Excellent Interview with Glenn Beck by Israel Ha'Yom

[mord]

http://www.israellycool.com/2011/07/15/israel-ha-yom-on-glenn-beck/                 










http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=376     






'If someone has a problem with the Jews – they got a problem with me'
Boaz Bismout

The world is about to change, Glenn Beck
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Photo credit: Lior Mizrahi

It's hard to believe, but this week US President Barack Obama, and former Fox News star, Glenn Beck, Obama's toughest media critic, agreed about one thing: the world we live in is changing fast. But Obama believes the changes are for the good, while Beck believes the changes may be disastrous. Beck believes the changes will effect Israel, and the entire Western world.

That is why Beck returned to Israel less than two months after his last visit here. His aim is to organize a mass gathering on the 24th of August under the banner "Restoring Courage". "From Israel, the capital of courage, we will send a message to the rest of the world, and we will also show you, Israelis, that you are not alone," said Beck.

The tenth floor of the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem offers a breath-taking panoramic view of the city. It also brings to mind many thoughts of biblical and historical events, which is something that Beck uses well when he talks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and especially the constant dangers facing the Jewish people.

Beck cannot understand "how the aggressor becomes the victim, how the victim becomes the one who is dangerous." 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."

Until a few years ago, Beck, 46, was a small-time local radio personality in the US. His rise to the top was meteoric, and he became not only a media superstar, with more than 3 million viewers watching his program, but also a one-man media industry with revenues of between 20 and 30 million dollars a year.

Beck established his own independent TV network which he is placing at the service of Israel's public diplomacy efforts.

He is the type or person who is not afraid to say 'I don't know'. After the 9/11 attack on the twin towers in Manhattan, people called his program and asked him about it. Instead of mouthing off, Beck said he had to learn more about the attack before he could respond. Similarly, when asked about the fact that the worlds media did not cover the Itamar massacre (an attack on a Jewish family in the Israeli settlement of Itamar in the West Bank that took place in March 2011, in which five members of a family were murdered in their beds), Beck said: "I do not know why there was so little coverage of that incident. Perhaps it didn't fit the narrative."

Perhaps, I think, it was because a huge tsunami hit Japan at that time as well. Or maybe Israel was just not that important to the world at that time. Perhaps due to the location of the incident, the West Bank, coverage of the incident would have been seen as granting the settlements some kind of legitimacy.

"We can say of course that maybe the earthquake in Japan was the reason that the world didn't cover the Itamar massacre," said Beck, "but that was still something that happened in one of the most important places in the world, especially for the media that has declared Palestine the most important issue today. But perhaps we shouldn't observe, but rather show the world what exactly is happening here. We need to show everyone who the oppressed really is here, and who is the oppressor.

One thing Beck despises is distortion of the truth, and lack of self-confidence in one's justification. "You Israelis should never stop believing in yourselves and your justification," Beck said.

I remind Beck that he once said that he met people in the Knesset who were hesitant and lacking self-confidence concerning their world views, and even concerning the future of Israel.

Does this apply to the U.S. as well, I ask. Is the traditional pro-Israel American public opinion changing?

"On July 4th, I was in Idaho, celebrating the day there. I saw something I never saw before. Two Israeli flags appeared among the crowd. This is Idaho, potato capital of the world, a place filled with blue-collar Americans. I don't think any Jews live in this state at all," Beck said.

"Suddenly people are beginning to understand the horror. I never heard Americans say 'Hey, we're on the wrong side'. But now, when they realize the direction in which the world is headed, and our hesitancy, they say 'wait one minute, we know that Israel is on the right side, so what is happening here?' It's a people who are waking up now," Beck said.

Are you saying that American public opinion today does not reflect US government policies, I ask.

"That is an understatement," Beck replies quickly. "Many Americans are still asleep, and that is why I am investing so much time in this. A week ago I was in Auschwitz. The U.S. knew what was going on there towards the end of World War II. But we didn't go there to save Jews. We went there to defeat Hitler. We could have spared a few bombs to destroy that camp before so many died there," Beck said.

There are times when we all need to do the right thing, simple because it's the right thing to do. We are nearing that time now. We need to know history. People in the US need to know who their friends are, who their enemies are, and stop focusing on the trivial things, such as food, pensions, and the price of gas," Beck urged.

"Many will participate"

Glenn Beck recently formed the 'Rally to Restore Honor' in Washington D.C. The rally was an immense success with more than half a million participants. He plans to bring masses to Jerusalem with his 'Restore Courage' rally that is planned to take place on August 24.

"I don't think there is a better example of courage than that of the Israelis," Beck said. "You know, I was in Sderot today (Tuesday) and I saw its residents. I don't think I would live there with my family, I saw how the children live there. The world needs to see what is going on, how real brave people stand up for themselves. 'Restore Courage' is not a message from me to Israel, but from Israel – to the world." He said.

Beck is still not certain about the lineup for the upcoming rally, but he is willing to divulge that there will be "large scale participation." Like who? At least 70 people consisting of diplomats and foreign leaders, four U.S. presidential nominees (though none will speak at the rally), four senators and many other congressmen will be at the rally. Greek, British, and Australian parliamentarians will also attendant, alongside citizens from close to 100 other nations. Currently there are fund-raising initiatives to pay for those in Africa who want to attend but do not have the means to get to the rally.

Glenn wants to tell us that come August 24, the world will embrace the Israeli people who "are feeling down" in order to tell them, "You are not alone."

"The West has buried its head in the sand"

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."

"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."

Enjoying the criticism

Glenn Beck believes that the world is going crazy, even losing control. He sees the need to wake up and make haste. In general, he is not opposed to hitting the reset button and sending the situation back to what is once was.

"We lost our way. We all lost our way, and that's why the world is heading toward a reset. Even if Greece, for example, gets out of its crisis – it still won't prevent us from rebooting."

In Jerusalem, Glenn Beck speaks much more freely about Israel than about the U.S. Beck the conservative has no idea if the Republicans have any chance in the upcoming presidential elections, no clue who the Republican candidate running against Obama in 2012 will be.

"Two years from now the whole world could change," he says. He left Fox News because "I started my own business, since I believe the world is going to change and we have to adapt ourselves to the new situation. That's why I'm setting up my own media outlet. This is a new venture, aimed at young people. People watching cable news today are my age and older. If we lose people in their twenties – we lose the battle," he says.

Glen Beck, the conservative American broadcaster who became one of the most popular people on the American Right, and one of the most hated on the Left, seems to actually enjoy the criticism leveled at him by his colleagues. He made sure to tell me – just in case I didn't know – that the Washington Post called him a "creature," while Time Magazine called him a "Mad Man." And why? "Because I speak the truth."

Beck worked in the past for Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media tycoon who suffered a difficult blow this week when he to closed his newspaper "News of the World" and backed down from his attempt to take over BSkyB.

"I met Murdoch only once, and I can tell you that I met a real person. That man cares about people. I don't know what happened there in the U.K. at that newspaper. Generally, I understand the story only when I'm involved in it. Only then can I know what the truth is."