beck - the first of his much-hyped, and much-discussed, three-night run in Israel.
The evening's opening act, a dissection of Israel's significance that felt more like a news channel studio debate than a live show, was followed by video footage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he vowed that "Jerusalem must never be divided." This statement won the first of many raucous rounds of applause of the night.
Beck actually spoke relatively little (although he did manage to cry often), giving the floor over instead to his main guests - historian David Barton, Efrat founder Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and author Mike Evans.
All three did pretty much what they were presumably booked for: Barton brought historical gravitas to the words of the Bible; a moist-eyed Evans recounted a traumatic childhood of anti-Semitic taunts from which he was saved by a vision of Christ; and Riskin spoke of Jewish appreciation for the support of the Christian pro-Israel community, and in particular that of Glenn Beck, who, according to Riskin, is a "deeply patriotic American, a true friend of Israel."
"We are not alone," Riskin said. "We are Jews and not Christians; you Christians, nevertheless, have the courage to love us in our otherness.
"We are profoundly grateful for your courage to love us and stand with us," he added.
It all seemed carefully scripted, even down to the screens with lyrics of the Hebrew songs transcribed in English. The determination to stand by Israel and the devotion to the Jewish State was palpable, and oft declared.
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U.S. commentator Glenn Beck appearing in Caesarea on Sunday August 21, 2011. |
| Photo by: Hagai Frid |
Like Woodstock and Glastonbury, the headline name came last, and unlike Riskin et al, Pastor John Hagee got a standing ovation the moment he strode onto the stage. The most vehement of the speakers, he drew an analogy with JFK and his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, when he announced "Ani Yisraeli" (I am an Israeli ). He then coaxed the crowd into repeating his mantra: "I am an Israeli!" they chanted over and over.
And the evening closed with words of wisdom from the host: "We bring truth, we bring peace, we bring support, we bring comfort," Beck said of his reason for bringing his roadshow to Israel as he closed off the evening. "Let the Jewish people know, no matter what our governments may say, we are not our governments, we stand with you."
But ultimately, this was just a warm-up for Wednesday night, when around 2,000 people will join Glenn in a sold-out event at the Davidson Center in Jerusalem.
Wednesday night's event will "issue a challenge to all citizens of the world to stand with and declare their support for Israel," the handout distributed at the beginning of the evening stated.
And for those who expressed a little cynicism over Beck's real motives for his presence: Last night's show was aired in more than 80 countries, as Mr. Beck debuted his new television channel, GBTV.
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He might be abit of an evangelical but his compassion for Israel is real... G-D bless Glen Beck and all friends of Israel.
agree with comment 22. i guess the U.S. isn't the only place where MORONS live! He IS a danger to America, and Israel. People, wake up!
A true believer who has a good heart and loves Israel, Not like the moronic anti-Israeli posters here who never stop whining,with their non stop blah blah blah. Israel needs friends like Glen Beck.Not the dumb anti-Israeli twits that post here.
The real anti-semites, the dangerous ones, are welcome. And why? They heavily support the illegal policies which the falsely accused 'anti-semites" and 'self-haters" try to warn Israel against.
How can Jews be so stupid as to fall for this charlatan's B.S.? I always thought Jews were not so gullible. Who will come over next, Jim Bakker? Jimmy Swaggart? This guy is no friend of Jews. Even Joe Lieberman and Eric Cantor- too very conservative Jews- are avoiding his "rally." Israel is being played for a freier!!
Glenn Beck's big mouth spews hate and total disregard for human rights and justice. He is a racist in different colors. Israel stoops very low to associate with such a person and he does harm to Israel. His hate message is nothing but a message of violence against others. He should be prosecuted for advocating violence against others.
Because the only reason he is in Israel at all is to make all Jews into Christians and then leave the leftovers for torture after the rapture. Beck is the anti-Christ.
I've been watching him for the last few years what a wast
"We bring [our]truth, we bring peace[to settlers], we bring support[ by fundind their arsenal and the way to use it], we bring comfort[to the assassins who get caught or hit]," Beck said.
