About three dozen activists from Peace Now held a protest outside the Glenn Beck
rally in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday, where they called for the
American broadcaster to leave Israel and take his message
elsewhere.
Holding signs saying “Go Beck Home,” “Peace Takes Courage,”
and “Glenn, take your hate Beck,” they gathered outside the Dung Gate in
Jerusalem, a few dozen meters from where Beck was holding the last of his three
“Restoring Courage” rallies in Israel.
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Beck gets it right when it comes to the big picture issuesJerusalemite Danielle Blumenstyk,
25, said that she came to the protest because “we think Glenn Beck is a racist
and an extremist. He claims to be a friend of Israel but he is only causing more
and more damage to Israel’s image in the world.”
She said that Israel “is
unfortunately so unpopular in the world right now that the second someone says
they like us we’re quick to say he’s our friend. But he’s [Beck] not our friend,
he’s a lunatic.”
Blumenstyk claimed that a few minutes earlier she was
accosted by Israel Beitenu MK Anastasia Michaeli, who tried to snatch her
megaphone out of her hands. Blumenstyk said she is considering issuing a police
complaint.
Another protester, David Schonberg of Jerusalem, said “I am
here as a right-wing, religious, moderate Israeli man. I don’t agree with
anything about Peace Now’s politics, but Jews have to understand that extremist
Christian fundamentalists like Glenn Beck pose a threat to American Jews and the
pluralistic American way of life in which Jews thrive.”
Schonberg,
originally from London, added, “He should leave, we have enough meshuggenah
[crazy] people here.”
Etai Mizrav, national activities coordinator for
Peace Now expressed what he described as “this embarrassing situation where the
Israeli rightwing is giving Beck this warm embrace.”