Glenn Beck’s Restoring Courage rally at the Southern Wall excavations site next
Wednesday could spark a conflagration of violence in Jerusalem, Arab Knesset
members and activists warned Wednesday.
The Jerusalem mass rally will be
the central event of the American broadcaster’s three-night attempt to
demonstrate to Israel and the world that the Jewish state does not stand alone.
There will also be a rally for Christian leaders Sunday in Caesarea and a
Holocaust-related event on Monday.
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“There are enough racists in Israel
without importing them from the US,” Hadash MK Muhammad Barakei
said.
“The lessons from Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount
apparently haven’t been learned. This event isn’t for building coexistence, but
to spark fires in a sensitive location ahead of the United Nations vote on a
Palestinian state in September.
“There is a danger that the event will
lead to people being harmed, and the police should have prevented it,” Barakei
added.
MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta’al) called Beck “a bizarre, conservative,
neo-fascist comedian who is motivated by a hatred of Islam.”
Tibi accused
MK Danny Danon (Likud), who is involved in Beck’s event, of “dancing to Beck’s
flute-playing and rejoicing to every outrageous word against Arabs and
Muslim.”
Arab activists in east Jerusalem criticized Beck’s decision to
hold the rally so close to a tense area.
“There is a message [in the
location] – especially to come to the City of David, that’s close to Al-Aksa and
other Muslim holy sites and the Western Wall – it says a lot,” said Murad Shafa,
a member of the Popular Committee of Al-Bustan, one of the neighborhoods in
Silwan. “I don’t know him, but I know one thing: this area belongs to all the
religions.”
Shafa expressed concern the event would attempt to erase
parts of the historical narrative that hold that the site is holy to Jews,
Christians and Muslims. “Why are we the smallest people? Is their god bigger
than ours?” he asked.
In an interview with
The Jerusalem Post Wednesday,
Beck advised his critics to watch the event before casting judgment. He said
that when he held his Restoring Honor event at the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, DC, last August, people said he would desecrate the site with what
they thought would be a right-wing political rally, but it ended up being
nothing of the kind.
“[Israeli control over] Jerusalem is the best thing
that has happened in many people’s lives among Arabs I’ve met, even though they
won’t say it on camera,” Beck said. “They are protected, safe and able to live
without violence.
Israel has done an amazing job of adhering to love thy
neighbor – and even love thine enemy.
“It’s hard when people are trying
to kill you to protect their rights.
Jerusalem is an example of
coexistence working. You can’t deny truth,” Beck said.