Glenn Beck has never denied involvement in a rape and murder in 1990. Do Israelis want support from a possible criminal? See here: http://newyorkleftist.blogspot.com/2010/11/glenn-beck-accidentally-not-put-down.html
That kind of thing is called support. Never forget that Israel was invaded by the Arabs while it was still in it's crib. When all these Arab Monarchies have disappeared and are replaced by Popular Movements, who is going to back us up? God? Don't count on it. It's going to be people that believe in the Biblical God that back up Israel. I'll take the help. The Europeans can have the Islamic Rebels. Europestan I mean.
Good to think they are only 3000 out of a population of 7 million.
..go home - a large majority of the israelis don´t want him here. Now, although Beck alone is of no significance at all (he is a nobody), we will have a problem with the "support" of fanatic american christians. So Glenn Beck, because of his media-populist-acitivity, becomes the symbol of the worst and most dangerous of all the Israel-supporters around the world. I have said it before and I say it again: Netanyahu must not only distance himself from Beck, he must issue a strong condemnation against this american populist clown, before it´s too late.
You state it as fact, but what makes evangelical Christians dangerous. Is it there high morality, their high integrity, their overt honesty, the concern for doing the right thing no matter what the cost. Their willingness to risk their own lives to save others. What is it about evangelicals that is so dangerous. It was evangelicals who shelter Jews during the holocaust. It was evangelicals who went to the gas death camps rather than sell out their Jewish neighbors. It was evangelicals who were rounded up, imprisoned and murdered for speaking out against Nazi persecution of Jews. So, what is so dangerous about them? Really, I want to know what you are so afraid of?
If any of you are open-minded enough and want to learn the truth about Beck, go to YouTube and look at "Glenn Beck Jews killed Jesus." You can hear the words out of his own mouth, you can even detect underlying hatred when he spits them out, that Jews killed Jesus. Not a joke. Not sarcasm. It is right there for anyone to see with their own eyes if, IF, they are willing to see the truth. It is a one minute video. It is consistent with his many, many other anti-Semitic, Holocaust-trivializing statements, his promotion of anti-Semitic writers, etc etc etc. This is a very, very dangerous man who does not love Jews. Quite the contrary. He is using Israel and Jews. Go ahead. Don't take my word for it. Look at that one minute clip and you will see anti-Semitism come through the Big Lie that we killed Jesus.
How very, very sad for Israel that this is the level to which we have sunk, relying on these clownish, dubious Christians for succor. How pathetic! How disgusting! A very, very sad time for Israel.
I was there last night in Caesarea and this was truly a spectacular event. Don't listen to what other say about Glenn Beck and the Christian Zionists. Go to Safra square in Jerusalem Wednesday night and see for yourself. I know the truth is difficult for most of you Haaretz readers to handle but these people love Israel and are sincere. Go see with you own eyes, but you will have to open first.
Those who want Israel harmed or destroyed surely don't. The Left, supported by icons like Soros surely could care less about truth. Beck is a visionary who tells it like it is. Anyone who cannot see the truth about Islam is blind.
It is a shame that those who hate Israel have taken over this site-they can't stand to see non- Jewish supporters of Israel gather. Well, welcome Mr. Beck to you and all your supporters-at this critical time your love for Israel is heartwarming!
... unless they're anti-Semites in disguise. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Beck is - an anti-Semite.
Most of us here love Israel! We the the democratic and secular Israel founded by Ben-Gurion and the early zionists in 1948. We do not want to see this country turn into a theocratic dictatorship like Iran. If you think that that feeling equald "hating Israel", you have a lot of growing up to do!
While not wanting a theocratic dictatorship is wonderful (and, by the way, something that the majority of Israelis would agree with), Beck isn't here to fight that. Extremists of his ilk want to make sure that Israel stays Jewish because (according to www.beliefnet.com) "The establishment --and continuation-- of the State of Israel is essential to set the stage for the imminent return of Jesus. At the time of the Second Coming, these Christians believe, Jesus will descend from heaven, subdue all of Israel's enemies and take believers to heaven in what is known as the Rapture--literally, they will ascend to the clouds to be in heaven. This series of events ushers in the end-times. According to conservative Christians' reading of the Book of Revelation, this won't happen unless Israel exists in the Holy Land." So, of course Beck loves Israel, he just hates Jews.
David Barton is NOT a historian. He holds a BA in Christian Education from Oral Roberts University (a school founded by a Pentecostal televangelist) and is one of those "Christian Nation" mythologists. http://www.LiarsForJesus.com
Please cite a source for this information.
In general, The Kingdom of Israel only lasted about 200 years under 19 kings.
Can't he shut up and just weep all the time?
... who needs enemies?
John and Glen equal fatso and the chimp.
Punch in "Glenn Beck" and "Gene Cranick" on Google and read about how he made fun of a poor rural American whose house burned down with his pets inside while the fire department stood by and watched. Good entertainment for Beck. Most Americans did not find it funny. He came to Israel because he is running out of friends at home.
Doesn't Glenn Beck belong to a religious group that get told repeatedly to stop baptising dead people? For the record, my Great Uncle Schlomo is not and never was a Mormon, (may he rest in peace).
The Mormons "convert" Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. This is who the right is in bed with.
I don't think I'm allowed to add links to comments here, but just go to Youtube and search for "Glenn Beck" and "Jews killed jesus". You'll see from his own lips how much this guy really loves the Jews.
The "Greater Israel" is a plan to transfer Israeli Jewish population onto lands occupied after June 1967, and to reduce the indigenous Palestinian population to small poverty-ridden cantons. Make no mistake that is the plan and they will accept anybody's help stop and short of nothing to achieve it.
do you believe in Big Brother too? That is ridiculous, paranoid and borderline racist. Israelis, all Israelis are by your definition, planning the evil takeover of Palestinian lands and the persecution of the people? For what? for fun? What is the benefit? Your comments are racist and absolutely absurd! Most Israelis would rather give them the land they claim, although have never owned and be done with it. But the PA refused to negotiate without leaving the option of killing of the Jews on the table. Who is the evil one really? Think about it...
thank you for your support, I think you are a great person in believing in what you do. Kindness, goodness, will benefit not just Israel but also the world. we need more people like you. Marlene
"We are not alone," Riskin said. "We are Jews and not Christians; you Christians, nevertheless, have the courage to love us in our otherness.
Hagee...Barton....yech! If these are our friends, I'd rather we stand alone.
There are millions more like him,we just have to reach out to them...
Go and reach the weird of sheeps (aka "evangelists")who betrayed their own Prophet(YE, Jesus!) killed by their beloved jews.
This piece is written in such a derisive manner, it is obvious that the sentiment of the author is, 'because I'm a journalist and this event is big, I must cover it, but it irks me to no end that I must cover the event because I'm such an avowed leftist'. Being that the author is Jewish, she should have welcomed Glenn to Israel, praised his friendship to Israel and not lobbed cheap shots at Glenn and questioned his 'real motives'.
You don't even know who he is if you can say that. What are we beggars that we have to be grateful to every idiot who "loves" Israel. Check how he spoke about Soros during the Holocaust and how Reform Judiasm is like radical Islam etc. Come on. He's nuts and disgusting!!!! Wake up already.
And he holds a BA in Christian Education from Oral Roberts University.
That is the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints, LDS for short. It is an offshoot religion with some differing beliefs. The Book of Mormon is claimed to be a transcription of some gold tablets given into the care of the founder and subsequently returned somewhere. Mainstream and evangelical Christians have alternately persecuted Mormons and chased them out of several locals. There also are sub-sects that engage in selling children into marriage at young ages. This is not an accepted practice in many states in the US. Texas recently prosecuted one case, Warren Jeffs.
I think that's how you meant to write it.
Mostly evangelists, don't you mean? Personally, I sometimes think there's a big difference between the two! They DO quote Christ quite a bit, but ummmm, in preaching and in practice they don't seem to be too concerned about emulating Him or living by his teachings. Oh, and by the way, Beck - Hagee, et al - were Jesus alive today, he'd be actively involved in pro-Palestinian activities and an outspoken critic of Israel and its policies. For so-called "christians", y'all don't know your man very well!